On this date in 1860, Johannes Nathan was hanged in Maastricht for murder.
Nathan murdered his mother-in-law over a pig. Most executions in the Netherlands at this point were commuted by royal prerogative but it was felt that Nathan’s acknowledgment of guilt was late, partial, and insincere — rendering him an unfit object for mercy.
Although the execution took place on the Markt, it “was not a public amusement as it was in the Middle Ages: Nathan walked through dead streets, the curtains were closed in the houses, children were held in.”
The Netherlands formally abolished the death penalty for ordinary criminal offenses in 1870; the only executions since then took place under 20th century wartime occupation, or in revenge for same.
On this day..
- Triskaidekaphobia: Executed Today's 13th Annual Report
- 1904: Wang Weiqin, by lingchi
- 1929: Ilm Deen, blasphemy avenger
- Striking Midnight: Executed Today's 12th Annual Report
- Eleventh Hour: Executed Today's (cursory) 11th annual report
- 1926: Anteo Zamboni, Mussolini near-assassin, lynched
- Decimated: Executed Today's Tenth Annual Report
- 1862: Thomas Sanders, rapist
- Deathed Up to the Nines: Executed Today's Ninth Annual Report
- The Eight Pains: Executed Today's Eighth annual report
- 1460: Tiburzio di Maso, Roman brigand
- Seven-Out: Executed Today's Seventh Annual Report
- 1814: Private John McMillan, deserter
- Six Years Under: Executed Today's Sixth Annual Report
- 1698: The last Streltsy executed in October
- Executed Today's Fifth Annual Report: Hang Five
- 1907: Evstolia Ragozinnikova
- Executed Today's Fourth Annual Report: Wrung, Wan and Quartered
- 1893: Bertha Zillmann, completely prostrate
- Executed Today's Third Annual Report: Third Time Lucky