EXECUTIONS (_continued_).
Executions not always in front of Newgate after discontinuance of
Tyburn--Old Bailey by degrees monopolizes the business--Description
of the new gallows--Same system had already been used in
Dublin--"The fall of the leaf"--Last case of burning before
Newgate--Phoebe Harris, in 1788--Crowds as great as ever at the
Old Bailey, and as brutal as of old--Pieman, ballad-monger, and
"rope"-seller did a roaring trade--Governor Wall--His demeanour and
dress--Enormous crowd at Wall's execution--Also at that of Holloway
and Haggerty--Frightful catastrophe and terrible loss of life in
the crowd--The same anticipated at execution of Bellingham, but
avoided by extreme precautions taken--Crowds to see Fauntleroy and
Courvoisier suffer--Description of an execution in 1851--The
demeanour, generally, of the condemned--Long protracted uncertainty
as to their fate--Awful levity displayed--Reasons for delay--The
Recorder's report--Its arrival--Communicated to convicts by
chaplain--Tenderness really shown to those certain to die--Chaplain
improves the occasion in preaching the condemned sermon--The chapel
service on day it was preached described--Demeanour of the
condemned described in detail--Abstract of a condemned
sermon--Service and returning thanks by the respited the day after
the execution--Callousness of those present--Crowded congregation
to hear Courvoisier's condemned sermon, and dense throng to see him
hanged--Amelioration of the criminal code--Executions more
rare--Capital punishment gradually restricted to
murderers--Dissection of the bodies abolished--Some details of
dissection--Public exhibition of bodies also discontinued--The body
of Williams, who murdered the Marrs, so shown--Hanging in chains
given up--Failures at executions--Culprits fight for life--Case of
Charles White, of Luigi Buranelli, of William Bousfield--Calcraft
and his method of hanging--Other hangmen--Story of the cost of a
hangman.
I propose to return now to the subject of Newgate executions, which we
left at the time of the discontinuance of the long-practised procession
to Tyburn. The reasons for this change were fully set forth in a
previous chapter.[88] The terrible spectacle was as demoralizing to the
public, for whose admonition it was intended, as the exposure was brutal
and cruel towards the principal actors. The decision to remove the scene
of action to the immediate front of the gaol itself was in the right
direction, as making the performance shorter and diminishing the area of
display. But the Old Bailey was not exclusively used; at first, and for
some few years after 1784, executions took place occasionally at a
distance from Newgate. This was partly due to the survival of the old
notion that the scene of the crime ought also to witness the
retribution; partly perhaps because residents in and about the Old
Bailey raised a loud protest against the constant erection of the
scaffold in their neighbourhood. As regards the first, I find that in
1786 John Hogan, the murderer of a Mr. Odell, an attorney who resided in
Charlotte Street, Rathbone Place, was executed on a gibbet in front of
his victim's house. Lawrence Jones, a burglar, was in 1793 ordered for
execution in Hatton Garden, near the house he had robbed; and when he
evaded the sentence by suicide, his body was exhibited in the same
neighbourhood, "extended upon a plank on the top of an open cart, in his
clothes, and fettered." Again, as late as 1809 and 1812, Execution Dock,
on the banks of the Thames, was still retained. Here John Sutherland,
commander of the British armed transport 'The Friends,' suffered on the
29th June, 1809, for the murder of his cabin-boy, whom he stabbed after
much ill-usage on board the ship as it lay in the Tagus. On the 18th
December, 1812, two sailors, Charles Palm and Sam Tilling, were hanged
at the same place for the murder of their captain, James Keith, of the
trading vessel 'Adventure,' upon the high seas. They were taken in a
cart to the place of execution, amidst a vast concourse of people.
"Palm, as soon as he was seated in the cart, put a quid of tobacco into
his mouth, and offered another to his companion, who refused it with
indignation.... Some indications of pity were offered for the fate of
Tilling; Palm, execration alone."[89]
But the Old Bailey gradually, and in spite of all objections urged,
monopolized the dread business of execution. The first affair of the
kind on this spot was on the 3rd December, 1783, when, in pursuance of
an order issued by the Recorder to the sheriffs of Middlesex and the
keeper of His Majesty's gaol, Newgate, a scaffold was erected in front
of that prison for the execution of several convicts named by the
Recorder. "Ten were executed; the scaffold hung with black; and the
inhabitants of the neighbourhood, having petitioned the sheriffs to
remove the scene of execution to the old place, were told that the plan
had been well considered, and would be persevered in." The following
23rd April, it is stated that the malefactors ordered for execution on
the 18th inst. were brought out of Newgate about eight in the morning,
and suspended on a gallows of a new construction. "After hanging the
usual time they were taken down, and the machine cleared away in
half-an-hour. By practice the art is much improved, and there is no part
of the world in which villains are hanged in so neat a manner, and with
so little ceremony."
A full description of this new gallows, which was erected in front of
the debtors' door, is to be found in contemporary records. "The
criminals are not exposed to view till they mount the fatal stage. The
last part of the stage, or that next to the gaol, is enclosed by a
temporary roof, under which are placed two seats for the reception of
the sheriffs, one on each side of the stairs leading to the scaffold.
Round the north, west, and south sides are erected galleries for the
reception of officers, attendants, &c., and at the distance of five feet
from the same is fixed a strong railing all round the scaffold to
enclose a place for the constables. In the middle of this machinery is
placed a movable platform, in form of a trap-door, ten feet long by
eight wide, on the middle of which is placed the gibbet, extending from
the gaol across the Old Bailey. This movable platform is raised six
inches higher than the rest of the scaffold, and on it the convicts
stand; it is supported by two beams, which are held in their place by
bolts. The movement of the lever withdraws the bolts, the platform falls
in;" and this, being much more sudden and regular than that of a cart
being drawn away, has the effect of immediate death. A broadsheet dated
April 24th, 1787,[90] describing an execution on the newly-invented
scaffold before the debtors' door, Newgate, says, "The scaffold on which
these miserable people suffered is a temporary machine which was drawn
out of the yard of the sessions house by horses; ... it is supported by
strong posts fixed into grooves made in the street; ... the whole is
temporary, being all calculated to take to pieces, which are preserved
within the prison."
