Leicester.
There appears to be no reason to doubt the truth of individuals having
survived execution by hanging.
Margaret Dickson was tried, convicted, and executed in Edinburgh, in the
year 1728. After {281} the sentence had been accomplished, her body was cut
down and delivered to her friends, who placed it in a coffin, and conveyed
the same in a cart towards her native place for the purpose of interment.
On her journey the dead came to life again, sat up in her coffin, and
alarmed her attendants. She was, however, promptly bled, and by the next
morning had perfectly recovered. She lived for twenty-five years
afterwards, and had several children.
In 1705 one John Smith was executed at Tyburn; after he had hung fifteen
minutes a reprieve arrived. He was cut down and bled, and is said to have
recovered. (Paris and Fonblanque, _Med. Jur._, vol. ii. p. 92.)
When it is considered that death takes place after hanging, in most cases
by asphyxia, in very rare instances by dislocation of the spine, we can
understand the possibility of recovery within certain limits.
That artificial means have been adopted to ensure recovery, the case of
Gordon, which occurred in the early part of the seventeenth century,
satisfactorily establishes.
This evil-doer had been condemned for highway robbery, and with a view to
escape from his penalty, succeeded in obtaining the following friendly
assistance.
A young surgeon named Chovell (concerning whose motives we will not inquire
too curiously) introduced a small tube through an opening which he made in
the windpipe. The hangman, having accomplished his part of the tragedy,
Gordon's body was handed over to his friends. Chovell bled him, and the
highwayman sighed deeply, but subsequently fainted and died. The want of
success was attributed to the great weight of the culprit, who consequently
dropped with unusual violence. (_Memoirs of the Royal Academy of Surgery in
France_, Sydenham Society Publications, p. 227.)
How far the mechanical contrivance by which Bouthron, in Scott's _Fair Maid
of Perth_, was kept alive after hanging, was founded on successful
experience, I know not. Nor do I know whether Hook, in his _Maxwell_, had
any farther authority than his imagination for his story of resuscitation,
though I have heard it said to be founded on the supposed recovery of a
distinguished forger, who had paid the last penalty for his offences, and
who was said to have really died only a short time since.