MY EXPERIENCES AS AN EXECUTIONER.
[Illustration: James Berry]
MY
EXPERIENCES
AS AN
EXECUTIONER
BY
JAMES BERRY
_Edited by H. Snowden Ward._
LONDON:
PERCY LUND & CO
MEMORIAL HALL, LUDGATE CIRCUS, E.C.
COPYRIGHT IN UNITED STATES AND BRITISH ISLES.
PRINTED BY
[Publisher's mark]
PERCY LUND AND CO.,
BRADFORD.
Copyright in United States and British Isles.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
INTRODUCTION 7
CHAPTER I.
THE EXECUTIONER AT HOME 11
CHAPTER II.
HOW I BECAME AN EXECUTIONER 16
CHAPTER III.
MY FIRST EXECUTION 23
CHAPTER IV.
MY METHOD OF EXECUTION--CALCULATIONS AND APPARATUS 30
CHAPTER V.
MY METHOD OF EXECUTION--THE PROCEEDINGS 45
CHAPTER VI.
OTHER METHODS OF EXECUTION 50
CHAPTER VII.
TWO TERRIBLE EXPERIENCES 59
CHAPTER VIII.
HOW MURDERERS DIE 66
CHAPTER IX.
FROM THE MURDERER'S POINT OF VIEW 95
CHAPTER X.
ON CAPITAL PUNISHMENT 106
CHAPTER XI.
HANGING: FROM A BUSINESS POINT OF VIEW 117
CHAPTER XII.
THE PRESS AND THE PUBLIC 124
CHAPTER XIII.
INCIDENTS AND ANECDOTES 132
APPENDIX.
THE TROUBLE WITH "ANSWERS" LIMITED 141
INTRODUCTION.
The intention of both the author and the editor of this little book
has been to set forth, as plainly and as simply as possible, certain
facts and opinions with regard to what is undoubtedly a most important
subject--the carrying out of the ultimate sentence of the law. While
facts have not been in any way shirked or misrepresented, much that
is horrible in detail has been suppressed; so that people who may be
tempted to take up the book in search of ghastly descriptive writing,
are warned at the outset that they will be disappointed.
It is believed that a publication of Mr. Berry's experiences will
correct many errors and misconceptions as to the way in which capital
sentences are carried out in England; and that it will lead to a
consideration of the whole subject, from a practical, rather than from
a sentimental, point of view.
The management, and, if possible, the regeneration of the criminal
classes, is one of the most serious tasks that civilisation has to
face; and those who undertake such a task require all the light that
can possibly be thrown upon the subject. The public executioner has
many and special opportunities of studying the criminal classes, and
of knowing their attitude and feelings with regard to that capital
punishment which civilisation regards as its strongest weapon in the
war against crime. When, as in the case of Mr. Berry, several years'
experience in various police forces can be added to his experience as
an executioner, the man who has had these exceptional opportunities
of studying criminals and crime, must necessarily have gathered much
information and formed opinions that are worthy of attention.
Therefore, this book has a higher aim than the mere recording of the
circumstances and incidents of the most painful business in which a man
can engage. The recording is necessary, for without the facts before
them, readers could not form their own opinions; but it is hoped that
the facts will be read with more than mere curiosity, that the readers
will be led to take a personal interest in the weak and erring brethren
who form the criminal classes, the canker-worm of our social system.
* * * * *
An explanation of how this book was written may not be out of place.
The statements are _entirely_ those of the author, though in many cases
the words are those of the editor, whose task consisted of re-arranging
and very greatly condensing the mass of matter placed in his hands
by Mr. Berry. The narrative and descriptive portion of the work is
taken from a series of note-books and a news-cuttings book kept by
Mr. Berry; who includes the most minute particulars in his diaries.
One chapter--"My First Execution"--is word for word as written in the
diary, with the exception that a few whole pages of descriptive detail
are omitted, and indicated by points (thus....) The chapter "On Capital
Punishment," and portions of other chapters, were not written out at
length by Mr. Berry, but were supplied in the form of full notes, and
the principal portions dictated. In every case, however, the opinions
are those of the author, with whom the editor is by no means in entire
personal agreement.
CHAPTER I.
The Executioner at Home.
BY H. SNOWDEN WARD.
James Berry, though regarded by some people as a monster, and by
others as a curiosity, is very much like any other working-man when
one comes to know him. He is neither a paragon of perfection, nor an
embodiment of all vice--though different classes of people have at
times placed him under both these descriptions. His character is a
curious study--a mixture of very strong and very weak traits, such as
is seldom found in one person. And although one of his weak points is
his Yorkshire open-hearted frankness, which he tries to control as
much as possible, the man who has only been with him a few days has
not by any means got to the depths of his character. His wife has said
to me more than once:--"I have lived with him for nineteen years, but
I don't thoroughly know him yet," and one can quite understand it, as
his character is so many-sided and in some respects contradictory.
This partly accounts for the varying and contradictory views of his
personality which have been published in different papers.
His strongest point is his tender-heartedness. Perhaps this may be
doubted, but I state the fact from ample knowledge. Mr. Berry's
occupation was not by any means taken up from a love of the ghastly,
or any pleasure in the work. Even in his business as executioner his
soft-heartedness has shown itself, for though it has never caused him
to flinch on the scaffold, it has led him to study most carefully the
science of his subject, and to take great pains to make death painless.
Of this trait I have had many proofs. For instance, I know that on
some occasions when he has been due to start for a place of execution,
his repugnance to the task has been so great that his wife and her
mother have been obliged to use the greatest possible force of
persuasion to prevent him shirking his duty. Another instance of this
characteristic appeared when I was overhauling his manuscript and
cuttings for the purpose of this book. I came across a copy of a poem
"For one under Sentence of Death," and made some enquiry about it.
