Antoine le Blanc

Antoine le Blanc (c. 1800 – September 6, 1833) was a 19th-century murderer and a French immigrant to the United States.[1][2]

Le Blanc came 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.[1]

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 stabbing 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.[1]

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 of Antoine le Blanc and some other products eventually passed to Carl Scherzer, a collector of 19th-century artifacts.[1]