blowing from a gun

vendingmachine commented on the word blowing from a gun

blowing from a gun is a method of execution in which the victim is typically tied to the mouth of a cannon and the cannon is fired. George Carter Stent describes the process as follows:

"The victim is generally tied to a gun with the upper part of the small of his back resting against the muzzle. When the gun is fired, his head is seen to go straight up into the air some forty or fifty feet; the arms fly off right and left, high up in the air, and fall at, perhaps, a hundred yards distance; the legs drop to the ground beneath the muzzle of the gun; and the body is literally blown away altogether, not a vestige being seen."

Blowing from a Gun was a reported means of execution as long ago as the 16th century, by the Mughal Empire, and was used until the 20th century.

February 25, 2015

bilby commented on the word blowing from a gun

That's a macabre description, though fascinating. I presume anyone who witnessed such an event could not lightly forget it, hence the hauntingly precise accounting for trajectories of body parts.

February 25, 2015