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BYGONE PUNISHMENTS.
* * * * *
Works by William Andrews.
Mr. Andrews' books are always interesting.--_Church Bells._
No student of Mr. Andrews' books can be a dull after-dinner speaker,
for his writings are full of curious out-of-the-way information and
good stories.--_Birmingham Daily Gazette._
England in the Days of Old.
A most delightful work.--_Leeds Mercury._
A valuable contribution to archaeological lore.--_Chester Courant._
It is of much value as a book of reference, and it should find its
way into the library of every student of history and
folk-lore.--_Norfolk Chronicle._
Mr. Andrews has the true art of narration, and contrives to give us
the results of his learning with considerable freshness of style,
whilst his subjects are always interesting and
picturesque.--_Manchester Courier._
Literary Byways.
An interesting volume.--_Church Bells._
A readable volume about authors and books.... Like Mr. Andrews'
other works, the book shews wide, out-of-the-way reading.--_Glasgow
Herald._
Turn where you will, there is entertainment and information in this
book.--_Birmingham Daily Gazette._
An entertaining volume.... No matter where the book is opened the
reader will find some amusing and instructive matter.--_Dundee
Advertiser._
The Church Treasury of History, Custom, Folk-Lore, etc.
It is a work that will prove interesting to the clergy and churchmen
generally, and to all others who have an antiquarian turn of mind,
or like to be regaled occasionally by reading old-world customs and
anecdotes.--_Church Family Newspaper._
Mr. Andrews has given us some excellent volumes of Church lore, but
none quite so good as this. The subjects are well chosen. They are
treated brightly, and with considerable detail, and they are well
illustrated. The volume is full of information, well and pleasantly
put.--_London Quarterly Review._
Those who seek information regarding curious and quaint relics or
customs will find much to interest them in this book. The
illustrations are good.--_Publishers' Circular._
Curious Church Customs.
A thoroughly excellent volume.--_Publishers' Circular._
We are indebted to Mr. Andrews for an invaluable addition to our
library of folk-lore and we do not think that many who take it up
will slip a single page.--_Dundee Advertiser._
Very interesting.--_To-Day._
Mr. Andrews is too practised an historian not to have made the most
of his subject.--_Review of Reviews._
A handsomely got up and interesting volume.--_The Fireside._
* * * * *
[Illustration: TITUS OATES IN THE PILLORY.
(_From a Contemporary Print._)]
BYGONE PUNISHMENTS.
by
WILLIAM ANDREWS....
[Decoration]
London:
William Andrews & Co., 5, Farringdon Avenue, E.C.
1899.
[Device: WILLIAM ANDREWS & CO.
THE HULL PRESS]
Contents.
PAGE
HANGING 1
HANGING IN CHAINS 39
HANGING, DRAWING, AND QUARTERING 79
PRESSING TO DEATH 87
DROWNING 95
BURNING TO DEATH 98
BOILING TO DEATH 106
BEHEADING 108
THE HALIFAX GIBBET 118
THE SCOTTISH MAIDEN 128
MUTILATION 134
BRANDING 138
THE PILLORY 143
PUNISHING AUTHORS AND BURNING BOOKS 159
FINGER PILLORY 171
THE JOUGS 176
THE STOCKS 186
THE DRUNKARD'S CLOAK 201
WHIPPING AND WHIPPING-POSTS 209
PUBLIC PENANCE 227
THE REPENTANCE STOOL 239
THE DUCKING-STOOL 243
THE BRANK, OR SCOLD'S BRIDLE 276
RIDING THE STANG 299
INDEX 307
Preface.
About twenty-five years ago I commenced investigating the history of
obsolete punishments, and the result of my studies first appeared in the
newspapers and magazines. In 1881 was issued "Punishments in the Olden
Time," and in 1890 was published "Old Time Punishments": both works were
well received by the press and the public, quickly passing out of print,
and are not now easily obtainable. I contributed in 1894 to the Rev.
Canon Erskine Clarke's popular monthly, the _Parish Magazine_, a series
of papers entitled "Public Punishments of the Past." The foregoing have
been made the foundation of the present volume; in nearly every instance
I have re-written the articles, and provided additional chapters. This
work is given to the public as my final production on this subject, and
I trust it may receive a welcome similar to that accorded to my other
books, and throw fresh light on some of the lesser known byways of
history.
WILLIAM ANDREWS.
THE HULL PRESS,
_August 11th, 1898._
Bygone Punishments.
Hanging.
The usual mode of capital punishment in England for many centuries has
been, and still is, hanging. Other means of execution have been
exercised, but none have been so general as death at the hands of the
hangman. In the Middle Ages every town, abbey, and nearly all the more
important manorial lords had the right of hanging, and the gallows was
to be seen almost everywhere.
Representatives of the church often possessed rights in respect to the
gallows and its victims. William the Conqueror invested the Abbot of
Battle Abbey with authority to save the life of any malefactor he might
find about to be executed, and whose life he wished to spare. In the
days of Edward I. the Abbot of Peterborough set up a gallows at
Collingham, Nottinghamshire, and hanged thereon a thief. This proceeding
came under the notice of the Bishop of Lincoln, who, with considerable
warmth of temper, declared the Abbot had usurped his rights, since he
held from the king's predecessors the liberty of the Wapentake of
Collingham and the right of executing criminals. The Abbot declared that
Henry III. had given him and his successors "Infangthefe and Utfangthefe
in all his hundreds and demesnes." After investigation it was decided
that the Abbot was in the wrong, and he was directed to take down the
gallows he had erected. One, and perhaps the chief reason of the prelate
being so particular to retain his privileges was on account of its
entitling him to the chattels of the condemned man.
