While researching “body parts,” I started seeing multiple articles about people cut in half. Each one was more gruesome than the last. And so, for those who come here for the gory truth of history, here are five detailed accounts of people cut into (at least) two pieces.
1. Thrown Against Saw’s Edge
So let’s jump right into the gruesome stuff. In Minnesota, 1915, John Posten “was instantly killed in his father’s sawmill at Palisade when, in oiling the saw, he was caught in a belt and thrown against the saw’s edge. His body was cut in two at the breast.” [Source]
2. No One Saw It Coming
In yet another sawmill accident, we have Herbert Williams, 19, of Virginia, who “was cut in two by falling on a rapidly-revolving saw… He was employed at the mill, and in passing the saw, slipped and fell.” [Source]
3. Shot in Two
In Ohio, 1908, farmer John McCullough, 62, “accidentally shot and instantly killed himself. He started out to shoot a hawk and the gun, becoming caught on a corncrib door, discharged both barrels into his abdomen, cutting the body into two parts.” [Source]
4. All Sawed Up
Next, we have an all-to-familiar form of body disposal. In Arkansas, 1912, “the dismembered body of 18-year-old Olive Barham, daughter of a farmer… was found scattered on a mountain side by a party of hunters. The body had been dissected with a saw after the girl had been criminally assaulted. The lower limbs had been cut off, the girl decapitated and the body cut in two.” [Source]
5. A Fiendish Crime and Horrible Tragedy
Finally, we have the following horrific news reports from out of Kansas, 1886:
“Last Saturday, the wife of Jacob Freimuth, a homesteader… was cruelly murdered by Fritz Rupen, a half-witted German, who was dragged to death later. Rupen had been for some time enjoying the hospitality of the Freimuths. He was homeless and without friends and they had taken him in until he could find work.”
Last Saturday, “during the temporary absence of Mr. Freimuth, Rupen overpowered his benefactor’s wife and brutally assaulted her. He then bound the lady hand and foot and cut her through from ear to ear. The brute then secured an old rusty hoe, and while the woman was yet writhing in the death struggle, he disemboweled her with the blunt instrument. Mrs. Freimuth was pregnant, and when discovered her baby lay a few feet from the body cut in two.
“Mr. Freimuth returned on Sunday and when he discovered the mutilated body of his wife he became a raving maniac. A neighbor passed that way shortly after 12 o’clock and found him wild with frenzy. He rode rapidly to a settlement eight miles distant and told the terrible tale. A party was organized and they returned to the scene of the outrage and found Freimuth weltering in his own blood. He had killed himself with a shotgun.
“A grave was dug and the remains of the unfortunate people were buried. The posse then sent out to scour the country for the murderer, and found him secreted in a ravine several miles from the scene of his crime… Some speculation was indulged in as to the proper method of ridding the world of him, but not much time was consumed in deliberating.
“A spirited horse was secured and saddled. One end of the long lariat was then fastened around his neck and the other extremity was attached to the pommel of the saddle. The horse was then started, and amid the shooting of the men and crack of revolvers and rifles the frightened animal tore madly away. After a run of nearly five miles the beast fell exhausted and the lifeless body of the murderer was loosened as the men came up. The lariat had drawn so tight that his head was almost severed from his body.
“The body was left lying on the prairie.” [Source]