This contrivance appears to have been copied with improvements from that
which had been used in Dublin at a still earlier date, for that city
claims the priority in establishing the custom of hanging criminals at
the gaol itself. The Dublin "engine of death," as the gallows are styled
in the account from which the following description is taken, consisted
of an iron bar parallel to the prison wall, and about four feet from it,
but strongly affixed thereto with iron scroll clamps. "From this bar
hang several iron loops, in which the halters are tied. Under this bar
at a proper distance is a piece of flooring or platform, projecting
somewhat beyond the range of the iron bar, and swinging upon hinges
affixed to the wall. The entrance upon this floor or leaf is from the
middle window over the gate of the prison; and this floor is supported
below, while the criminals stand upon it, by two pieces of timber, which
are made to slide in and out of the prison wall through apertures made
for that purpose. When the criminals are tied up and prepared for their
fate, this floor suddenly falls down, upon withdrawing the supporters
inwards. They are both drawn at once by a windlass, and the unhappy
culprits remain suspended." This mode of execution, it is alleged, gave
rise to the old vulgar "chaff," "Take care, or you'll die at the fall of
the leaf." The machinery in use in Dublin is much the same as that
employed at many gaols now-a-days. But the fall apart and inwards of two
leaves is considered superior. The latter is the method still followed
at Newgate.
The sentences inflicted in front of Newgate were not limited to hanging.
In the few years which elapsed between the establishment of the gallows
at Newgate and the abolition of the practice of burning females for
petty treason, more than one woman suffered this penalty at the Old
Bailey. One case is preserved by Catnach, that of Phoebe Harris, who
in 1788 was "barbariously" (_sic_ in the broadsheet) executed and burnt
before Newgate for coining. She is described as a well-made little
woman, something more than thirty years of age, of a pale complexion and
not disagreeable features. "When she came out of prison she appeared
languid and terrified, and trembled greatly as she advanced to the
stake, where the apparatus for the punishment she was about to
experience seemed to strike her mind with horror and consternation, to
the exclusion of all power of recollectedness in preparation for the
approaching awful moment." She walked from the debtors' door to a stake
fixed in the ground about half-way between the scaffold and Newgate
Street. She was immediately tied by the neck to an iron bolt fixed near
the top of the stake, and after praying fervently for a few minutes, the
steps on which she stood were drawn away, and she was left suspended. A
chain fastened by nails to the stake was then put round her body by the
executioner with his assistants. Two cart-loads of faggots were piled
about her, and after she had hung for half-an-hour the fire was kindled.
The flames presently burned the halter, the body fell a few inches, and
hung then by the iron chain. The fire had not quite burnt out at twelve,
in nearly four hours, that is to say. "A great concourse of people
attended on this melancholy occasion."
The change from Tyburn to the Old Bailey had worked no improvement as
regards the gathering together of the crowd or its demeanour. As many
spectators as ever thronged to see the dreadful show, and they were
packed into a more limited space, disporting themselves as heretofore by
brutal horse-play, coarse jests, and frantic yells. It was still the
custom to offer warm encouragement or bitter disapproval, according to
the character and antecedents of the sufferer. The highwayman, whose
exploits many in the crowd admired or emulated, was cheered and bidden
to die game; the man of better birth could hope for no sympathy,
whatever his crime. At the execution of Governor Wall, in 1802, the
furious hatred of the mob was plainly apparent in their appalling cries.
His appearance on the scaffold was the signal for three prolonged shouts
from an innumerable populace, "the brutal effusion of one common
sentiment." It was said that so large a crowd had never collected since
the execution of Mrs. Brownrigg, nor had the public indignation risen so
high. Pieman and ballad-monger did their usual roaring trade amidst the
dense throng. No sooner was the "job" finished than half-a-dozen
competitors appeared, each offering the identical rope for sale at a
shilling an inch. One was the "yeoman of the halter," a Newgate
official, the executioner's assistant, whom Mr. J. T. Smith,[91] who was
present at the execution, describes as "a most diabolical-looking little
wretch--Jack Ketch's head man." The yeoman was, however, under-sold by
his wife, "Rosy Emma," exuberant in talk and hissing hot from Pie
Corner, where she had taken her morning dose of gin-and-bitters.[92] A
little further off, says Mr. Smith, was "a lath of a fellow past
three-score years and ten, who had just arrived from the purlieus of
Black Boy Alley, woebegone as Romeo's apothecary, exclaiming, 'Here's
the identical rope at sixpence an inch.'"
Mr. Smith's account of the condemned convict, whose cell he was
permitted to enter, may be inserted here. He was introduced by the
ordinary, Dr. Forde, a name familiar to the reader,[93] who met him at
the felons' door "in his canonicals, and with his head as stiffly erect
as a sheriff's coachman." The ordinary "gravely uttered, 'Come this way,
Mr. Smith.' As we crossed the press yard a cock crew, and the solitary
clanking of a restless chain was dreadfully horrible. The prisoners had
not risen." They entered a "stone cold room," and were presently joined
by the prisoner. "He was death's counterfeit, tall, shrivelled, and
pale; and his soul shot out so piercingly through the port-holes of his
head, that the first glance of him nearly petrified me.... His hands
were clasped, and he was truly penitent. After the yeoman had requested
him to stand up, 'he pinioned him,' as the Newgate phrase is, and tied
the cord with so little feeling that the governor (Wall), who had not
given the wretch his accustomed fee, observed, 'You have tied me very
tight,' upon which Dr. Forde ordered him to slacken the cord, which he
did, but not without muttering. 'Thank you, sir,' said the governor to
the doctor, 'it is of little moment.' He then made some observations to
the attendant about the fire, and turning to the doctor, questioned him.
