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The Authorities Went Hard in the Punishment of This Criminal
Niers returned to his criminal activities after his escape, with even greater cruelty and bloodthirstiness. Indeed the majority of his murders and depravities occurred in the four years after his escape. Before, he had murdered 75 people in 11 years. That figured jumped to an additional 569 people in the 4 years from 1577 to 1581, before he was arrested for a second, and final time. He was taken to the Bavarian city of Neumarkt in der Oberpfalz for a public execution, in which the authorities went medieval on Niers, literally and figuratively.
Even for an era in which torture and gruesome executions were routine, Peter Niers’ execution, which commenced on September 16th, 1581, stood out. It was a three-day ordeal, and in the first, his skin was flayed, then hot oil was poured on his exposed muscles to slough off layers of his flesh. On the second day, his feet were coated in grease, and his lower body was slowly grilled over a low fire. On the third day, his body was broken on the wheel, with dozens of blows that smashed his major bones to pieces. Finally, the executioners quartered the notorious criminal while still alive, and sawed his body into pieces.