I found that the lines were some which Mr. Berry had copied from a
Dorchester newspaper, and that for a long time it had been his habit
to make a copy of them, to send to the chaplain in every case where a
prisoner was sentenced to death, with a request that they should be
read to the prisoner. This was continued until the governor of one of
the gaols resented the sending of such a poem to the chaplain, and
intimated that in all cases the chaplain was best able to judge of
what was necessary for the condemned man, and did not need any outside
interference. After this Mr. Berry sent no more poems, but he kept one
or two copies by him, and I think that it may interest the reader.
LINES FOR ONE UNDER SENTENCE OF DEATH.
My brother,--Sit and think,
While yet some hours on earth are left to thee;
Kneel to thy God, who does not from thee shrink,
And lay thy sins on Christ, who died for thee.
He rests His wounded hand
With loving kindness, on thy sin-stained brow,
And says--"Here at thy side I ready stand,
To make thy scarlet sins as white as snow.
"I did not shed My blood
For sinless angels, good and pure and true;
For hopeless sinners flowed that crimson flood,
My heart's blood ran for you, my son, for you.
"Though thou hast grieved me sore,
My arms of mercy still are open wide,
I still hold open Heaven's shining door,
Come then--take refuge in My wounded side.
"Men shun thee--but not I,
Come close to me--I love my erring sheep.
My blood can cleanse thy sins of blackest dye,
I understand, if thou canst only weep."
Words fail thee--never mind,
Thy Saviour can read e'en a sigh, or tear;
I came, sin-stricken heart, to heal and bind,
And died to save thee--to My heart thou'rt dear.
Come now--the time is short,
Longing to pardon and to bless, I wait;
Look up to Me, My sheep so dearly bought,
And say, "forgive me, e'er it is too late." E. B. C.
The soft-heartedness of Mr. Berry's nature would quite unfit him for
his post if it were not that he possesses a strong resolution, and can
control his feelings when he finds duty warring against inclination.
In personal appearance he is a kindly-looking man, thickset and
muscular, with a florid complexion and sandy hair. He stands 5ft. 8½in.
high, weighs 13 stones, and does not look the sort of man to willingly
injure anyone. The appearance of his right cheek is somewhat marred
by a long, deep scar, extending downwards from the corner of the eye,
which has given rise to one or two sensational stories from the pens of
imaginative newspaper men. The scar was caused by the kick of a horse
which he attempted to ride when he was a boy about ten years old. The
horse was young, unbroken and vicious, and its kick narrowly missed
being fatal. Across his forehead is another great scar, the result
of a terrible blow received when arresting a desperate character in
a Bradford public-house. The man was one of a gang of six, and his
comrades helped him to violently resist arrest, but Berry stuck to his
captive until he was safely locked in the Bradford Town Hall, and the
six men all had to "do time" for the assault.
Mr. Berry was born on February 8th, 1852, at Heckmondwike, in
Yorkshire. His father was a wool-stapler, holding a good position in
the district. Young Berry's education was obtained at the Wrea Green
School, near Lytham, where he gained several prizes for his writing and
drawing. His writing ability was useful to him later in life, when he
was employed by a lithographer, to write "copper-plate" transfers. In
1874 he was married, and has had six children. Of these, two boys and a
girl died while young, and two boys and a girl are living.
The "executioner's office," as Mr. Berry likes to call it on his
official communications, is a house just off City Road, Bradford. It
is one of six owned by Mr. Berry. When he first took the position of
executioner some of his neighbours were so prejudiced against the work,
that they refused to live "next door to a hangman," and as landlords
naturally object to losing two or three tenants for the sake of keeping
one, Mr. Berry was obliged to move once or twice, and came to the
conclusion that he had better be his own landlord. The prejudice which
then existed has been lived down, and there is now no difficulty in
letting neighbouring houses to respectable tenants.
The house in Bilton Place is furnished just the same as hundred
of other houses in the district that are occupied by better-class
artisans, and there is nothing at all gloomy or gruesome about the
place. In fact, there is no indication of the business of the occupant.
There are, in the front room, two frames of small photographs, which
are really portraits of some of the murderers who have been executed
by Mr. Berry, but the frames bear no inscription. In a glass-fronted
sideboard, too, there are a few handsome electro goblets, cruet stands
and similar articles that have been given to Mr. Berry by some of his
admirers, but no one would connect them with his business. In drawers
and cupboards about the place there are (or were, for they have now
gone to Madame Tussaud's) a large number of relics and mementos of
executions and other incidents. Amongst them is the great knife, once
used by the executioner of Canton for the beheading of nine pirates.
This was obtained in exchange for a rope with which several persons had
been hanged. These relics were all stowed well away, and were not by
any means "on show," though the executioner did not object to producing
them if a personal friend wished to see them.
In conversation Mr. Berry is fluent, apt in anecdote and illustration,
and full of a subtle Yorkshire humour which he cannot entirely shake
off even when talking on serious subjects. He has a very good memory
for facts, and is very observant, so that he is always ready with a
personal experience or observation on almost any topic. His tastes are
simple. His favourite occupations are fishing and otter hunting, of
both of which sports he is passionately fond. Frequently when going to
an execution in a country town he takes his rod and basket, and gets a
half-day's fishing before or after the execution. He seems to like the
sport on account of its quiet and contemplative nature, and says that
he enjoys the fishing even if he never gets a nibble.
At home Mr. Berry devotes himself largely to mechanical pursuits. At
the present time he is working a patent which he bought recently, and
has the topmost room of his house fitted as a mechanic's workshop, with
lathe, bench, etc. In spare time he devotes a good deal of attention to
his pigeons and rabbits, for he is an ardent fancier, and keeps a large
number of live pets.