The record of this event is precise. In the summer of 1669, Jacques Nourry raped the 5-year-old daughter of Nicholas and Jeanne Leroy. On Aug. 9, the distraught parents swore a warrant against Nourry in their daughter’s name. No fewer than three doctors examined the girl before submitting their report to the Sovereign Council of Quebec through the office of the Assistant Attorney General. On Aug. 12, 1669, the council passed sentence.

“The Sovereign Council has decided and does declare that the said Jacques Nourry is guilty of the act and convicts him of having violated the said Marie Leroy and in reparation does condemn him to be hanged and strangled on a gallows; then his body taken to a public place where his head shall be severed and placed on a post, this to give thought to those who would violate children. – Made and done by the Court at Quebec the 12th of August 1669.”

They executed Nourry on Aug. 19, 1669.

Our delicate sense of civilization reels at the barbarism meted by the council. We favor “The List.” Currently, pedophiles and bleeding hearts who champion the cause of criminals over victims seek to decimate the list as unnecessarily harsh and inhumane. They flippantly dismiss the devastating consequences for the victims, our children.

Before suppressing the list, I have one question for the bleeding hearts and those defensive of pedophiles. Where in the name of Hades are you when lifelong trauma and families bury the victims?

Roger R. Turcotte, Lewiston