'Do tell me, sir; I am informed I shall go down with great force; is it
so?' After the construction and action of the machine had been
explained, the doctor asked the governor what kind of men he had
commanded at Goree, where the murder for which he was condemned had been
committed. 'Sir,' he answered, 'they sent me the very riff-raff.' The
poor soul then joined the doctor in prayer, and never did I witness more
contrition at any condemned sermon than he then evinced. The sheriff
arrived, attended by his officers, to receive the prisoner from the
keeper. A new hat was partly flattened on his head, for, owing to its
being too small in the crown, it stood many inches too high behind. As
we were crossing the press yard, the dreadful execrations of some of the
felons so shook his frame that he observed 'the clock had struck;' and
quickening his pace, he soon arrived at the room where the sheriff was
to give a receipt for his body, according to the usual custom. Before
the colonel[94] had been pinioned he had pulled out two white
handkerchiefs, one of which he bound over his temples so as nearly to
conceal his eyes, the other he kept between his hands. Over the
handkerchief around his brows he placed a white cap, the new hat being
on top of all. He was dressed in a mixed-coloured loose coat with a
black collar, swandown waistcoat, blue pantaloons, and white silk
stockings. Thus apparelled he ascended the stairs at the debtors' door,
and stepped out on to the platform, to be received, as has been said,
by prolonged yells. These evidently deprived him of the small portion
of fortitude he had summoned up. He bowed his head under extreme
pressure of ignominy, and at his request the ordinary drew the cap
further down over his face, when in an instant, without waiting for any
signal, the platform dropped, and he was launched into eternity."
Whenever the public attention had been specially called to a particular
crime, either on account of its atrocity, the doubtfulness of the issue,
or the superior position of the perpetrator, the attendance at the
execution was certain to be tumultuous, and the conduct of the mob
disorderly. This was notably the case at the execution of Holloway and
Haggerty in 1807, an event long remembered from the fatal and disastrous
consequences which followed it. They were accused by a confederate, who,
goaded by conscience, had turned approver, of the murder of a Mr.
Steele, who kept a lavender warehouse in the city, and who had gardens
at Feltham, whither he often went to distil the lavender, returning to
London the same evening. One night he was missing, and after a long
interval his dead body was discovered, shockingly disfigured, in a
ditch. This was in 1802. Four years passed without the detection of the
murderers, but in the beginning of 1807 one of them, at that time just
sentenced to transportation, made a full confession, and implicated
Holloway and Haggerty. They were accordingly apprehended and brought to
trial, the informer, Hanfield by name, being accepted as king's
evidence. Conviction followed mainly on his testimony; but the two men,
especially Holloway, stoutly maintained their innocence to the last.
Very great excitement prevailed in the town throughout the trial, and
this greatly increased when the verdict was known.
An enormous crowd assembled to witness the execution, amounting, it was
said, to the hitherto unparalleled number of 40,000. By eight o'clock
not an inch of ground in front of the platform was unoccupied. The
pressure soon became so frightful that many would have willingly escaped
from the crowd; but their attempts only increased the general confusion.
Very soon women began to scream with terror; some, especially of low
stature, found it difficult to remain standing, and several, although
held up for some time by the men nearest them, presently fell, and were
at once trampled to death. Cries of Murder! murder! were now raised, and
added greatly to the horrors of the scene. Panic became general. More
women, children, and many men were borne down, to perish beneath the
feet of the rest. The most affecting and distressing scene was at Green
Arbour Lane, just opposite the debtors' door of the prison. Here a
couple of piemen had been selling their wares; the basket of one of
them, which was raised upon a four-legged stool, was upset. The pieman
stooped down to pick up his scattered stock, and some of the mob, not
seeing what had happened, stumbled over him. No one who fell ever rose
again. Among the rest was a woman with an infant at the breast. She was
killed, but in the act of falling she forced her child into the arms of
a man near her, and implored him in God's name to save it; the man,
needing all his care for his own life, threw the child from him, and it
passed along the heads of the crowd, to be caught at last by a person
who struggled with it to a cart and deposited it there in safety. In
another part seven persons met their death by suffocation.
In this convulsive struggle for bare existence people fought fiercely
with one another, and the weakest, of course the women, went under. One
cart-load of spectators having broken down, some of its occupants fell
off the vehicle, and were instantly trampled to death. This went on for
more than an hour, and until the malefactors were cut down and the
gallows removed; then the mob began to thin, and the streets were
cleared by the city marshals and a number of constables. The catastrophe
exceeded the worst anticipations. Nearly one hundred dead and dying lay
about; and after all had been removed, the bodies for identification,
the wounded to hospitals, a cart-load of shoes, hats, petticoats, and
fragments of wearing apparel were picked up. St. Bartholomew's Hospital
was converted into an impromptu _Morgue_, and all persons who had
relatives missing were admitted to identify them. Among the dead was a
sailor lad whom no one knew; he had his pockets filled with bread and
cheese, and it was generally supposed that he had come a long distance
to see the fatal show.
[Illustration: BELLINGHAM, WHO MURDERED MR. SPENCER PERCIVAL.]
A tremendous crowd assembled when Bellingham was executed in 1812 for
the murder of Spencer Percival, at that time prime minister; but there
were no serious accidents, beyond those caused by the goring of a
maddened, over-driven ox which forced its way through the crowd.
