Science Fair Project Encyclopedia
Execution by pressing
Pressing (also known in England by its French name, peine forte et dure) was a form of torture and capital punishment carried out by laying a prisoner on the ground and placing a board on top of them. Rocks or other weights were then placed on top of the board until his or her body was crushed. It was abolished as a judicial punishment in England in 1772.
Pressing as a mode of torture was carried out in Arthur Miller's The Crucible when an elderly man, Giles Corey, refused to answer to charges of witchcraft: "All he would say was, more weight".
10-26-2009 08:16:03
The contents of this article is licensed from www.wikipedia.org under the GNU Free Documentation License. Click here to see the transparent copy and copyright details
The contents of this article is licensed from www.wikipedia.org under the GNU Free Documentation License. Click here to see the transparent copy and copyright details