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253 Executioner The guillotining blade was slanted to permit a perfect slice. You probably have seen engravings where a bucket waits to catch the severed head. One wonders who the sadist was behind this method of dispatch. And by what God or government commended? In fact, a doctor— Joseph Ignace Guillotin. He thought beheadings merciful compared to crucifixions, being drawn and quartered, cracked on a rack, roped to a post and torched, or tugged to pieces by horses. He claimed a prisoner would feel a feathery touch at the nape of his neck, no more. Gravity would do the rest. ...

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