Little regard was paid for human life in the reign of Edward I. In the
year 1279, not fewer than two hundred and eighty Jews were hanged for
clipping coin, a crime which has brought many to the gallows. The
following historic story shows how slight an offence led to death in
this monarch's time. In 1285, at the solicitation of Quivil, the Bishop
of Exeter, Edward I. visited Exeter to enquire into the circumstances
relating to the assassination of Walter Lichdale, a precentor of the
cathedral, who had been killed one day when returning from matins. The
murderer made his escape during the night and could not be found. The
Mayor, Alfred Dunport, who had held the office on eight occasions, and
the porter of the Southgate, were both tried and found guilty of a
neglect of duty in omitting to fasten the town gate, by which means the
murderer escaped from the hands of justice. Both men were condemned to
death, and afterwards executed. The unfortunate mayor and porter had not
anything to do with the death of the precentor, their only crime being
that of not closing the city gate at night, a truly hard fate for
neglect of duty.
A hanging reign was that of Henry VIII. It extended over thirty-seven
years, and during that period it is recorded by Stow that 72,000
criminals were executed.
In bygone times were observed some curious ordinances for the conduct of
the Court of Admiralty of the Humber. Enumerated are the various
offences of a maritime character, and their punishment. In view of the
character of the court, the punishment was generally to be inflicted at
low-water mark, so as to be within the proper jurisdiction of the
Admiralty, the chief officer of which, the Admiral of the Humber, being
from the year 1451, the Mayor of Hull. The court being met, and
consisting of "masters, merchants, and mariners, with all others that do
enjoy the King's stream with hook, net, or any engine," were addressed
as follows: "You masters of the quest, if you, or any of you, discover
or disclose anything of the King's secret counsel, or of the counsel of
your fellows (for the present you are admitted to be the King's
Counsellors), you are to be, and shall be, had down to the low-water
mark, where must be made three times, O Yes! for the King, and then and
there this punishment, by the law prescribed, shall be executed upon
them; that is, their hands and feet bound, their throats cut, their
tongues pulled out, and their bodies thrown into the sea." The
ordinances which they were bound to observe, include the following: "You
shall inquire, whether any man in port or creek have stolen any ropes,
nets, cords, etc., amounting to the value of ninepence; if he have, he
must be hanged for the said crimes, at low-water mark." "If any person
has removed the anchor of any ships, without licence of the master or
mariners, or both, or if anyone cuts the cable of a ship at anchor, or
removes or cuts away a buoy; for any of the said offences, he shall be
hanged at low-water mark." "All breakers open of chests, or pickers of
locks, coffers, or chests, etc., on shipboard, if under the value of one
and twenty pence, they shall suffer forty days' imprisonment; but, if
above, they must be hanged as aforesaid." "If any loderman takes upon
himself the rule of any ship, and she perishes through his carelessness
and negligence, if he comes to land alive with two of his company, they
two may chop off his head without any further suit with the King or his
Admiralty." The sailor element of the population of the olden days was
undeniably rude and refractory, the above rules showing that the
authorities needed stern and swift measures to repress evildoers of that
class.
A curious Derbyshire story is told, taking us back to Tudor times,
illustrating the strange superstitions and the power exercised by the
nobility in that era. Some three hundred years ago the Peak of
Derbyshire was ruled by the iron hand of Sir George Vernon, who, from
the boundless magnificence of his hospitality at the famous Hall of
Haddon, was known throughout the country round as the "King of the
Peak." His "kingly" character was further supported by the stern
severity with which he dealt with all cases of dispute or crime that
came before him, even when human life was concerned; though it must be
added, that if strict, he was also just. The following is an instance of
his arbitrary and decisive manner of dealing with the lives of those who
came beneath his control, and shows his fondness for the exercise of the
summary processes of lynch-law. A wandering pedlar was one morning found
dead in an unfrequented part, evidently murdered. He had been hawking
his goods about the neighbourhood the previous day, and was in the
evening observed to enter a certain cottage, and after that was not
again seen alive. No sooner had Sir George Vernon become acquainted with
these facts than he caused the body to be conveyed to the hall, where it
was laid. The man occupying the cottage where the pedlar had last been
seen alive was then summoned to attend at the hall immediately, and on
arriving was met by the question, what had become of the pedlar who had
gone into his cottage on the previous evening? The fellow repudiated any
knowledge of him whatever, when the "King of the Peak" turned round,
drew off the sheet which had been placed over the dead body, and
ordered that everyone present should successively approach and touch it,
declaring at the same time each his innocence of the foul murder. The
cottar, who had retained his effrontery until now, shrank from the
ordeal, and declined to touch the body, running at once out of the hall,
through Bakewell village, in the direction of Ashford. Sir George,
coming, as he well might, to the conclusion that the suspicions which
had pointed to this man had been well founded, ordered his men to take
horse and pursue the murderer, and, overtaking him, to hang him on the
spot. They did so; he was caught in a field opposite to where the
toll-bar of Ashford stood, and there instantly hanged. The field is
still called "Galley Acre," or "Gallows Acre," on this account. It is
stated that for this exercise of his powers in summary justice Sir
George was called upon to appear at London and answer for the act. When
he appeared in court he was the first and second time summoned to
surrender as the "King of the Peak," but not replying to these, the
third time he was called by his proper title of Sir George Vernon, upon
which he acknowledged his presence, stepping forward and crying "Here am
I." The indictment having been made out against him under the title of
"King of the Peak" it was of no effect, and the worst consequence to Sir
George was that he received an admonition. He died in 1567, the
possessor of thirty Derbyshire manors, and was buried in Bakewell
Church, where his altar tomb remains to this day.
