5. Nicolas Jacques Pelletier: The French Highwayman who was the first person executed by Guillotine.
In November 1791, Frenchman Nicolas Jacques Pelletier committed his last crime, a highway robbery in Paris. Pelletier and his gang waylaid a traveler along the Rue Bourbon-Villeneuve and robbed and murdered him. The crime was public, and locals quickly raised the hue and cry was quickly raised. Pelletier’s accomplices escaped. However, Pelletier was captured, tried and condemned to die – a sentence that was ratified by three separate courts. Pelletier’s punishment was due to be carried out on December 31, 1791. However, it was delayed because the newly appointed National Assembly was looking for a quick, clean method of execution applicable to rich and poor alike.
So, while Pelletier spent three months anticipating his execution, surgeon Antoine Louison oversaw the construction of the first guillotine in Strasburg. The official executioner, Sanson then tested the machine, using live animals before moving onto human corpses. On March 23, 1792, the National Assembly signed off the guillotine and on April 25, 1792, Pelletier became its first victim. A large crowd had assembled, curious to see what manner of death the ominous contraption set up on the scaffold could inflict. Sadly, it was less spectacular than they hoped. Pelletier was quickly despatched, immediately rousing several disappointed members of the crowd to call out “Give me back my wooden gallows,”