Execution Tales Chapter 50 Part 3 Revision 2
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[This is based on a an account of a real life case I read in an anthology of executions many years ago]
While it had been the Rhoda Willis’ beauty that had caught Alyssia’s attention it was the age of the victim & method of execution that especially interested her in the case of Grete Beier
Grete Beier
21 year old Grete Beier was found guilty & sentenced to death for the murder of her lover in Saxony in 1908.
Macabre & somewhat appalling was the pomp which surrounded her subsequent execution. Saxon law demanded that she should be beheaded by a Saxon-born man garbed in full evening dress even down to a spotless white tie.
The same law insisted that the weapon of execution should be a two-handed sword & that only one blow must be struck. The blow must fall “Between dark & dawn” hence the midnight execution.
Max Ulmfield a Dresden butcher was engaged as the headsman, a brawny man, heavy of build. On the night of the execution he arrived at the jail with four assistants all attired in sombre black except for the dazzling whiteness of their shirt collars.
It was the custom then to keep the condemned person in ignorance of the exact date of execution. Thus it was that on the stroke of midnight Grete was called from the bed where she was sleeping not knowing that her doom was set for this particular night.
The prison matron brought her a white dress of exquisite material provided by the state. It was cut low at the neck & the thoughtful prison authorities had provided a waterproof bib to protect the dress from blood spatters.
Two men conducted the softly crying & trembling young girl to the prison-court, the walls of which were draped in black to the height of one storey. An altar hung also in black, & a gleaming white crucifix stood at one end & beside it a priest.
Grete was led past the padre & the witness stand, including one newspaperman to the great black desk beyond. Here sat the judge who had passed sentence & the State Attorney who had prosecuted her for the murder of her lover
The judge rose, read out the verdict & the sentence of death & reported that the King of Saxony had declined to grant pardon & directed that the sentence be carried out forthwith.
The priest stepped forward with the crucifix & exhorted Grete to repent.
She sobbed & pleaded, “I’m sorry! Please have mercy! Oh God please have mercy!”
At once the doomed girl was turned about & led struggling & wailing by the four deputy executioners in their frock coats to the death-block, a huge piece of solid oak with a groove cut to fit the neck.
On one side was a cushion on which Grete was forced to kneel. She wriggled & fought as her arms were strapped to the block, her head was held in place by one of the assistants who had a firm grip on the girl’s hair.
As she gazed into the bucket, placed to catch her head when it fell she let out a blood curdling scream of terror. Beside Grete lay an open coffin.
The black masked executioner, the muscles of his arms rippling beneath the sleeves of his dress coat, stepped forward.
He spat on his hands, rubbed them on the knees of his trousers then carefully gripped the handle of the two handed sword. For a brief moment he held it lightly above the writhing, shrieking wailing girl & then there was a swish as he swung it like an axe, rising to his toes to get the full weight of his body behind the blow. The weapon struck true & Grete was silenced forever.
Somewhat floridly the only journalist in attendance wrote in the next day’s paper,
“Last night the beautiful but evil Grete Beier paid with her life for her crime. Wearing a form fitting expensive white dress, her raven black hair tied up on her head she was dragged struggling & screaming to the block. The headsman’s sword severed her trembling slender alabaster neck in one blow. Thus did the lovely young murderess Grete Beier pay for her crime. Justice has been done!”.
What Alyssia found stimulating about the decapitation of Grete Beier wasn’t the beheading itself, which she concluded was a far too quick method of execution, but the age, apparent beauty of the victim, her terror & the ornate inevitable formality of the entire process.
While it had been the Rhoda Willis’ beauty that had caught Alyssia’s attention it was the age of the victim & method of execution that especially interested her in the case of Grete Beier
Grete Beier
21 year old Grete Beier was found guilty & sentenced to death for the murder of her lover in Saxony in 1908.
Macabre & somewhat appalling was the pomp which surrounded her subsequent execution. Saxon law demanded that she should be beheaded by a Saxon-born man garbed in full evening dress even down to a spotless white tie.
The same law insisted that the weapon of execution should be a two-handed sword & that only one blow must be struck. The blow must fall “Between dark & dawn” hence the midnight execution.
Max Ulmfield a Dresden butcher was engaged as the headsman, a brawny man, heavy of build. On the night of the execution he arrived at the jail with four assistants all attired in sombre black except for the dazzling whiteness of their shirt collars.
It was the custom then to keep the condemned person in ignorance of the exact date of execution. Thus it was that on the stroke of midnight Grete was called from the bed where she was sleeping not knowing that her doom was set for this particular night.
The prison matron brought her a white dress of exquisite material provided by the state. It was cut low at the neck & the thoughtful prison authorities had provided a waterproof bib to protect the dress from blood spatters.
Two men conducted the softly crying & trembling young girl to the prison-court, the walls of which were draped in black to the height of one storey. An altar hung also in black, & a gleaming white crucifix stood at one end & beside it a priest.
Grete was led past the padre & the witness stand, including one newspaperman to the great black desk beyond. Here sat the judge who had passed sentence & the State Attorney who had prosecuted her for the murder of her lover
The judge rose, read out the verdict & the sentence of death & reported that the King of Saxony had declined to grant pardon & directed that the sentence be carried out forthwith.
The priest stepped forward with the crucifix & exhorted Grete to repent.
She sobbed & pleaded, “I’m sorry! Please have mercy! Oh God please have mercy!”
At once the doomed girl was turned about & led struggling & wailing by the four deputy executioners in their frock coats to the death-block, a huge piece of solid oak with a groove cut to fit the neck.
On one side was a cushion on which Grete was forced to kneel. She wriggled & fought as her arms were strapped to the block, her head was held in place by one of the assistants who had a firm grip on the girl’s hair.
As she gazed into the bucket, placed to catch her head when it fell she let out a blood curdling scream of terror. Beside Grete lay an open coffin.
The black masked executioner, the muscles of his arms rippling beneath the sleeves of his dress coat, stepped forward.
He spat on his hands, rubbed them on the knees of his trousers then carefully gripped the handle of the two handed sword. For a brief moment he held it lightly above the writhing, shrieking wailing girl & then there was a swish as he swung it like an axe, rising to his toes to get the full weight of his body behind the blow. The weapon struck true & Grete was silenced forever.
Somewhat floridly the only journalist in attendance wrote in the next day’s paper,
“Last night the beautiful but evil Grete Beier paid with her life for her crime. Wearing a form fitting expensive white dress, her raven black hair tied up on her head she was dragged struggling & screaming to the block. The headsman’s sword severed her trembling slender alabaster neck in one blow. Thus did the lovely young murderess Grete Beier pay for her crime. Justice has been done!”.
What Alyssia found stimulating about the decapitation of Grete Beier wasn’t the beheading itself, which she concluded was a far too quick method of execution, but the age, apparent beauty of the victim, her terror & the ornate inevitable formality of the entire process.
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Forum > Public / Stories > Execution Tales Chapter 50 Part 3 Revision 2