Editing Death by burning (section)

====The tale of the murderous midwife====
In a few English 18th- and 19th-century newspapers and magazines, a tale was circulated about the particularly brutal manner in which a French midwife was put to death on 28 May 1673 in Paris. No fewer than 62 infant skeletons were found buried on her premises, and she was condemned on multiple accounts of abortion/[[infanticide]]. One detailed account of her supposed execution runs as follows:
{{blockquote|A gibbet was erected, under which a fire was made, and the prisoner being brought to the place of execution, was hung up in a large iron cage, in which were also placed sixteen wild cats, which had been catched in the woods for the purpose.—When the heat of the fire became too great to be endured with patience, the cats flew upon the woman, as the cause of the intense pain they felt.—In about fifteen minutes they had pulled out her entrails, though she continued yet alive, and sensible, imploring, as the greatest favour, an immediate death from the hands of some charitable spectator. No one however dared to afford her the least assistance; and she continued in this wretched situation for the space of thirty-five minutes, and then expired in unspeakable torture. At the time of her death, twelve of the cats were expired, and the other four were all dead in less than two minutes afterwards.}}

The English commentator adds his own view on the matter:{{blockquote|However cruel this execution may appear with regard to the poor animals, it certainly cannot be thought too severe a punishment for such a monster of iniquity, as could calmly proceed in acquiring a fortune by the deliberate murder of such numbers of unoffending, harmless innocents. And if a method of executing murderers, in a manner somewhat similar to this was adapted in England, perhaps the horrid crime of murder might not so frequently disgrace the annals of the present times.<ref>''Stevens'' (1764), [https://books.google.com/books?id=DIsfAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA522 pp. 522–523]</ref> }}
The English story is derived from a pamphlet published in 1673.<ref>For full title and provenance, see item 357 in ''Nassau'' (1824), [https://books.google.com/books?id=MDlbAAAAQAAJ&pg=RA1-PA17 p. 17]</ref>