They forced them to rise and follow them 'to the place,' as they said, 'where criminals were executed'.
"Having taken a tender leave of each other, they began to descend the stairs, Cornelius de Witt leaning on his brother for support.

They had not advanced above two or three paces when a heavy blow on the head from behind precipitated the former to the bottom.

He was then dragged a short distance towards the street, trampled under foot, and beaten to death.

Meanwhile, John de Witt, after receiving a severe wound on the head with the butt-end of a musket, was brought by Verhoef, bleeding and bare-headed, before the furious multitude.

One Van Soenen immediately thrust a pike into his face, while another of the miscreants shot him in the neck, exclaiming as he fell, 'There goes down the Perpetual Edict'.