guillotine

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After Neighbor Finds Skull, Cops Find Homemade Guillotine

Police believe squatter lived with California man's remains for months

(Newser) - A California man described by neighbors as an "unbelievable craftsman" apparently used those skills to take his own life with a homemade guillotine—and the case only gets more disturbing from there. The death of Robert Enger, who was 62 years old when he was last seen in July...

Guillotine Is Set Up Outside Home of Jeff Bezos

Demonstrators speak up after the Amazon CEO's wealth reportedly tops $200 billion

(Newser) - Over a hundred demonstrators gathered Thursday outside Jeff Bezos' mansion in Washington, DC, and assembled a guillotine at his front door, Business Insider reports. Led by a group called the Congress of Essential Workers, the protest was designed to oppose current employee wages at the company. It also came a...

In Walls of Chapel, a Chilling Find on French Revolution
Archaeologist Makes Chilling
Find in Walls of French Chapel
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Archaeologist Makes Chilling Find in Walls of French Chapel

Guillotine victims apparently buried there, not in the catacombs as believed

(Newser) - The administrator of a historic chapel in France noticed the walls were looking odd in places, and he called in an archaeologist to take a professional look. The reason for the anomalies is a dark one, dating back to the French Revolution: It appears that up to 500 victims of...

A Guillotine That Beheaded No One Stirs Up Controversy

It was purchased last week in France for $9K

(Newser) - It wasn't one of the guillotines actually used to behead people, but the sale of it has still stirred up some controversy in France. The mid-19th-century replica was sold last Wednesday in an auction that lasted just 2 minutes, with a French multimillionaire named Christophe Février snapping it...

Federal Judge: Use Firing Squads, Not Lethal Injections

Don't pretend killing isn't brutal, Kozinski says

(Newser) - Killing people is a brutal and messy business, and if Americans can't deal with that, they shouldn't be condemning people to death, a top federal judge says. In a strongly worded dissent in an Arizona lethal-injection case, Alex Kozinski, chief judge of the Ninth US Circuit Court of...

Bankers? Off With Their Heads: Roseanne

Comedian advocates the guillotine for Wall Street justice

(Newser) - Roseanne Barr really wants heads to roll on Wall Street, Real Clear Politics reports. Not only does the comedian, author, and Wall Street protester say guilty bankers should pay back earnings over $100 million, she wants a very sharp blade hanging over their heads: "If they are unable to...

UK Arrests Anti-Monarchists, Seizes Guillotine

Activists planned to mark royal wedding with mock execution

(Newser) - London police have arrested three people who were planning a very different kind of royal wedding celebration. The trio of anti-monarchy activists—one of whom was dressed as an executioner—had planned to mark today's ceremony with a mock execution of a royal, reports the Guardian . Police seized a...

Guillotine Returns to Paris
 Guillotine Returns to Paris 

Guillotine Returns to Paris

On display at museum 33 years after last head rolled

(Newser) - Some 33 years after the last head rolled in France, the guillotine is back—as a cutting-edge display item in a Paris museum exhibit about crime and punishment. The former instrument of death was displayed at the request of Robert Badinter, the politician who ended the death penalty in France,...

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