Precautions had been taken by the erection of barriers, and the posting
of placards at all the avenues to the Old Bailey, on which was printed,
"Beware of entering the crowd! Remember thirty poor persons were pressed
to death by the crowd when Haggerty and Holloway were executed!" The
concourse was very great, notwithstanding these warnings. It was still
greater at Fauntleroy's execution in 1824, when no less than 100,000
persons assembled, it was said. Every window and roof which could
command a view of the horrible performance was occupied. All the avenues
and approaches, places even whence nothing whatever could be seen of the
scaffold, were blocked by persons who had overflowed from the area in
front of the gaol. At Courvoisier's execution in 1840 it was the same,
or worse. As early as six a.m. the number assembled already exceeded
that seen on ordinary occasions; by seven a.m. the whole space was so
thronged that it was impossible to move one way or the other. Some
persons were kept for more than five hours standing against the
barriers, and many nearly fainted from exhaustion. Every window had its
party of occupants; the adjoining roofs were equally crowded. High
prices were asked and paid for front seats or good standing room. As
much as £5 was given for the attic story of the Lamb's Coffee House; £2
was a common price for a window. At the George public-house to the south
of the drop, Sir W. Watkin Wynn, Bart., hired a room for the night and
morning, which he and a large party of friends occupied before and
during the execution; in an adjoining house, that of an undertaker, was
Lord Alfred Paget, also with several friends. Those who had hired
apartments spent the night in them, keeping up their courage with
liquids and cigars. Numbers of ladies were present, although the public
feeling was much against their attendance. One well-dressed woman fell
out of a first-floor window on to the shoulders of the crowd below, but
neither she nor any one else was greatly hurt. The city authorities had
endeavoured to take all precautions against panic and excitement among
the crowd, and caused a number of stout additional barriers to be
erected in front of the scaffold, and although one of these gave way
owing to the extraordinary pressure, no serious accident occurred.
Some years later an eye-witness published a graphic account of one of
these scenes.[95] Soon after midnight on the Sunday night, for by this
time the present practice of executing on Monday morning had been pretty
generally introduced, the crowd began to congregate in and about the Old
Bailey. Gin-shops and coffee-houses were the first to open doors, and
touts began to bid for tenants for the various rooms upstairs. Cries of
"Comfortable room!" "Excellent situation!" "Beautiful prospect!"
"Splendid view!" resounded on every side. By this time the workmen might
be heard busily erecting the gallows; the sounds of hammer and saw
intermingled with the broad jeers and coarse jests of the rapidly
increasing mob. One by one the huge uprights of black timber were fitted
together, until presently the huge stage loomed dark above the crowd
which was now ranged round the barriers; a throng of people whom neither
rain, snow, storm, nor darkness ever hindered from attending the show.
They were mainly members of the criminal
[Illustration: PREPARING FOR AN EXECUTION.]
classes; their conversation was of companions and associates of former
years, long ago imprisoned, transported, hanged, while they,
hoary-headed and hardened in guilt, were still at large. They talked of
the days when the convicts were hung up a dozen or more in a row; of
those who had shown the white, and those who had died game. The
approaching ceremony had evidently no terrors for these "idolaters of
the gallows." With them were younger men and women: the former already
vowed to the same criminal career, and looking up to their elders with
the respect due to successful practitioners; the latter unsexed and
brutalized by dissipation, slipshod and slovenly, in crushed bonnet and
dirty shawl, the gown fastened by a single hook, their harsh and
half-cracked voices full of maudlin, besotted sympathy for those about
to die. "Above the murmur and tumult of that noisy assembly, the lowing
and bleating of cattle as they were driven into the stalls and pens of
Smithfield fell with a strange unnatural sound upon the ear.... Hush!
the unceasing murmur of the mob now breaks into a loud deep roar, a
sound as if the ocean had suddenly broken through some ancient boundary,
against which its ever restless billows had for ages battered; the wide
dark sea of heads is all at once in motion; each wave seems trying to
overleap the other as they are drawn onwards towards this outlet. Every
link in that great human chain is shaken, along the whole lengthened
line has the motion jarred, and each in turn sees, coiled up on the
floor of the scaffold like a serpent, the hangman's rope! The human hand
that placed it there was only seen for a moment, as it lay, white and
ghastly, upon the black boards, and then again was as suddenly
withdrawn, as if ashamed of the deed it had done. The loud shout of the
multitude once more subsided, or only fell upon the abstracted ear like
the dreamy murmur of an ocean shell. Then followed sounds more distinct
and audible, in which ginger-beer, pies, fried fish, sandwiches, and
fruit were vended under the names of notorious murderers, highwaymen,
and criminals, famous in the annals of Newgate for the hardihood they
had displayed in the hour of execution, when they terminated their
career of crime at the gallows. Threading his way among these itinerant
vendors was seen the meek-faced deliverer of tracts, the man of good
intentions, now bonneted, now laughed at, the skirt of his seedy black
coat torn across; yet, though pulled right and left, or sent headlong
into the crowd by the swing of some brutal and muscular arm, never once
from that pale face passed away its benign and patient expression, but
ever the same form moved along in the fulfilment of his mission, in
spite of all persecution. Another fight followed the score which had
already taken place; this time two women were the combatants. Blinded
with their long hair, they tore at each other like two furies; their
bonnets and caps were trodden underfoot in the kennel, and lay
disregarded beside the body of the poor dog which, while searching for
its master in the crowd, was an hour before kicked to death by the
savage and brutal mob.
"Another deep roar, louder than any which had preceded it, broke from
the multitude. Then came the cry of 'Hats off!' and 'Down in front!' as
at a theatre. It was followed by the deep and solemn booming of the
death-bell from the church of St. Sepulchre--the iron knell that rang
upon the beating heart of the living man who was about to die; and with
blanched cheek, and sinking, we turned away from the scene."
