Antoine le Blanc (c. 1800 – September 6, 1833) was a 19th-century murderer and a French immigrant to the United States. Le Blanc went to New York to seek his fortune after being disowned by his family in France. He spoke little to no English and committed the crime only a few weeks after he arrived in the United States. In 1833, a few weeks after his arrival in the country, le Blanc was allowed to live in the small, dank basement of the Morristown, New Jersey farmhouse of the Judge Samuel Sayre family, in exchange for chopping wood and feeding hogs. He was unpaid. After two weeks of taking orders and hard work, he became angry and murdered the farmer by hitting him in the back with an ax, his wife Sarah, whom he killed with a club, and their servant Phoebe, who may have been a slave. He proceeded to ransack the house for valuables. After the crime was discovered, le Blanc was tracked down, captured and tried. The local judge ordered him hanged and dissected. Le Blanc was hanged for his crime before over ten thousand witnesses on September 6, 1833. After his death, le Blanc was taken to a medical lab and experimented on with electrical currents. Later, his skin was "dissected" to be made into wallets, purses, lampshades, and book jackets. His face was made into a plaster mask. The

death mask A death mask is a likeness (typically in wax or plaster cast) of a person's face after their death, usually made by taking a cast or impression from the corpse. Death masks may be mementos of the dead, or be used for creation of portraits. It ...

of Antoine le Blanc and some other products eventually passed to

Carl Scherzer Karl Ritter von Scherzer (sometimes written Carl; 1 May 1821 in Vienna – 19 February 1903 in Görz) was an Austrian explorer, diplomat and natural scientist. Biography He began his working life as a printer. After inheriting a fortune, Scherz ...

, a collector of 19th-century artifacts.

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External links

Sayre family: lineage of Thomas Sayre, a founder of Southampton, by Theodore Melvin BantaS.P. Hull's report of the trial and conviction of Antoine Le Blanc for the murder of the Sayre family : at Morristown, N.J., on the night of the eleventh of May, 1833 : with his confession, as given to Mr. A. Boisaubin, the interpreter.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Le Blanc, Antoine 1833 deaths People from Morristown, New Jersey French people executed abroad People executed for murder People executed by New Jersey by hanging 19th-century executions of American people People convicted of murder by New Jersey 19th-century executions by the United States French people convicted of murder Year of birth uncertain Executed French people 1833 murders in the United States