Other Methods of Execution.
From time to time people raise an outcry against the English mode of
putting criminals to death, and there are many Englishmen who have a
firm conviction that hanging is the very worst and most unscientific
form of capital punishment. The prejudices of these people seem to
be based on an utterly wrong idea of how an English execution is
conducted, and I hope that the chapter dealing with my method will form
the basis for a truer judgment.
[Illustration: English Axe and Block, now in the Tower of London.]
Of methods of execution that have been suggested as substitutes for
hanging, there are some which hardly deserve consideration, because
there is no considerable number of people who would approve of them.
The various methods of beheading are hardly likely to be ever in favour
with Englishmen generally, for they want executions to be as free as
possible from revolting details. The old headsman's axe and block
which are still to be seen in the Tower, are in themselves sufficient
argument against a revival of their use. Apart from the fact that
beheading under the best conditions is revolting, we must further
consider that from the very nature of the office, the executioner
who has to hack off his victim's head must be a brutal and degraded
man, and the chances are that he will not be so skilful or so careful
as he ought to be for the performance of such a task. Even amongst
races which are not so highly civilised as the English, and where it
is easier to obtain headsmen of proportionately better standing, we
occasionally hear of more than one blow being required to cause death,
and such a state of things is very horrible. In China decapitation
has been reduced to almost a science, and the Chinese executioners
are probably the most skilful headsmen in the world. I have in my
possession a Chinese executioner's knife, with which the heads of nine
pirates were severed in nine successive blows, and a terrible knife it
is, and well fitted for the purpose. Yet even with such a weapon, and
with the skill and experience which Chinese executioners attain from
frequent practice, the blow sometimes fails, as was the case in one of
the last batch of Chinese executions reported in the English newspapers.
[Illustration: Executioner's Sword, Canton.]
Even the guillotine, which is often spoken of as the only perfect and
certain method, has been known to fail, and we have cases in which the
knife has been raised and dropped a second time before causing death.
In any case, whether the guillotine, the axe, or the Chinese knife is
used, and whatever care may be taken to render the death painless and
instantaneous, there is a horrible mutilation of the sufferer that must
be revolting to all sensitive people.
[Illustration: The Guillotine.]
The Spanish and Spanish-American method of execution, by means of
the garotte, has been much praised by some advocates of reform. The
prisoner to be garotted is placed in a chair, to the back of which
an iron collar is attached in such a manner that it can be drawn
partly through the chair-back by means of a heavily weighted lever.
When the lever and weight are raised the head can be passed through
the collar, and by dropping the weight the collar is drawn tight and
causes strangulation. This method is certain, but I do not consider
it so good as the present English system of hanging, because death
by strangulation is much slower and more painful than death by
dislocation. In one form of the garotting chair this fact has been
recognised, and an iron spike is placed immediately behind the neck,
so that when the pressure is applied the spike enters between two of
the vertebræ and severs the spinal cord. This I consider worse than
our own system, because the iron spike must cause a certain amount of
bleeding, which the English method avoids.
[Illustration: The Garotte.]
The American system of hanging, which has been recently superseded by
electrocution, was but a slight modification of the ancient system of
Jack Ketch, or the time-honoured method of Judge Lynch. In these older
systems the convict stood upon the ground while the rope was placed
round his neck, and the other end passed over the arm of the gallows,
or the limb of a tree. Then the executioner and his assistants hauled
on the other end of the rope, until the victim was swung clear off the
ground and was gradually strangled. In the improved American method the
place of the executioner was taken by a heavy weight which was attached
to the rope and which rapidly ran up the convict to a height of some
feet. In some few very extreme cases of heavy bodies with frail necks
this may have caused dislocation, but as a rule strangulation would be
the cause of death.
[Illustration: Old Methods.]
When the use of electricity for executions began to be talked of as a
practical possibility, I naturally took much interest in the subject.
As the result of all the enquiries I was enabled to make, I concluded
that although electrocution--as the Americans call it--is theoretically
perfect, it presents many practical difficulties. The experience of
the authorities in the case of the wretched man, Kremmler, who was
executed by electricity in New York, fully proves that as yet we do
not know enough about the conditions under which electricity will
cause painless and sudden death. When particulars of the method that
was to be adopted for executions in New York were first published,
I was with a small committee of gentlemen in Manchester who were
investigating the subject. They made all arrangements for experiments
to test the reliability of the method. Two animals were obtained that
had to be killed in any case, namely, a calf and an old dog of a large
breed. In the case of the calf the connections were made in the manner
prescribed, and the current was turned on. This was repeated twice, but
the only result was to cause the calf to drop on its knees and bellow
with fear and pain, and the butcher at once killed it in the ordinary
way with his poleaxe. When the shock was applied to the dog he fell
down and seemed to be paralysed, but it was some time before life was
extinct. The latest reports of American executions say that the deaths
were instantaneous and painless, but the value of such statements is
lessened by the fact of reporters being excluded. The total exclusion
of the press at any rate seemed like an admission of the authorities
that they had no confidence in the certainty of the method they were
using.
Altogether, after a careful consideration of all the principal modes of
execution, I am convinced that our English method as at present in use
is the best yet known, because it is absolutely certain, instantaneous
and painless.
It may be interesting to close this chapter with a list of the
principal methods of execution in use in foreign countries.
Austria Hanging, public.
Bavaria Guillotine, private.
Belgium Guillotine, public.
Brunswick Axe, private.
China Sword or bow-string, public.
Denmark Guillotine, public.
France Guillotine, nominally public; but really so
surrounded by cordons of gens d'armes, &c.,
as to be virtually private.
Germany Sword or hanging, private.
Hanover Guillotine, private.
Italy No capital punishment.
Netherlands Hanging, public.
Portugal Hanging, public.
Prussia Sword, private.
Russia Rifle shot, hanging or sword, public; but capital
punishment is practically abolished except for
political offences.
Spain Garotte, public.
Switzerland Fifteen cantons, sword, public. Two cantons,
guillotine, public. Two cantons, guillotine,
private.
United States New York State, electric shock, private.
Other states, hanging, private.
[Illustration: Wandsworth Gaol (after an execution).]