Out of the beaten track of the tourist are the gallows at Melton Ross,
Lincolnshire, with their romantic history going back to the time when
might and not right ruled the land. According to a legend current among
the country folk in the locality long, long ago, some lads were playing
at hanging, and trying who could hang the longest. One of the boys had
suspended himself from a tree when the attention of his mates was
attracted by the appearance on the scene of a three-legged hare (the
devil), which came limping past. The lads tried to catch him, and in
their eager pursuit forgot the critical position of their companion, and
on their return found him dead. The gallows is believed by many to have
been erected in remembrance of this event.
The story has no foundation in fact. A hare crossing is regarded not
only in Lincolnshire, and other parts of England, but in many countries
of the world, as indicating trouble to follow.
[Illustration: THE GALLOWS AT MELTON ROSS.]
In the days of old two notable men held lands in the district, Robert
Tyrwhitt of Kettleby and Sir William Ross of Melton, and between them
was a deadly feud, the outcome, in 1411, of a slight and obscure
question on manorial rights. It was alleged that John Rate, steward of
Sir William Ross, had trespassed on lands at Wrawby belonging to Robert
Tyrwhitt, digged and taken away turves for firing, felled trees, and
cut down brushwood. The dispute was tried by Sir William Gascoigne, but
it would appear that this did not altogether meet the requirements of
Tyrwhitt. He assembled his men in large numbers and a fight took place
with the retainers of Sir William Ross. An action of this kind could not
be tolerated even in a lawless age, and the matter was brought before
parliament. After long and careful consideration, it was decided that
Tyrwhitt was in the wrong, and in the most abject manner he had to beg
the pardon of Sir William Ross, but we are told it was merely "lip
service."
The hatred of the two families was transmitted from sire to son until
the reign of James I., and then it broke out in open warfare. A battle
was fought at Melton Ross between the followers of Tyrwhitt and those of
the Earl of Rutland, the representative of the Ross family. In the
struggle several servants were slain, and the king adopted stringent
measures to prevent future bloodshed. He directed, so says tradition,
that a gallows be erected at Melton Ross, and kept up for ever, and that
if any more deaths should result from the old feud it should be regarded
as murder, and those by whom the deadly deed was committed were to be
executed on the gallows.
We hear nothing more of the feud after the gallows had been erected, the
action of the king being the means of settling a strife which had lasted
long and kept the district in turmoil.
The gallows is on the estate of the Earl of Yarborough, and it has been
renewed by him, and according to popular belief he is obliged to prevent
it falling into decay.
Gallows Customs.
When criminals were carried to Tyburn for execution, it was customary
for the mournful procession to stop at the Hospital of St. Giles in the
Fields, and there the malefactors were presented with a glass of ale.
After the hospital was dissolved the custom was continued at a
public-house in the neighbourhood, and seldom did a cart pass on the way
to the gallows without the culprits being refreshed with a parting
draught. Parton, in his "History of the Parish," published in 1822,
makes mention of a public-house bearing the sign of "The Bowl," which
stood between the end of St. Giles's High Street, and Hog Lane.
Particulars are given by Pennant and other writers of a similar custom
being maintained at York. It gave rise to the saying, that "The saddler
of Bawtry was hanged for leaving his liquor": had he stopped, as was
usual with other criminals, to drink his bowl of ale, his reprieve,
which was actually on its way, would have arrived in time to save his
life.
Robert Dowe, a worthy citizen of London, gave to the vicar and
churchwardens of St. Sepulchre's Church, London, fifty pounds, on the
understanding that through all futurity they should cause to be tolled
the big bell the night before the execution of the condemned criminals
in the prison of Newgate. After tolling the bell, the sexton came at
midnight, and after ringing a hand-bell, repeated the following lines:--
"All you that in the condemned hold do lie,
Prepare you, for to-morrow you shall die:
Watch all and pray; the hour is drawing near
That you before the Almighty must appear;
Examine well yourselves: in time repent,
That you may not to eternal flames be sent;
And when St. Sepulchre's bell to-morrow tolls,
The Lord above have mercy on your souls!"
Next morning, when the sad procession passed the church on its way to
Tyburn, a brief pause was made at the gate of St. Sepulchre's Church,
and the clergyman said prayers for the unfortunate criminals, and at the
same time the passing-bell tolled its mournful notes.
