First Execution by Guillotine: Nicolas Jacques Pelletier

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by asoapymessromances

by asoapymessromances

Nicolas Jacques Pelletier (c.1756 – 25 April 1792) was a French highwayman who was the firstperson to be executed by guillotine.

Robbery and subsequent sentencing

Pelletier routinely associated with agroup of known criminals. On the night of 14 October 1791, withseveral unknown accomplices, he attacked a passerby in the rueBourbon-Villeneuve in Paris and stole his wallet and severalsecurities. During the robbery he also killed the man, though this isdisputed in later literature as possibly just having been an assaultand robbery or also an assault, robbery, and rape. He was apprehendedand accused that same night, for the cries for help alerted some inthe city, and a nearby guard arrested Pelletier. Judge Jacob AugustinMoreau, the District Judge of Sens, was to hear the case.

A legal advisor was given to Pelletier,but despite his efforts and calls for a fairer court hearing, thejudge ordered a death sentence for 31 December 1791. On 24 December1791, the Second Criminal Court confirmed Judge Moreau's sentence.The execution was stayed, however, after the National Assembly madedecapitation the only legal method of capital punishment. Pelletierwaited in jail for more than three months as the guillotine was builtin Strasbourg under the direction of the surgeon Antoine Louis, at acost of thirty-eight livres. Meanwhile, the public executionerCharles Henri Sanson tested the machine on corpses in the BicêtreHospital. Sanson preferred the guillotine over the formerdecapitation by sword, as the latter reminded him of the nobility'sformer privileges that the revolutionaries had worked to eliminate.On 24 January 1792, a third criminal court confirmed the sentence.

The execution was delayed due to theongoing debate on the legal method of execution. Finally, theNational Assembly decreed on 23 March 1792 in favor of theguillotine.

Execution day

The guillotine was placed on top of ascaffold outside the Hôtel de Ville in the Place de Grève, wherepublic executions had been held during the reign of King Louis XV.Pierre Louis Roederer, thinking that a large number of people wouldcome to see the first-ever public execution-by-guillotine, thoughtthat there might be difficulty in preserving order. He wrote toGeneral Lafayette to ask for National Guardsmen to make sure theevent went smoothly.

The execution took place at 3:30 pm,Pelletier was led to the scaffold wearing a red shirt. The largecrowd predicted by Roederer was already there waiting, eager to seethe novel invention at work. The guillotine, which was also red incolor, had been previously fully prepared, and Sanson moved quickly.Within seconds, the guillotine and Pelletier were positionedcorrectly, and Pelletier was decapitated.

The crowd, however, was dissatisfiedwith the guillotine. They felt it was too swift and "clinicallyeffective" to provide proper entertainment, as compared toprevious execution methods, such as hanging, death-by-sword, orbreaking at the wheel. The public even called out "Bring backour wooden gallows!"

Afterwards

Pelletier was the first person to beexecuted by guillotine. After the establishment of the RevolutionaryTribunal on 10 August, the guillotine moved to the Tuileries Palace.Executions were held either at the Place du Carrousel before thepalace or the Place de la Révolution beyond its garden. TheRevolutionary Tribunal executed just 28 people; the vast majoritywere for violent crimes like Pelletier's, unlike the subsequent Reignof Terror.