30 year old Jens Nielsen became the last criminal to be put to death in Denmark, when he was beheaded with an axe on the 8th of November 1892, for the attempted murder of a prison officer at Horsens prison.
This was the first and only private execution in the country. However it would be more than four decades before capital punishment for murder was abolished by an Act on the 15th of April 1930, which came into force in 1933. A new Act of parliament was passed in 1945 to deal with war criminals and 46 people were executed by firing squad under its provisions between then and 1950.
Nielsen was a serial arsonist from his teens, who had been sentenced to 16 years for burning several farms in July 1883. He also caused a fire, while serving as a sailor, at the Victoria Docks in London.
It appears that he didn’t like prison, but he believed that he could not go to Heaven if he committed suicide. However if he died by judicial execution he could still do so.
He attempted to kill guards on three occasions, the first after just a few months of incarceration, in order to get the death penalty and was finally successful. His first two death sentences were commuted by Royal decree.
He was decapitated by the State headsman, Jens Seistrup, in the courtyard of the State Prison of Horsens.
The photos show the table, block and axe. It appears that Nielsen’s neck was secured to the block by the two hinged metal bands shown. This equipment had also been used for the last three public beheadings.
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