1915: Fernando Buschmann, certified
Add comment October 19th, 2019 Headsman
Brazil-born, German-descended businessman turned World War I spy Fernando Buschmann was shot for espionage at the Tower of London this date in 1915. Don’t believe us, Francis Woodcock Goodbody will vouch for the lethal effect of “gunshot wounds on the chest.”
Court martialled in September and unable to satisfactorily explain his dealings with known German agents, his woeful business record, trips to Southampton and Portsmouth, and the presence of invisible ink in his record books, he was found guilty. In his defence, he argued “I was never a soldier or a sailor, and I am absolutely ignorant of all military matters. I am not a good businessman as I am more wrapped up in my music than business.”
Buschmann was sentenced to death by firing squad and transferred to the Tower on 18th October. He was permitted the solace of his violin which he played throughout the night. The sentence was carried out at 7:00am on the 19th October at the Tower Rifle Range.
On this day..
- 1928: Frank Sharp, palm printed - 2020
- 1976: Michiah Shobek - 2018
- 1662: A shipwrecked Turk in Dutch Pennsylvania - 2017
- 1883: Margaret Harris - 2016
- 1866: Frank Ferris, a Portuguese ax murderer in New York - 2015
- 1660: Francis Hacker and Daniel Axtell, regicides - 2014
- 1998: Twenty-four Sierra Leone rebels - 2013
- 1489: Domenico Gentile and Francesco Maldente, Bull-shitters - 2012
- 1973: 14 during the Caravan of Death - 2011
- 1983: Maurice Bishop, Prime Minister of Grenada - 2010
- 1928: William Edward Hickman, Randian superhero? - 2009
- 2005: Wang Binyu, desperate migrant laborer - 2008
Entry Filed under: 20th Century,Businessmen,Capital Punishment,Death Penalty,England,Espionage,Execution,Germany,Shot,Spies,Wartime Executions
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