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| | So Many Ways to Die |
 | | fter hanging, "breaking with the wheel" was the most common means of execution throughout Germanic Europe from the early Middle Ages to the beginning of the 18th century. |
 | | Wooden crosspieces were placed under the limbs of the victim, and the executioner then smashed the wheel into the bone between, and onto the blocks themselves, also smashing the shoulders and hips, avoiding fatal blows. |
 | | Then, the pulverized limbs were braided into the spokes of the wheel, which was hoisted to the top of a pole, where the unfortunate wretch expired slowly, crows fighting over the eyes and other tidbits. |
| www.borndigital.com /wheeling.htm (515 words) |
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