In thus describing the saturnalia before the gallows I have been drawn
on somewhat beyond the period with which I am at present dealing. Let me
retrace my steps, and speak more in detail of the treatment of the
condemned in those bloodthirsty and brutally indifferent days, and of
their demeanour after sentence until the last penalty was paid. One of
the worst evils was the terrible and long-protracted uncertainty as to
the result. In the case of convicted murderers only was prompt
punishment inflicted, and with them indeed this despatch amounted to
undue precipitancy. Forty-eight hours was the limit of time allowed to
the unhappy man to make his peace, and during that time he was still
kept on a bare allowance of bread and water. But the murderers formed
only a small proportion of the total number sentenced to death, and for
the rest there was a long period of anxious suspense, although in the
long run mercy generally prevailed, and very few capitally convicted for
crimes less than murder actually suffered. Thus in the years between
May 1st, 1827, and 30th April, 1831, no less than four hundred and
fifty-one sentences of death for capital crimes were passed at the Old
Bailey; but of these three hundred and ninety-six were reversed by the
king in council, and only fifty-two were really executed. Already the
severity of our criminal code, and the number of capital felonies upon
the statute book, had brought a reaction; and while the courts adhered
to the letter of the law, appeals were constantly made to the royal
prerogative of mercy. This was more particularly the practice in London.
Judges on assize were satisfied with simply recording a sentence of
death against offenders whom they did not think deserved the extreme
penalty. At the Old Bailey almost every one capitally convicted by a
jury was sentenced to be hanged. The result in the latter case was left
in the first place to the king in council, but there was a further
appeal then, as now, to the king himself, or practically to the Home
Secretary. Neither in town or country were cases entirely taken on their
own merits. Convicted offenders might have good or bad luck; they might
be arraigned when their particular crime was uncommon, and were then
nearly certain to escape; or theirs might be one of many, and it might
be considered necessary to "make an example." In this latter it might
fairly be said that a man was put to death less for his own sins than
for the crimes of others.
The absurdity of the system, its irregularity and cruelty, were fully
touched upon by the inspectors of prisons in their first report. They
found at Newgate, under disgraceful conditions as already described,[96]
seventeen capital convicts, upon all of whom the sentence of death had
been passed. Eventually two only of the whole number suffered; two
others were sentenced to three months' imprisonment, and the balance to
varying terms. Nothing could be more strongly marked than the contrast
between the ultimate destiny of different individuals all abiding the
same awful doom: on the one hand the gallows, on the other a short
imprisonment. The inspectors very properly desired to call attention to
the inevitable tendency in this mode of dealing with "the most awful
sanctions of the law," to make those sanctions an object of contemptuous
mockery. The consequences were plainly proved to the inspectors.
Capitally convicted prisoners did, as a matter of fact, "treat with
habitual and inexpressible levity the sentence of death." Of this I have
treated at length in the last chapter.
The time thus spent varied considerably, but it was seldom less than six
weeks. It all depended upon the sovereign's disposition to do business.
Sometimes the Privy Council did not meet for months, and during all that
time the convicts languished with hope nearly indefinitely deferred.
When the council had decided, the news was conveyed to Newgate by the
Recorder, who made his "report," as it was called. The time of the
arrival of this report was generally known at Newgate, and its contents
were anxiously awaited by both convicts in the press-yard and their
friends collected in a crowd outside the gates. Sometimes the report was
delayed. On one occasion, Mr. Wakefield tells us, the Recorder, who had
attended the council at Windsor, did not deliver the report till the
following day. "The prisoners and their friends, therefore, were kept in
a state of the most violent suspense for many hours, during which they
counted the moments--the prisoners in their cells as usual, and their
friends in the street in front of Newgate, where they passed the night.
I have heard the protracted agony of both classes described by those who
witnessed it in terms so strong, that I am unwilling to repeat
them."...[97] "The crowd of men and women who passed the night in front
of Newgate, began, as soon as the hour was passed when they had expected
the report, to utter imprecations against the Recorder, the Secretary of
State, the Council, and the King; they never ceased cursing until the
passion of anger so excited was exchanged for joy in some and grief in
others. I myself heard more than one of those whose lives were spared by
that decision of the council, afterwards express a wish to murder the
Recorder for having kept them so long in suspense."
The Recorder's report generally reached Newgate late at night. Its
receipt was immediately followed by the promulgation of its contents to
the persons most closely concerned, which was done with a sort of
ceremony intended to be impressive. The whole of the convicts were
assembled together in one ward, and made to kneel down. To them entered
the chaplain or ordinary of Newgate in full canonicals, who in solemn
tones communicated to each in turn the fate in store for him. The form
of imparting the intelligence was generally the same. "So-and-so, I am
sorry to tell you that it is all against you;" or, "A. B., your case has
been taken into consideration by the king in council, and His Majesty
has been mercifully pleased to spare your life." The fatal news was not
always received in the same way. The men who were doomed often fell down
in convulsions upon the floor. Sometimes any who had had a narrow escape
fainted, but the bulk of those respited looked on with unfeeling
indifference. The concluding part of the ceremony was, for those who had
been pardoned, to recite a thanksgiving to God and the king.
It is satisfactory to be able to record that some consideration was
shown the capital convict actually awaiting execution. Even so severe a
critic as Mr. Wakefield states that "a stranger to the scene would be
astonished to observe the peculiar tenderness, I was going to add
respect, which persons under sentence of death obtain from all the
officers of the prison. Before sentence a prisoner has only to observe
the regulations of the gaol in order to remain neglected and unnoticed.
Once ordered to the cells, friends of all classes suddenly rise up; his
fellow-prisoners, the turnkeys, the chaplain, the keepers, and the
sheriffs all seem interested in his fate, and he can make no reasonable
request that is not at once granted by whomsoever he may address. This
rule has some, but very few, exceptions; such as where a hardened
offender behaves with great levity and brutality, as if he cared nought
for his life, and thought every one anxious to promote his death." Mr.