According to a notice in a recent book by the Rev. A. G. B. Atkinson,
Robert Dowe was a merchant tailor, and a benefactor; he assisted John
Stow and others. Dowe was born 1522, and died 1612.[1]
Not a few of the highwaymen who ended their careers at the gallows
appear to have been dandies. Swift gives us a picture of one in "Clever
Tom Clinch." He says:--
"... While the rabble was bawling,
Rode stately through Holborn to die of his calling;
He stopped at the George for a bottle of sack,
And promised to pay for it--when he came back.
His waistcoat and stockings and breeches were white,
His cap had a new cherry ribbon to tie't:
And the maids at doors and the balconies ran
And cried 'Lack-a-day! he's a proper young man!'"
On January 21st, 1670, was hanged Claude Duval, a great favourite with
the ladies. It is said that ladies of quality, in masks and with tears,
witnessed his execution and that he lay in more than royal state at
Tangier Tavern, St. Giles's. His epitaph in the centre aisle of St.
Paul's, Covent Garden, may be regarded as a model for highwaymen:--
"Here lies Du Vall: reader, if male thou art,
Look to thy purse; if female to thy heart."
Sixteen-string Jack, hanged on November 30th, 1774, was dressed in a
"bright pea-green coat, and displayed an immense nosegay."
Frequently rioting occurred at executions, and unpopular criminals would
be pelted with missiles, and meet with other indications of disfavour,
but usually the sympathies of the populace were with the culprit.
Attempts at rescuing criminals would sometimes be made, and soldiers had
to be present to ensure order. On the 19th August, 1763, it is stated in
"The Annual Register," "A terrible storm made such an impression on the
ignorant populace assembled to see a criminal executed on Kennington
Common, that the sheriff was obliged to apply to the secretaries of
state for a military force to prevent a rescue, and it was near eight
o'clock in the evening before he suffered."
Another practice appears to have been to carry the body of an executed
criminal to the doors of those who had been the chief cause of the
criminal being brought to justice. We read in "The Annual Register,"
for 1763. "As soon as the execution of several criminals, condemned at
last sessions of the Old Bailey, was over at Tyburn, the body of
Cornelius Sanders, executed for stealing about fifty pounds out of the
house of Mrs. White, in Lamb Street, Spitalfields, was carried and laid
before her door, where great numbers of people assembling, they at last
grew so outrageous that a guard of soldiers was sent for to stop their
proceedings; notwithstanding which, they forced open the door, pitched
out all the salmon-tubs, most of the household furniture, piled them on
a heap, and set fire to them, and, to prevent the guards from
extinguishing the flames, pelted them off with stones, and would not
disperse till the whole was consumed." In the same work for the
following year another instance is given. "The criminal," says the
record, "condemned for returning from transportation at the sessions,
and afterwards executed, addressed himself to the populace at Tyburn,
and told them he could wish they would carry his body and lay it at the
door of Mr. Parker, a butcher in the Minories, who, it seems, was the
principal evidence against him; which, being accordingly done, the mob
behaved so riotously before the man's house, that it was no easy matter
to disperse them."
Curiosities of the Gallows.
Instances are not wanting of criminals being driven in their own
carriages to the place of execution. The story of William Andrew Horne,
a Derbyshire squire, as given in the "Nottingham Date Book," is one of
the most revolting records of villainy that has come under our notice.
His long career of crime closed on his seventy-fourth birthday, in 1759,
at the gallows, Nottingham. He had committed more than one murder, but
was tried for the death of an illegitimate child of which he was the
father. His brother laid the information which at last brought him to
justice. This brother requested him to give him a small sum of money so
that he might leave the country, but he refused to comply. He then said
he should make known his crime, but that did not frighten Horne. He
replied, "I'll chance it," and this gave rise to a well-known saying in
the Midlands, "I'll chance it as Horne did his neck." He was hanged at
Gallows-Hill, Nottingham, and was driven in his carriage by his own
coachman. We are told as the gloomy procession ascended the Mansfield
Road the white locks of the hoary sinner streamed mournfully in the
wind, his head being uncovered and the vehicle open, and the day very
tempestuous. He met his doom with a considerable degree of fortitude, in
the presence of an immense crowd of spectators, including hundreds of
his Derbyshire neighbours and tenantry.[2]
A year later Earl Ferrers was hanged for the shooting of his own
steward. On May 5th, 1760, he was driven from the Tower to Tyburn in a
landau drawn by six horses. His lordship was attired in his wedding
clothes, which were of a light colour and richly embroidered in silver.
He was hanged with a silken rope, and instead of being swung into
eternity from a common cart, a scaffold was erected under the gallows,
which we think may be regarded as the precursor of the drop. Mr. T.
Broadbent Trowsdale contributed to "Bygone Leicestershire" an informing
paper on "Laurence Ferrers: the Murderer-Earl."[3] We reproduce an
illustration of the execution from a print of the period.
Some interesting details occur in _Notes and Queries_ for May 28th,
1898, respecting "The Colleen Bawn." It is stated that when John
Scanlan had been found guilty of the murder of Ellen Hanley, the gentry
of the county of Limerick petitioned for a reprieve, which was refused.
They next requested that Scanlan be hanged with a silken cord, though
whether for its greater dignity or because it offered a possibility of
more rapid strangulation in short drop, we cannot tell. The Lord
Lieutenant thought hemp would serve the purpose. According to Haydn's
"Dictionary of Dates," Scanlan was executed 14th March, 1820.
