3-077-825 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Centenary of John Howard, Prison Reformer: the torture of the Boot as applied at the Prison of the Grand Châtelet, in Paris, in 1777, (1890). 'There are accounts of the shocking cruelties inflicted in French prisons, both in the capital and in the provinces. In 1777 the torture of the boot was still inflicted in Paris. In that year Desrues, a poisoner, was subjected to it, and afterwards broken on the wheel...The original print is in the Collection Hennin'. The term boot refers to a family of instruments of torture and interrogation variously designed to cause crushing injuries to the foot and/or leg. The boot has taken many forms in various places and times. One type was made of four pieces of narrow wooden board nailed together. The boards were measured to fit the victim's leg. Once the leg was enclosed, wedges would be hammered between the boards, creating pressure. The pressure would be increased until the victim confessed or lost consciousness. From "Illustrated London News", 1890.