EXCERPT: This criminal was beheaded in Copenhagen, in the spring of 1819; her crimes constitute one of the most remarkable mental phenomena, which cannot be explained but by the principles of Phrenology, and her organization confirms, on the other hand, the truth of these to a degree which cannot be stronger or more evident. She was an infanticide; she confessed to have murdered five of her children; but probably she had killed a sixth too.
She was born at Roeskilde, a small town, 18 miles from
Copenhagen, and was in her 17th year married to Hans Tenfew, a peasant. In
the early part of her marriage she lived with her parents; but, as her husband
bought a small farm-house at Fredrikborg, a village 22 miles distant from
Copenhagen, she became a servant, and was, in the year 1817, separated from her
husband. During her marriage she had six children, of which only one was alive
at her execution; one of them died three weeks after its birth in 1799, and
another died in 1808. What became of the others we shall immediately see.
In the month of May, 1818, she left the farm-house Dalsborg,
where she lived, and took a natural child, that had been born in the spring of
the same year, along with her. As she returned after some days without the
child, and could not explain where she had left it, she was arrested; and now
begins the communication of her crimes. She gave,
with respect to the child that was missing, with great candour, the following
explanation:—” Seeing the impossibility to maintain herself and the child, she
resolved to kill it; she went, therefore, one day into the neighbourhood of
Copenhagen, tied a handkerchief tight round the neck of the child, and threw
“it into a lake near the town.”
From a question of the Judge, whether she had more to
confess, she, without farther hesitation, said, that, from the year 1813 to
1817, she had murdered four others of her children; two of which
were born in marriage, the other two were illegitimate. She had murdered
them all in a very violent manner, by suffocating them, or killing them with a
hatchet. The one was three years old; the others only half a year, or several
months old. Besides these infanticides, she had killed a sixth too.
[C. Otto M. D., “The Infanticide, Ane Nielsdatter. (Article
XI.), The Phrenological Journal and Miscellany, Volume 4, Oct. 1826 – Nov.
1827, pp. 302-7]
NOTE: The full article contains lengthy phrenological
analysis and interpretation, which have been removed in this excerpt.
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Wikipedia: For the most part, Denmark followed the style of
other European nations, with government-employed executioners, called skarpretter
(headsman) in Denmark. The headsman had the status of a Royal government
employee. The last public execution was in Lolland of Anders “Sjællænder”
Nielsen, by decapitation in 1882. The spectacle generated calls for the
abolishment of the death penalty, particularly since the headsman, Jens
Seistrup, had to swing his axe several times in order to complete the job.
[Capital Punishment in Denmark, Wikipedia]
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