[Illustration: EXECUTION OF EARL FERRERS AT TYBURN.
(_From a print of the period._)]
Mr. Gordon Fraser, of Wigtown, has collected much interesting local lore
respecting the town, which was made a royal burgh in 1341. In bygone
times it had the distinction of having its own public executioner.
According to traditional accounts he held office on somewhat peculiar
conditions. The law was, we are told, that this functionary was himself
to be a criminal under sentence of death, but whose doom was to be
deferred until the advance of age prevented a continuance of his
usefulness, and then he was to be hanged forthwith. If, it was said, the
town permitted the executioner to die by the ordinary decay of nature,
and not by the process of the cord, it would lose for ever the
distinguished honour of possessing a public hangman. The story of the
last official who held the tenure of his life upon being able to
efficiently despatch his fellows is sufficiently interesting. He was
taken ill, and it was seriously contemplated to make sure of having a
public hangman in the future by seizing the sick man and hanging him.
His friends, hearing of this intention, propped the dying Ketch up in
bed, and he, being by trade a shoemaker, had the tools and materials of
his trade placed before him. He made a pretence of plying his avocation,
and the townsmen, thinking his lease of life was in no danger of a
natural termination, allowed him to lie in peace. He then speedily
passed away quietly in his bed, and the outwitted burghers found
themselves without a hangman, and without hope of a successor.
A good story is told by Mr. Fraser of the last man hanged at Wigtown.
His name was Patrick Clanachan, and he was tried and found guilty of
horse-stealing. His doom was thus pronounced:--"That he be taken on the
31st August, 1709, between the hours of twelve and two in the afternoon,
to the gyppet at Wigtown, and there to hang till he was dead." Clanachan
was carried from the prison to the gallows on a hurdle, and, as the
people were hurrying on past him to witness his execution, he is said to
have remarked, "Tak' yer time, boys, there'll be nae fun till I gang."
We have heard a similar anecdote respecting a criminal in London.
At Wicklow, in the year 1738, a man named George Manley was hanged for
murder, and just before his execution he delivered an address to the
crowd, as follows: "My friends, you assemble to see--what? A man leap
into the abyss of death! Look, and you will see me go with as much
courage as Curtius, when he leaped into the gulf to save his country
from destruction. What will you say of me? You say that no man, without
virtue, can be courageous! You see what I am--I'm a little fellow. What
is the difference between running into a poor man's debt, and by the
power of gold, or any other privilege, prevent him from obtaining his
right, and clapping a pistol to a man's breast, and taking from him his
purse? Yet the one shall thereby obtain a coach, and honour, and titles;
the other, what?--a cart and a rope. Don't imagine from all this that I
am hardened. I acknowledge the just judgment of God has overtaken me. My
Redeemer knows that murder was far from my heart, and what I did was
through rage and passion, being provoked by the deceased. Take warning,
my comrades; think what would I now give that I had lived another life.
Courageous? You'll say I've killed a man. Marlborough killed his
thousands, and Alexander his millions. Marlborough and Alexander, and
many others, who have done the like, are famous in history for great
men. Aye--that's the case--one solitary man. I'm a little murderer and
must be hanged. Marlborough and Alexander plundered countries; they were
great men. I ran in debt with the ale-wife. I must be hanged. How many
men were lost in Italy, and upon the Rhine, during the last war for
settling a king in Poland. Both sides could not be in the right! They
are great men; but I killed a solitary man."
It will be seen from the following account, that in the olden time the
cost and trouble attending an execution was a serious matter:--
To the Right Honourable the Lord Commissioners of His Majesty's
Treasury.
The humble petition of Ralph Griffin, Esq., High Sheriff of the
County of Flint, for the present year, 1769, concerning the
execution of Edward Edwards, for burglary:--
_Sheweth._
That your petitioner was at great difficulty and expense by himself,
his clerks, and other messengers and agents he employed in journeys
to Liverpool and Shrewsbury, to hire an executioner; the convict
being of Wales it was almost impossible to procure any of that
country to undertake the execution.
L s. d.
Travelling and other expenses on that occasion 15 10 0
A man at Salop engaged to do this business. Gave him
in part 5 5 0
Two men for conducting him, and for their search of
him on his deserting from them on the road, and
charges on inquiring for another executioner 4 10 0
After much trouble and expense, John Babington, a
convict in the same prison with Edwards, was by
means of his wife prevailed on to execute his
fellow-prisoner. Gave to the wife 6 6 0
And to Babington 6 6 0
Paid for erecting a gallows, materials, and labour:
a business very difficult to be done in this
country 4 12 0
For the hire of a cart to convey the body, a coffin,
and for the burial 2 10 0
And for other expenses, trouble, and petty expenses,
on the occasion at least 5 0 0
----------
Total L49 19 0
==========
Which humbly hope your lordships will please to allow your
petitioner, who, etc.
