Spanish sources on the history of the
garotte note that the murders occurred between 1940 and 1941, rather than being
the result of a single mass poisoning episode.
***
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FULL TEXT: Madrid, Wed. (O.S.R.) — A
woman was executed in Spain yesterday for the first time in 50 years. She was garrotted to death at
Valencia. Teresa Gomez (35), a maid-servant, had poisoned five members of a
family for whom she worked. Three of them died. At her trial she said she poisoned them because she hated them. Two appeals against
her sentence — one direct to General Franco — were rejected. She died courageously, watched
by 10 persons.
[“Poisoner Executed By Garrotting In Spain,”
The Sun (New Castle, Australia), Feb. 17, 1954, p. 3]
***
The garotte (or garrotte) was the standard
civilian method of execution in Spain.
It was introduced in 1812/13, at the beginning of the reign of Ferdinand VII,
to replace the crude form of hanging previously used. Garotting appears to
have developed from the early Chinese form of execution known as the
bow-string. The criminal was tied to an upright post with two holes bored in it
through which the ends of a cord from a long bow were passed and pulled tight
round the neck by the executioner until the condemned strangled. In the Spanish version, the prisoner was
seated on top of a short post with his back to the main post and a rope loop
was placed round his neck and around the post. The executioner twisted a stick
inserted in the loop to tighten the rope and strangle the prisoner.
Capital Punishment UK (http://www.capitalpunishmentuk.org/garrotte.html)
More cases: Female Serial Killers Executed
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[2068-1/10/21]
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