2023-05-06 23:41:00
José González Irigoyen, 81 years old, an executioner by profession. Son, cousin and brother of executioners. Before he turned 10 he already helped his father in the sinister art of the vile club. Experience was not lacking. On his back he accumulated 56 years of office and 191 deaths when he was required to carry out what would be his last service, the soldier Juan Chinchurreta, who went down in history as one of the most seedy and shocking executions in Spain in the XIX and XX centuries. All this, in the presence of a thousand residents in the heart of Zaragoza.
The cause was nonsense from the beginning. Chinchurreta had been sentenced to death, along with another soldier and a corporal from Jaca, as perpetrators of the Anzánigo crime: the murder of 24-year-old Pascual Abad, in order to steal the 50 pesetas he had earned for working on the construction sites. the railway line from Zaragoza to Canfranc (Huesca). The two cronies always proclaimed his innocence, although they acknowledged that they were with the murderer at the time of the murder.
Corporal Ibargüen was pardoned shortly before the date set for the execution. Guerrero, for his part, did not seem to have the same fate, but something happened at the last moment: «Moments after confessing to the priest, the soldier Chinchurreta called the investigating judge to declare that he was the only author of the crime. crime. He quickly notified the captain general and the auditor by telephone of the case. The convicted man said that he had committed the murder alone and that Guerrero and Ibargüen (the latter already pardoned) were innocent, since neither materially nor morally they had intervened in the murder. He also recognized that he had imposed himself on them through the terror that he instilled », reported ‘El Correo Español’. ‘El Heraldo de Madrid’ added other details in this regard: «With his partner already executed, Guerrero has been granted a pardon. The news affected him so much that although he wanted to break down in tears, he couldn’t. He was later taken to the military prisons, where he testified again. The pardon was received with general joy, which would have been complete if it had also reached the unfortunate whose corpse still lies warm on the disgusting boards of the dishonorable gallows.
Chinchurreta, in effect, did not obtain clemency from the Government as the confessed perpetrator of the crime, despite the fact that the victim’s family and the Ayerbe (Huesca) City Council requested his pardon. His “sloppy and embarrassing” execution, on January 17, 1893, marked a milestone in the rejection of the Aragonese towards the death penalty. We must not forget that in Zaragoza the liberal bourgeoisie and anarchism had been taking root for some time, two ideologies contrary to capital punishment.
demonstrations
A year earlier, in fact, in the city there had been concentrations at the gates of the prison, in the Court and in the Civil Government, with the aim of avoiding the application of the vile garrotte to two of the four convicted of the murder of a hat maker. The other two had already been pardoned, so the protesters were convinced that they could obtain a pardon for the other two as well. Their conviction was such that they even ignored orders to disband and continued protests at the university, at the Captaincy, at the Military Hospital and at the Archbishopric. Even the stores closed and several public workers refused to be hired for such a task. The pressure ended up having an effect and the same afternoon that they were to be executed, these two inmates finally received a pardon from the authorities.
In the case of Chinchurreta, however, everything followed its course. The octogenarian executioner seemed to be happy that Pascual Abad’s murderer received no mercy. Such was the rejection that he received from the neighbors that Irigoyen was described by the newspapers as a “sinister character, stooped and ailing.” The same ‘Heraldo de Madrid’ said of him: «He is 81 years old, has completely white hair and has a very unpleasant appearance that makes him extremely repulsive».
The executioner fulfilled his obligations with pleasure and was even offensive to his fellow professionals, whom he accused of being finicky. He forgot his trembling legs when it came to applying the garrote in recent years. Or that he had shown on some occasion that he killed badly, an unforgivable fact for the rest of the executioners, who considered it a humiliation to take longer than necessary to send the prisoner to the other world.
An old man
At that time in his life, and clinging to his position despite his eighty chestnuts, Irigoyen had trouble even climbing the scaffold. And that day he wasn’t going to be any different, which didn’t stop him from getting the temper out of him and being demanding. “Contrary to what is customary,” recounted ‘El Liberal’, the executioner, under the pretext of his advanced age, has expressed his desire to raise the stage during the day. When they have tried to dissuade him, he has replied that, if this is not done, he will refuse to work. Seeing his attitude, he agreed to his requests and they began to raise the gallows, with a group of infantry soldiers standing guard to avoid any eventuality ».
