1590: George Schweiger, tough love
April 2nd, 2018 Headsman
In the usual telling the father welcomes back the prodigal son by slaying the fatted calf … not the son himself. This, uh, alternate version comes from the diary of Nuremberg executioner Franz Schmidt.
April 2nd [1590]. George Schweiger of Falckendorf near Nerzogaurach, a thief who, in his youth, together with his brother, first stole 40 florins from his own father. Later, when his father sent him to settle a debt, he kept the money and gambled with it; lastly, discovering that his father had a treasure buried in a barn behind the house, he stole 60 florins of it. He had a lawful wife, but left her and attached himself to two whores, promising marriage to both. Beheaded with the sword as a favour.*
His father let him lie in prison here, and desired and insisted that justice should be done, in spite of the fact that he had recovered his money.
(Emphasis added.)
* i.e., he was sentenced to hanging as a common thief, but was given the quicker and more honorable execution of beheading as a mercy.
On this day..
- 1759: Mary Edmondson - 2020
- 1942: Ewald Schlitt, performative cruelty - 2019
- 1828: William Dyon and John Dyon, all in the family - 2017
- 1954: Henry Frank Decaillet - 2016
- 1756: Veronika Zeritschin, the last witch executed in Germany - 2015
- 1880: James Madison Wyatt Stone, landing on his feet - 2014
- 1897: Ernest and Alexis Blanc, brothers in blood - 2013
- 1674: Benjamin Gourd, the last bestiality execution - 2012
- 1977: Girma Kebede in the Ethiopian Red Terror - 2011
- Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews - 2010
- 1781: John Donellan, Esq. - 2009
- 1582: John Payne, snitched out - 2008
Entry Filed under: 16th Century,Beheaded,Capital Punishment,Common Criminals,Crime,Death Penalty,Execution,Germany,History,Pelf,Public Executions,Theft
Tags: 1590, 1590s, april 2, family, franz schmidt, george schweiger, nuremberg
