Letting a sharp hatchet swish down in a runner between two verticals onto the secured neck of a condemned criminal in order to separate his or her head and body with a single, precise blow was in principle already a tried and trusted method of execution by 1789 (cf. fig. 1). It is attested from the 15th century, especially in Italy, where it was called the mannaia (“directed axe”), and a 1730 travel journal by the Dominican Labat gives a detailed description [1. 40–41]; [13]. Pr…