Feasting at funerals in past time was by no means uncommon in Great
Britain, and perhaps still lingers in some of the remoter parts of the
country. In Scotland until the commencement of the present century
before or after executions, civic feasts were often held. After every
execution, at Paisley, says the Rev. Charles Rogers, LL.D., the
authorities had a municipal dinner. Thomas Potts was hanged at Paisley,
1797, at a cost to the town of L33 5s. 3-1/2d., of which the sum of L13
8s. 10d. was expended on a civic feast, and L1 14s. 3d. on the
entertainment of the executioner and his assistants. At Edinburgh, the
evening prior to an execution, the magistrates met at Paxton's Tavern,
in the Exchange, and made their arrangements over liquor. These
gatherings were known as "splicing the rope."[4]
During the distress which, owing to the scanty harvests of the later
years of the last century, prevailed throughout the country, but more
especially in the north, attention was drawn to an extremely curious
privilege claimed by the public executioner of Dumfries. From old times
a considerable portion of the remuneration for his hanging services was
in kind, and levied in the following manner. When the farmers and others
had set out in the public market their produce of meal, potatoes, and
similar provender, the hangman, walking along the row of sacks, thrust
into each a large iron ladle, and put the result of each "dip" into his
own sack. This tax, from the odious occupation of the collector, was
regarded by the farmers and factors with particular abhorrence, and
numerous attempts were made at different periods to put a stop to the
grievous exaction, but the progress of public opinion was so little
advanced, and the regard for the ancient trammels of feudal
arbitrariness so deep-seated, that not until 1781 was any serious
resistance made. In that year a person named Johnston stood upon what he
considered his rights, and would allow no acquaintance to be made
between his meal and the iron ladle of the Dumfries hangman. The latter,
seeing in this the subversion of every fundamental principle of social
order, to say nothing of the loss threatened to his means of
subsistence, carried his complaint to the magistrates. Consequently the
Dumfries Hampden was forthwith haled to prison. He was not, however,
long detained there, as his judges were made aware by his threats of
action for false imprisonment that they were unaware of the position in
which they and the impost stood in the eyes of the law. To remedy this
ignorance, and be fore-armed for other cases of resistance, which it was
not unlikely to suppose would follow, the Corporation of Dumfries, in
the year we have mentioned, had recourse to legal advice. That they
obtained was of the highest standing, as they applied to no less a
personage than Andrew Crosbie, the eminent advocate, who has been
immortalised in the Pleydell of "Guy Mannering." It will be interesting
to quote from the document laid before him on this occasion, containing
as it does several particulars about the hangman of the town. One part
describes the office, duties, and pay of the hangman, "who executes not
only the sentences pronounced by the magistrates of the burgh, and of
the King's judges on their circuits, but also the sentences of the
sheriff, and of the justices of the peace at their quarter sessions. The
town has been in use to pay his house rent, and a salary over and above.
Roger Wilson, the present executioner, has, since he was admitted,
received from the town L6 of salary, and L1 13s. 4d. for a house rent.
Over and above this salary and rent, he and his predecessors have been
in use of levying and receiving weekly (to wit each market day, being
Wednesday,) the full of an iron ladle out of each sack of meal, pease,
beans, and potatoes, and the same as to flounders." The history of the
impost is next very briefly dealt with, the gist of the information on
the subject being that the tax had been levied from a period beyond the
memory of the "oldest people" without quarrel or dispute. That the
resistance of Johnston was not an isolated instance we likewise learn
from this statement of the case, for it says "there appears a fixed
resolution and conspiracy to resist and forcibly obstruct the levy of
this usual custom," and as the result of the tax according to the
executioner's own version amounted to more than L13 annually, it was of
sufficient moment to make sound advice desirable. The opinion of Crosbie
was that rights obtained by virtue of office, and exercised from time
out of mind, were legal, and might very justly be enforced. While
commending the imprisonment of the dealer Johnston, he suggested that
the process of collection should be made more formal than appears to
have been the case in this instance. Officers should assist Jack Ketch
in his _role_ of tax-gatherer, and all preventers should be formally
tried by the magistrates. The tax continued to be levied. The farmers
either gave up their meal grudgingly, or, refusing, were sent to gaol.
In 1796, when the towns-people were in the utmost need of food, riots
and tumults arose in Dumfries, and as one means of allaying the popular
frenzy it was proposed by the leading member of the Corporation,
Provost Haig, that the ladle's harvest should be abolished, and his
recommendation was immediately put into effect. The hangman of Dumfries
was then one Joseph Tate, who was the last of the officers of the noose
connected officially with Dumfries; for the loss of his perquisite he
was allowed the sum of L2 yearly. It is satisfactory to learn that the
ladle itself, the only substantial relic of this curious custom, is, in
all probability preserved at the present time. A footnote in W.
McDowall's valuable "History of Dumfries," says: "The Dumfries hangman's
ladle is still to be seen we believe among other 'auld nick-nackets' at
Abbotsford." It was for many years lost sight of, till in 1818, Mr.
Joseph Train, the zealous antiquary, hunted it out, and, all rusty as it
was, sent it as a present to Sir Walter Scott.[5]
Horrors of the Gallows.
From the following paragraph, drawn from the _Derby Mercury_ of April
6th, 1738, we have a striking example of how deplorable was the conduct
of the hangman in the olden time. It is by no means a solitary instance
of it being mainly caused through drinking too freely:--
"Hereford, March 25. This day Will Summers and Tipping were executed
here for house-breaking. At the tree, the hangman was intoxicated
with liquor, and supposing that there were three for execution, was
going to put one of the ropes round the parson's neck, as he stood
in the cart, and was with much difficulty prevented by the gaoler
from so doing."
