With Respect To The Atrocious
Sentence Pronounced By Chief Justice Osgood, At Quebec, In 1797, Carried
Out On The Criminal David McLane, The "Disembowling And Hanging"
Particulars (So Well Related By An Eye-Witness, The Late P. A. DeGaspe,
Esq.,) Ought Not To Be Considered Such A Novelty In Canada.
A Montreal antiquary, Mr. P. S. Murphy, has unearthed a sentence
pronounced at Montreal in the good old Bourbon times, 6th June, 1752,
which shows that the terrible punishment of "breaking alive" (rompu vif)
was in force under the French regime.
"Belisle," says Mr. P. S. Murphy, "was condemned to 'torture ordinary and
extraordinary,' then to be broken alive on a scaffold erected in the
market place. The awful sentence was carried out to the letter, his body
buried in Guy street, Montreal, and a Red Cross erected to mark the
spot."
Translation. - Extract from the requisition of H. C. Majesty's
Attorney: -
"I require for the King that Jean Baptiste Goyer dit Belisle be arraigned
and convicted of having wilfully and feloniously killed the said Jean
Favre by a pistol shot and several stabs with a knife, and of having
similarly killed the said Marie-Anne Bastien, wife of the said Favre, with
a spade and a knife, and of having stolen from them the money that was in
their house; for punishment of which that he be condemned to have his
arms, legs, thighs and backbone broken, he alive, on a scaffold, which
shall be erected for that purpose in the market place of this city, at
noon, then on a rack, his face turned towards the sky, he be left to die.
The said Jean Baptiste Goyer dit Belisle, being previously put to the
torture ordinary and extraordinary, his dead body shall be carried by the
executioners to the highway which lies between the house lately occupied
by the said accused and the house lately occupied by the said Jean Favre
and his wife. The goods and chattels of the said Jean Baptiste Goyer dit
Belisle confiscated to the King, or for the benefit of those who may have
a right to them, or of those not liable to confiscation, the sum of 300
livres fine being previously set apart, in case that confiscation could be
made for the benefit of His Majesty.
"(Signed), FAUCHER.
"Done at Montreal, the 6th June, 1752."
[96] The most spacious, the most remarkable of these substantial vaults of
French construction, are those which now belong to the Estate Poston, on
the north side of Notre Dame street, nearly opposite the church Notre Dame
des Victoires. It is claimed that these vaults were so constructed as not
only to be fire proof but water-proof likewise at the seasons of high
water, in spring and autumn. This vault is now occupied by Messrs.
Thompson, Codville & Co. as Inland Revenue and Customs bonded warehouses.
[97] "Cours d'Histoire du Canada," Ferland, Vol. 1, p. 280.
[98] Concession de la Barre aux Jesuites, Sept. 16, 1683.
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