The day started badly and would end worse. Irigoyen was testing the club before the arrival of Chinchurreta. Everything was ready, with the journalists and close to a thousand residents gathered in the Plaza del Mercado Central to witness the grotesque that ‘El Heraldo de Madrid’ described as follows: «First he took off Chinchurreta’s military jacket, then put on his clothes and binding him hand and foot. He spent a lot of time on this task, doing it with such cynicism that it made a painful impression on those present. The prisoner remained silent the entire time and automatically obeyed everything the executioner ordered. When the supreme moment arrived, thousands of people crowded around the gallows defended by the military. The snow fell in tiny flakes that hurt the face as if they were artillerymen and the cold increased, which was already extraordinary, increased.
The entire ritual followed the same pattern of the time. The prisoner was taken by car or mule to the place where he had committed the crime for which he was convicted. Then he was sent to prison for a day, which is known as “being in chapel.” During this time, the executioner had to be as close to him as possible, often in an adjoining cell, because when the time came, she had to dress him and ask for his forgiveness. Finally, the prisoner was allowed to choose the last meal and later went in procession to the gallows, along with the priests, the hooded brotherhoods and, on occasions, even with a military band. “God willing Zaragoza be freed from such a tremendous spectacle!” cried ‘El Diario de Huelva’, without his words being heard.
“Come on, come on”
The description of what happened varied in detail according to the newspaper, but all agreed on the “horror” of the scene. “The crowd eagerly followed the prisoner’s slightest movements,” recounted ‘El Heraldo de Madrid. He climbed the scaffold nervously agitated, moved. Without saying a word, he stepped onto the bench. The executioner, meanwhile, cachazudly concluded the preparations. The priest then covered the prisoner’s face with a black handkerchief. The executor then tightened the screw and the people screamed in horror. The condemned man, seized with nervous convulsions, shook himself several times on the bench and suffered a horrible death due to the ineptitude of the executioner and his advanced age ».
The version of ‘La Época’ was so rich in detail that it was impressive: «Chinchurreta’s expression when he went up to the gallows was indifferent, the same one he had shown before in the chapel. The executioner tested the device and the prisoner then sat on the bench so that he could tighten the ring around his neck. In such a position he kept her for three minutes, until, finally, he made up his mind. Then he threw a black handkerchief over her face and turned the screw, but something horrible happened: since Chinchurreta’s feet were not tied, they launched into the air in convulsive movements. To this it had to be added that the executioner was not capable of fulfilling his mission and had to turn the apparatus five and a half more times, which made the unfortunate soldier suffer desperately. Rumors of protest were heard among the public »
It was ‘El Correo Militar’ that was most critical of the performance of our octogenarian protagonist: «After Chinchurreta willingly granted his pardon to the executioner, the priest said: «In proof of charity, my son, embrace him». When the condemned man was preparing to do so, the executioner withdrew and responded in a dry tone: “No, no, I do not allow it.” In view of the fact that the prisoner did not promptly remove his jacket to be dressed, González Irigoyen added: “Come on, hala, hala.” Regarding the execution, the rudeness and harshness revealed by the aforementioned details, the executioner added the lack of strength and aptitude to carry out his sad mission as a result of his age. Our colleagues from the capital of Aragon protested what happened and asked for his replacement ».
When the details of that episode reached the ears of the president of the Audiencia de Zaragoza, he opened a file on him and asked that the appropriate medical tests be carried out on him. They concluded that, since he was already 81 years old, he was not in a position to practice his trade and he was suspended.
Seven years after that episode, the brothers Mariano and Lorenzo Ara, convicted of a robbery with homicide in the Plaza del Justicia in Zaragoza, were pardoned the eve of their execution, while the Army rebuilt the scaffold that someone had destroyed.
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