Wakefield goes on to remark that persons convicted of forgery "excited
an extraordinary degree of interest in all who approached them." This
was noticeable with Fauntleroy, who, on account of his birth and
antecedents, was allowed to occupy a turnkey's room, and kept altogether
separate from the other prisoners until the day of his death. It cannot
be denied, however, that the ordinary's treatment was somewhat
unfeeling, and in proof thereof I will quote an extract from the
reverend gentleman's own journal. He seems to have improved the occasion
when preaching the condemned sermon before Fauntleroy, by pointing a
moral from that unhappy man's own case. For this the chaplain was a few
days later summoned before the gaol committee of aldermen, and informed
that the public would not in future be admitted to hear the condemned
sermon. "I was also informed," writes Mr. Cotton, "that this resolution
was in consequence of their (the aldermen's) disapproving of the last
discourse delivered by me, previous to the execution of Henry
Fauntleroy for uttering a forged security, in which it was said I had
enlarged upon the heinous nature of his crime, and warned the public to
avoid such conduct. I was informed that this unnecessarily harassed his
feelings, and that the object of such sermons was solely to console the
prisoner, and that from the time of his conviction nothing but what is
consolatory should be addressed to a criminal. One of the aldermen,
moreover, informed me that the whole court of aldermen were unanimous in
their opinion on this subject. As to the exclusion of strangers on these
occasions, the experience I have had convinces me that one, and perhaps
the only, good of an execution, _i. e._ the solemn admonition to the
public, will thereby be lost."
Probably the reader will side with the aldermen against the ordinary.
This episode throws some doubt upon the tenderness and proper feeling
exhibited by the chaplain towards the most deserving members of his
criminal flock; and the idea will be strengthened by the following
account of the Sunday service in the prison chapel on the occasion when
the condemned sermon was preached. The extract is from Mr. E. Gibbon
Wakefield's brochure, the date 1828, just three years after Fauntleroy's
death. Strangers were now excluded, but the sheriffs attended in state,
wearing their gold chains, while behind their pew stood a couple of tall
footmen in state liveries. The sheriffs were in one gallery; in the
other opposite were the convicts capitally convicted who had been
respited. Down below between the galleries was the mass of the prison
population; the schoolmaster and the juvenile prisoners being seated
round the communion-table, opposite the pulpit. In the centre of the
chapel was the condemned pew, a large dock-like erection painted black.
Those who sat in it were visible to the whole congregation, and still
more to the ordinary, whose desk and pulpit were just in front of the
condemned pew, and within a couple of yards of it. The occupants of this
terrible black pew were the last always to enter the chapel. Upon the
occasion which I am describing they were four in number; and here I will
continue the narrative in Mr. Wakefield's own words:--
"First is a youth of eighteen, condemned for stealing in a
dwelling-house goods valued above five pounds. His features have no
felonious cast; ... he steps boldly with head upright, looks to the
women's gallery, and smiles. His intention is to pass for a brave
fellow, but the attempt fails; he trembles, his knees knock together,
and his head droops as he enters the condemned pew. The next convict is
clearly and unmistakably a villain. He is a hardened offender,
previously cast for life, reprieved, transported to Australia, and since
returned without pardon. For this offence the punishment is death. He
has, however, doubly earned his sentence, and is actually condemned for
burglary committed since his arrival in England. His look at the
sheriffs and the ordinary is full of scorn and defiance. The third
convict is a sheep-stealer, a poor ignorant fellow in whose crime are
mitigating circumstances, but who is left to die on the supposition that
this is not his first conviction, and still more because a good many
sheep have of late been stolen by other people. He is quite content to
die; indeed the chaplain and others have brought him firmly to believe
that his situation is enviable, and that the gates of heaven are open to
receive him." The last of the four is said to have been a clergyman of
the Church of England,[98] condemned for forgery, "a miserable old man
in a tattered suit of black. Already he is half dead. Great efforts have
been made to save his life. Friends, even utter strangers, have
interceded for him, and to the last he has buoyed himself up by hope of
reprieve. Now his doom is sealed irrevocably, and he has given himself
up to despair. He staggers towards the pew, reels into it, stumbles
forward, flings himself on the ground, and, by a curious twist of the
spine, buries his head under his body. The sheriffs shudder, their
inquisitive friends crane forward, the keeper frowns on the excited
congregation, the lately smirking footmen close their eyes and forget
their liveries, the ordinary clasps his hands, the turnkeys cry 'Hush!'
and the old clerk lifts up his cracked voice, saying, 'Let us sing to
the praise and glory of God.'
"The morning hymn is sung first, as if to remind the condemned that next
morning at eight a.m. they are to die. The service proceeds. At last the
burial service is reached. The youth alone is able to read, but from
long want of practice he is at a loss to find the place in his
prayer-book. The ordinary observes him, looks to the sheriffs, and says
aloud, 'The service for the dead!' The youth's hands tremble as they
hold the book upside down. The burglar is heard to mutter an angry oath.
The sheep-stealer smiles, and, extending his arms upwards, looks with a
glad expression to the roof of the chapel. The forger has never moved.
"Let us pass on. All have sung 'the Lamentation of a Sinner,' and have
seemed to pray 'especially for those now awaiting the awful execution of
the law.' We come to the sermon.
"The ordinary of Newgate is an orthodox, unaffected, Church of England
divine, who preaches plain, homely discourses, as fit as any religious
discourse can be fit for the irritated audience. The sermon of this day,
whether eloquent or plain, useful or useless, must produce a striking
effect at the moment of its delivery. The text, without another word, is
enough to raise the wildest passions of the audience.... For a while the
preacher addresses himself to the congregation at large, who listen
attentively--except the clergyman and the burglar, the former of whom is
still rolled up at the bottom of the condemned pew, while the eyes of
the latter are wandering round the chapel, and one of them is
occasionally winked impudently at some acquaintance amongst the
prisoners for trial. At length the ordinary pauses, and then, in a deep
tone, which, though hardly above a whisper, is audible to all, says,
'Now for you, my poor fellow mortals, who are about to suffer the last
penalty of the law.' But why should I repeat the whole? It is enough to
say that in the same solemn tone he talks about the minutest of crimes,
punishments, bonds, shame, ignominy, sorrow, sufferings, wretchedness,
pangs, childless parents, widows and helpless orphans, broken and
contrite hearts, and death to-morrow morning for the benefit of society.