In bygone times, capital punishment formed an important feature in the
every-day life, and was resorted to much more than it now is, for in
those "good old times" little regard was paid for human life. People
were executed for slight offences. The painful story related by Charles
Dickens, in the preface to "Barnaby Rudge," is an example of many which
might be mentioned. It appears that the husband of a young woman had
been taken from her by the press-gang, and that she, in a time of sore
distress, with a babe at her breast, was caught stealing a shilling's
worth of lace from a shop in Ludgate Hill, London. The poor woman was
tried, found guilty of the offence, and suffered death on the gallows.
We have copied from a memorial in the ancient burial ground of St.
Mary's Church, Bury St. Edmunds, the following inscription which tells a
sad story of the low value placed on human life at the close of the
eighteenth century:--
READER,
Pause at this humble stone it records
The fall of unguarded youth by the allurements of
vice and the treacherous snares of seduction.
SARAH LLOYD.
On the 23rd April, 1800, in the 22nd year of her age,
Suffered a just and ignominious death.
For admitting her abandoned seducer in the
dwelling-house of her mistress, on the 3rd of
October, 1799, and becoming the instrument in
his hands of the crime of robbery and
housebreaking.
These were her last words:
"May my example be a warning to thousands."
Hanging persons was almost a daily occurrence in the earlier years of
the present century, for forging notes, passing forged notes, and other
crimes which we now almost regard with indifference. George Cruikshank
claimed with the aid of his artistic skill to have been the means of
putting an end to hanging for minor offences. Cruikshank, in a letter to
his friend, Mr. Whitaker, furnishes full details bearing on the subject.
"About the year 1817 or 1818," wrote Cruikshank, "there were one-pound
Bank of England notes in circulation, and unfortunately there were
forged one-pound bank notes in circulation also; and the punishment for
passing these forged notes was in some cases transportation for life,
and in others DEATH.
[Illustration: Mr. G. Cruikshank.]
"At that time, I resided in Dorset Street, Salisbury Square, Fleet
Street, and had occasion to go early one morning to a house near the
Bank of England; and in returning home between eight or nine o'clock,
down Ludgate Hill, and seeing a number of persons looking up the Old
Bailey, I looked that way myself, and saw several human beings hanging
on the gibbet, opposite Newgate prison, and, to my horror, two of them
were women; and upon enquiring what the women had been hung for, was
informed that it was for passing forged one-pound notes. The fact that a
poor woman could be put to death for such a minor offence had a great
effect upon me, and I at once determined, if possible, to put a stop to
this shocking destruction of life for merely obtaining a few shillings
by fraud; and well knowing the habits of the low class of society in
London, I felt quite sure that in very many cases the rascals who had
forged the notes induced these poor ignorant women to go into the
gin-shops to get 'something to drink,' and thus _pass_ the notes, and
hand them the change.
[Illustration: BANK RESTRICTION NOTE
Specimen of a Bank Note--not to be imitated.
_Submitted to the Consideration of the Bank Directors and the inspection
of the Public._]
"My residence was a short distance from Ludgate Hill (Dorset Street);
and after witnessing the tragic-scene, I went home, and in ten minutes
designed and made a sketch of this '_Bank-note not to be imitated_.'
About half-an-hour after this was done, William Hone came into my room,
and saw the sketch lying on my table; he was much struck with it, and
said, 'What are you going to do with this, George?'
"'To publish it,' I replied. Then he said, 'Will you let me have it?' To
his request I consented, made an etching of it, and it was published.
Mr. Hone then resided on Ludgate Hill, not many yards from the spot
where I had seen the people hanging on the gibbet; and when it appeared
in his shop windows, it caused a great sensation, and the people
gathered round his house in such numbers that the Lord Mayor had to send
the City police (of that day) to disperse the CROWD. The Bank directors
held a meeting immediately upon the subject, and AFTER THAT they issued
_no more_ one-pound notes, and so there was _no more hanging for
passing FORGED one-pound notes_; not only that, but ultimately no
hanging even for forgery. AFTER THIS Sir Robert Peel got a bill passed
in Parliament for the 'Resumption of cash payments.' AFTER THIS he
revised the Penal Code, and AFTER THAT _there was not any more hanging
or punishment of DEATH for minor offences_." We are enabled, by the
courtesy of Mr. Walter Hamilton, the author of a favourably-known life
of Cruikshank, to reproduce a picture of the "Bank-note not to be
imitated." In concluding his letter to Mr. Whitaker, Cruikshank said: "I
consider it the most important design and etching that I have ever made
in my life; for it has saved the life of thousands of my
fellow-creatures; and for having been able to do this Christian act, I
am, indeed, most sincerely thankful."
At Nottingham in the olden time the culprits were usually taken to St.
Mary's Church, where the officiating clergyman preached their funeral
sermon. Next they would inspect their graves, and sometimes even test
their capabilities by seeing if they were large enough to hold their
remains. Frequently they would put on their shrouds, and in various ways
try to show that they were indifferent to their impending fate. Then
they would be conveyed on a cart also containing their coffin to the
place of execution some distance from the prison.[6] Similar usages
prevailed in other places.
* * * * *
THE
BANK RESTRICTION BAROMETER;
OR, SCALE OF EFFECTS ON SOCIETY OF THE
Bank Note System, and Payments in Gold.
