convicted in two more cases of attempted murder than in the primary court after he had attacked a group of prison guards.277 He was told the time set for his execution two days beforehand. On the same day he was given the Eucharist.278 Nordlund was executed ten days after his sentence was finalised due to the appeals, by others, for mercy was rejected.279 Sallroth and Nilsson might well have been reprieved and could thus be in need of more time to prepare when the decision that no mercy would be granted arrived. According to praxis Sallroth definitely should have been reprieved and Nilsson was a close call, while most, probably including Nordlund himself, due to the nature of his crime, a multiple homicide resulting in five deaths and several wounded, from the moment of his arrest reckoned that his execution was inevitable.280 There were, however, places where the time given to the condemned to prepare was much shorter. In a very interesting letter from the pastors of Geneva in 1773 to the city council, they pleaded for the removal of inconveniences when preparing the delinquents waiting for their execution. One of the problems they mentioned was the briefness of the time available. In Geneva the council formally announced if the condemned was to be executed or reprieved, and then on the same day the not reprieved condemned was executed. The time for preparation after the announcement was very short and any time before that was hard to use. The condemned then was hoping for a reprieve and could be too determined to lie, probably seeking to sow doubt in the council, to make a confession. This was also a trying situation for the pastors, preparing a condemned whose ultimate fate still was not known. The pastors here stressed the problems dealing with possible lies when afterwards just moments were given to obtain the confession needed to satisfy the judges, silence Among the Reformed the execution and its message 277 Bergman 1996 p 159. 278 Note 8 December D3e:4 Kriminalvårdsanstalten Västerås arkivULA. 279 Statsrådsprotokoll i justitieärende 30 November 1900NJrARAS, letter fromKBhinVästerås 10 December 1900 in konseljakt i justitiedepartementet 14 December 1900RAS. 280 See Bergman 1996 p 97 sqq, Jakobsson 1987 p 62 sqq. 91
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