What happens? The dying men are dreadfully agitated. The young stealer
in a dwelling-house no longer has the least pretence to bravery. He
grasps the back of the pew, his legs give way, he utters a faint groan,
and sinks on the floor. Why does no one stir to help him? Where would be
the use? The hardened burglar moves not, nor does he speak; but his face
is of an ashy paleness; and if you look carefully you may see the blood
trickling from his lip, which he has bitten unconsciously, or from rage,
or to rouse his fainting courage. The poor sheep-stealer is in a frenzy.
He throws his hands far from him, and shouts aloud, 'Mercy, good Lord!
mercy is all I ask. The Lord in His mercy come! There! there! I see the
Lamb of God! Oh! how happy! Oh! this is happy!' Meanwhile the clergyman,
still bent into the form of a sleeping dog, struggles violently; his
feet, legs, hands, and arms, even the muscles of his back, move with a
quick, jerking motion, not naturally, but, as it were, like the affected
parts of a galvanized corpse. Suddenly he utters a short sharp scream,
and all is still.
"The silence is short. As the ordinary proceeds 'to conclude,' the women
set up a yell, which is mixed with a rustling noise, occasioned by the
removal of those whose hysterics have ended in fainting. The sheriffs
cover their faces, and one of their inquisitive friends blows his nose
with his glove. The keeper tries to appear unmoved, but his eye wanders
anxiously over the combustible assembly. The children round the
communion-table stare and gape with childish wonder. The two masses of
prisoners for trial undulate and slightly murmur, while the capital
convicts who were lately in that black pew appear faint with emotion.
"This exhibition lasts for some minutes, and then the congregation
disperses, the condemned returning to the cells: the forger carried by
turnkeys; the youth sobbing aloud convulsively, as a passionate child;
the burglar muttering curses and savage expressions of defiance; whilst
the poor sheep-stealer shakes hands with the turnkeys, whistles merrily,
and points upwards with madness in his look."
Mr. Wakefield winds up his graphic but somewhat sensational account by
describing another religious service, which may appropriately be
inserted here. He says, "On the day of execution there is no service in
the chapel of Newgate. On the following day the capital convicts, whose
companions have been hanged, are required to return thanks for their
narrow escape. The firmest disbeliever in religion, if he had not lately
been irritated by taking part in such a scene as the condemned service
in Newgate, could hardly witness this ceremony without being affected.
The men, who were so lately snatched from the jaws of death, kneel,
whilst the rest of the congregation sit, and the ordinary, in a tone of
peculiar solemnity, says, 'Almighty God, Father of all mercies, we thine
unworthy servants do give thee most humble and hearty thanks for all thy
goodness and loving-kindness to us, and to all men; _particularly to
those who desire now to offer up their praises and thanksgivings for thy
late mercies vouchsafed unto them._' Could any one, knowing the late
situation of the kneeling men, looking as they do at the empty pew,
occupied when they saw it last, but a few hours ago, by their comrades
who are now dead; could any one, not disgusted with the religious
ceremonials of Newgate, witness this scene without emotion? Hardly any
one. But what are the feelings of those who take part in it? I have been
present at the scene not less than twenty times, and have invariably
observed that many of the kneeling men or boys laughed while they knelt,
pinched each other, and, when they could do so without fear of being
seen by any officer of the prison, winked at other prisoners in derision
of what was taking place; and I have frequently heard men and lads who
had been of the kneeling party boast to their companions after the
service that they had wiped their eyes during the thanksgiving, to make
the ordinary believe they had been crying."
Although this misapplication of religious services still went on, the
outside public continued to be excluded from the Newgate chapel on the
day the condemned sermon was preached. This very proper rule was,
however, set aside on the Sunday preceding Courvoisier's execution. So
many applications for admission were made to the sheriffs, that they
reluctantly agreed to open the gallery which had formerly been occupied
by strangers on these occasions. Cards were issued, and to such an
extent, that although the service was not to commence till half-past
ten, by nine a.m. all the avenues to the prison gates were blocked by
ticket-holders. In spite of the throng, owing to the excellent
arrangements made by the sheriffs, no inconvenience was suffered by the
congregation, among whom were Lord Adolphus Fitz Clarence, Lord
Coventry, Lord Paget, Lord Bruce, several members of the House of
Commons, and a few ladies. Contemporary accounts give a minute
description of the demeanour of the convict upon this solemn occasion.
He sat on a bench before the pulpit,--the hideous condemned pew had been
swept away,--and never once raised his eyes during the service. "In fact
his looks denoted extreme sorrow and contrition, and he seemed to suffer
great inward agitation when the ordinary particularly alluded to the
crime for the perpetration of which he stood condemned." Mr. Carver, the
ordinary, appears to have addressed himself directly to Courvoisier,
and to have dwelt with more emphasis than good taste upon the nature of
the crime, and the necessity for repentance. But the chaplain admitted
that the solitude of the convict's cell was more appropriate for serious
reflection and profitable ministration than "this exciting occasion
before a large and public assembly." So far as I can find, Courvoisier
was the last condemned criminal who was thus exhibited to a crowd of
morbidly curious spectators.
The atrocity of the murder no doubt attracted extraordinary attention to
it. The crowd outside Newgate on the day of execution has already been
described; but there was also a select gathering of distinguished
visitors within the gaol. First came the sheriffs, the under-sheriffs,
and several aldermen and city officials, then Lord Powerscourt and
several other peers of the realm. Mr. Charles Kean the tragedian was
also present, drawn to this terrible exhibition by the example of his
father, the more celebrated Edmund Kean, who had witnessed the execution
of Thistlewood "with a view," as he himself said, "to his professional
studies."