BY ABRAHAM FRANKLIN.
[Illustration]
[***] _To be read from the words_ "BANK RESTRICTION," _in the
middle, upwards or downwards._
NATIONAL PROSPERITY PROMOTED.
10. The Number of useless Public Executions diminished.
9. The Amelioration of the Criminal Code facilitated.
8. The Forgery of Bank Notes at an end.
7. Manufacturers and Journeymen obtain Necessaries and Comforts for
their Wages.
6. The Means of Persons with small Incomes enlarged.
5. A Fall of Rents and Prices.
4. The Circulating Medium diminished.
3. Fictitious Capital and False Credit destroyed.
2. Exchanges equalized, and the Gold Coin preserved, if allowed to
be freely exported.
1. The Gold Currency restored.
_Consequences, if taken off, will be as above:--viz._
THE BANK RESTRICTION.
_Consequences of its Operation are as follows:--viz._
1. Disappearance of the legal Gold Coin.
2. The Issues of Bank of England Notes and Country Bank Notes
extended.
3. Paper Accommodation, creating False Credit, Fictitious Capital,
Mischievous Speculation.
4. The Circulating Medium enormously enlarged.
5. Rents and Prices of Articles of the first Necessity doubled and
trebled.
6. The Income and Wages of small Annuitants, and Artizans and
Labourers, insufficient to purchase Necessaries for their Support.
7. Industry reduced to Indigence, broken-spirited, and in the
Workhouse: or, endeavouring to preserve independence, lingering in
despair, committing suicide, or dying broken-hearted.
8. The Temptation to forge Bank of England Notes increased and
facilitated.
9. New and sanguinary Laws against Forgery ineffectually enacted.
10. Frequent and useless inflictions of the barbarous Punishment of
Death.
GENERAL DISTRESS INCREASED.
* * * * *
Public executions always brought together a large gathering of men and
women, not always of the lowest order, indeed many wealthy people
attended. "The last person publicly executed at Northampton," says Mr.
Christopher A. Markham, F.S.A., "was Elizabeth Pinckhard, who was found
guilty of murdering her mother-in-law, and who was sentenced to death by
Sir John Jervis, on the 27th February, 1852. As a rule all executions
had taken place on a Monday, so a rumour was spread that the execution
would take place on Monday, the 15th of March; accordingly the people
came together in their thousands. They were, however, all disappointed;
some of them said they wished they had the under-sheriff and they would
let him know what it was to keep honest people in suspense; and one old
lady said seriously that she should claim her expenses from the sheriff.
However, on Tuesday, the 16th March, Mrs. Pinckhard was executed before
an immense number of persons, estimated at ten thousand, the day fixed
having by some means or other got known."[7] The conduct of the crowds
which gathered before Newgate and other prisons was long a blot on the
boasted civilisation of this country, and there can be little doubt that
public executions had a baneful influence on the public.
It will not be without historical interest to state that the last
execution for attempted murder was Martin Doyle, hanged at Chester,
August 27th, 1861. By the Criminal Law Consolidation Act, passed 1861,
death was confined to treason and wilful murder. The Act was passed
before Doyle was put on trial, but (unfortunately for him) did not take
effect until November 1st, 1861. Michael Barrett, author of the Fenian
explosion at Clerkenwell, hanged at Newgate, May 26th, 1868, was the
last person publicly executed in England. Thomas Wells (murderer of Mr.
Walsh, station-master at Dover), hanged at Maidstone, August 13th, 1868,
was the first person to be executed within a prison.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] "St. Botolph, Aldgate: the Story of a City Parish," 1898.
[2] "The Nottingham Date Book," 1880.
[3] Andrews's "Bygone Leicestershire," 1892.
[4] Rogers's "Social Life in Scotland," 1884.
[5] McDowall's "History of Dumfries."
[6] Stevenson's "Bygone Nottinghamshire," 1893.
[7] Markham's "History of Ancient Punishments in Northamptonshire,"
1886.
Hanging in Chains.
The time is not so far distant when the gibbet and gallows were common
objects in this country. In old road books, prepared for the guidance of
travellers, they are frequently referred to as road marks. Several
editions of Ogilby's "Itinirarium Angliae" were published between 1673
and 1717, and a few passages drawn from this work relating to various
parts of England show how frequently these gruesome instruments of death
occur:--
"By the Gallows and Three Windmills enter the suburbs of York."
"Leaving the forementioned suburbs [Durham], a small ascent passing
between the gallows and Crokehill."
"You pass through Hare Street, etc., and at 13'4 part of Epping
Forest, with a gallows to the left."
"You pass Pen-meris Hall, and at 250'4 Hilldraught Mill, both on the
left, and ascend a small hill with a gibbet on the right."
"At the end of the city [Wells] you cross a brook, and pass by the
gallows."
"You leave Frampton, Wilberton, and Sherbeck, all on the right, and
by a gibbet on the left, over a stone bridge."
"Leaving Nottingham you ascend a hill, and pass by a gallows."
Pictures found a prominent place in Ogilby's pages, and we reproduce one
of Nottingham.
[Illustration: NOTTINGHAM (_from Ogilby's "Book of Roads."_)]
It will be noticed that the gallows is shown a short distance from the
town.