Posted on 08/27/2021 11:59:08 AM PDT by CheshireTheCat
Johann Christian Woyzeck was publicly beheaded on this date in 1824 for fatally daggering his lover in a jealous wrath.
He was a rudderless orphan to whom the Napoleonic Wars gifted the stopgap profession of soldiering, but once the fighting stopped, Woyzeck wandered back to his native Leipzig and gave rein to his many vices.
Suicidal, drinking heavily, and unable to hold down steady work, Woyzeck frequently abused his special lady friend, the widow Johanna Christiane Woost. He would later say that he was often urged by voices in his mind to slay her — and on the night of June 21, 1821, after she canceled a rendezvous, he did so at last.
A pathetic exit from life turned out to be an entrance into judicial and literary history....
(Excerpt) Read more at executedtoday.com ...
I think we've all been there at one time in our lives.
Sounds like a mercy killing to me.
If that engraving is accurate, he drew a big crowd for his swan song.
It’s a truly cutting-edge play (pardon the pun) that was WELL ahead of its time.
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