Maiden (guillotine)

[4] Schang also made furniture in Edinburgh, including an oak bed for Queen Mary's half-brother, the Earl of Moray.

[6] The accounts of the City Treasurer for this execution record payment for moving the components of the Maiden from Blackfriars to the town cross, assembling the machine and taking it down afterwards.

[2] The oak construction could be readily dismantled for storage, and moved to various locations: executions using it were carried out at the Mercat Cross, Edinburgh, (off the High Street), the Castlehill and the Grassmarket.

[2] A 1789 history of Halifax embellished it with the story that Morton "carried a model of it to his own country, where it remained so long unused, that it acquired the name of the Maiden.

The executioner removed the peg by pulling sharply on the cord, and this caused the blade to fall and decapitate the condemned.

If the condemned had been tried for stealing a horse, the cord was attached to the animal which, on being whipped, started running away removing the peg, thereby becoming the executioner.