Torture and the Execution
On June 21, 1734, the Court of the Juridiction royale of Montréal enforced the sentence handed down by the Conseil supérieur, the highest court in the land. The slave Angélique was subjected to a final interrogation under torture, as permitted by the Criminal Ordinance of 1670 for serious crimes. This provision was used as a means to extract a confession -- which corroborated the evidence in some trials -- and to reveal the identity of accomplices.
The accused was subjected to "torture in the ordinary and extraordinary ways" with the "boot". The procedure consisted of binding the prisoner's legs tightly together between planks of hardwood, and then inserting a wedge of wood with a mallet (four wedges for torture in the ordinary way and four more for torture in the extraordinary way) while the judge attempted to have her admit her guilt.
Angélique confessed, but insisted that she had acted alone. She was publicly executed on June 21, 1734 and her remains burned. The following year, all search efforts to find Thibault were abandoned.
Animation
Colonial Correspondence
Court Documents