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Gov Palacio had a murderer's head and hands mounted as reminders
Source: The Governorship of Spanish Florida #122
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The records of still a fourth case indicate that the circumstances under which the crime was committed also determined the degree of punishment. In 1760 the forced laborer, Joseph de la Paz, murdered his Spanish overseer, Blas de Ortega, stabbing him seven times in the mouth, breast, and back during a fight at a quarry near Apalache. In this affair the governor demanded immediate retribution. Unlike the Negro slave of Zuniga’s time, Paz had killed a Spaniard with some official standing. Justice moved swiftly. Paz confessed his crime and was sentenced to death by the governor’s summary court. But on this occasion death was not a severe enough penalty. Governor Palacio ordered Paz’s head and hands severed from his body. He then commanded that the head and one hand be placed at the site of the murder to serve as a sober reminder to other forced laborers who might entertain similar ideas. The other hand was put on display at Fort San Marcos de Apalache as another grim momento of the misdeed. (Tepaske GSF)
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