But there is little doubt that as executions became more rare they made
more impression on the public mind. Already a strong dislike to the
reckless and almost indiscriminate application of the extreme penalty
was apparent in all classes, and the mitigation of the criminal code,
for which Romilly had so strenuously laboured, was daily more and more
of an accomplished fact. In 1832 capital punishment was abolished for
forgery, except in cases of forging or altering wills or powers of
attorney to transfer stock. Nevertheless, after that date no person
whatever was executed for this offence. In the same year capital
punishment was further restricted, and ceased to be the legal sentence
for coining, sheep or horse stealing, and stealing in a dwelling-house.
House-breaking, as distinguished from burglary, was similarly exempted
in the following year; next, the offences of returning from
transportation, stealing post-office letters, and sacrilege were no
longer punishable with death. In 1837 Lord John Russell's acts swept
away a number of capital offences, including cutting and maiming,
rick-burning, robbery, burglary, and arson. Within a couple of years the
number of persons sentenced to death in England had fallen from four
hundred and thirty-eight in 1837 to fifty-six in 1839. Gradually the
application of capital punishment became more and more restricted, and
was soon the penalty for murder alone. While in London, for instance, in
1829, twenty-four persons had been executed for crimes other than
murder, from 1832 to 1844 not a single person had been executed in the
metropolis except for this the gravest crime. In 1837 the death penalty
was practically limited to murder or attempts to murder, and in 1841
this was accepted as the almost universally established rule. Seven
other crimes, however, were still capital by law, and so continued till
the passing of the Criminal Consolidation Acts of 1861.
With the amelioration of the criminal code, other cruel concomitants of
execution also disappeared. In 1832 the dissection of bodies cut down
from the gallows, which had been decreed centuries previously,[99] was
abolished; the most recent enactment in force was the 9th Geo. IV. cap.
31, which directed the dissection of all bodies of executed murderers,
the idea being to intensify the dread of capital punishment. That such
dread was not universal or deep-seated may be gathered from the fact
that authentic cases were known previous to the first cited act of
criminals selling their own bodies to surgeons for dissection. This
dissection was carried out for Newgate prisoners in Surgeons' Hall,
adjoining Newgate, the site of the present Sessions House of the Old
Bailey, and the operation was witnessed by students and a number of
curious spectators. Lord Ferrers' body was brought to Surgeons' Hall
after execution in his own carriage and six; after the post mortem had
been carried out, the corpse was exposed to view in a first-floor room.
Pennant speaks of Surgeons' Hall as a handsome building, ornamented with
Ionic pilasters, and with a double flight of steps to the first floor.
Beneath is a door for the admission of the bodies of murderers and other
felons. There were other public dissecting rooms for criminals. One was
attached to Hicks' Hall, the Clerkenwell Sessions House, built out of
monies provided by Sir Baptist Hicks, a wealthy alderman of the reign of
James I.[100] Persons were still living in 1855 who had witnessed
dissections at Hicks' Hall, and "whom the horrid scene, with the
additional effect of some noted criminals hanging on the walls, drove
out again sick and faint, as we have heard some relate, and with pale
and terrified features, to get a breath of air."[101] The dissection of
executed criminals was abolished soon after the discovery of the crime
of burking, with the idea that ignominy would no longer attach to an
operation which ceased to be compulsory for the most degraded beings;
and that executors or persons having lawful possession of the bodies of
people who had died friendless, would voluntarily surrender them for the
advancement of medical science.
Another brutal practice had nearly disappeared about the time of the
abolition of dissection. This was the public exhibition of the body, as
was done in the case of Mrs. Phipoe, the murderess, who was executed in
front of Newgate in 1798, and "her body
[Illustration: EXHIBITION OF BODY OF WILLIAMS.]
publicly exhibited in a place built for the purpose in the Old Bailey."
About this time I find that the bodies of two murderers, Clench and
Mackay, "were publicly exposed in a stable in Little Bridge Street, near
Apothecaries' Hall, Surgeons' Hall being let to the lieutenancy of the
county for the accommodation of the militia." In 1811 Williams, who
murdered the Marrs in Ratcliffe Highway,[102] having committed suicide
in gaol to escape hanging, it was determined that a public exhibition
should be made of the body through the neighbourhood which had been the
scene of the monster's crimes. A long procession was formed, headed by
constables, who cleared the way with their staves. Then came the
newly-formed horse patrol, with drawn cutlasses, parish officers, peace
officers, the high constable of the county of Middlesex on horseback,
and then the body of Williams, "extended at full length on an inclined
platform erected on the cart, about four feet high at the head, and
gradually sloping towards the horse, giving a full view of the body,
which was dressed in blue trousers and a blue-and-white striped
waistcoat, but without a coat, as when found in the cell. On the left
side of the head the fatal mall, and on the right the ripping chisel,
with which the murders had been committed, were exposed to view. The
countenance of Williams was ghastly in the extreme, and the whole had an
appearance too horrible for description." The procession traversed
Ratcliffe twice, halting for a quarter of an hour in front of the
victims' dwelling, and was accompanied throughout by "an immense
concourse of persons, eager to get a sight of the murderer's remains....
All the shops in the neighbourhood were shut, and the windows and tops
of the houses were crowded with spectators."
Hanging in chains upon the gibbet which had served for the execution, or
on another specially erected on some commanding spot, had fallen into
disuse by 1832. But there was an attempt to revive it at that date, when
the act for dispensing with the dissection of criminals was passed. A
clause was inserted to the effect that "the bodies of all prisoners
convicted of murder should either be hung in chains, or buried under the
gallows on which they had been executed, ... according to the discretion
of the court before whom the prisoners might be tried." The revival of
this barbarous practice caused much indignation in certain quarters, but
it was actually tried in two provincial towns, Leicester and Durham. At
the first-named the exhibition nearly created a tumult, and the body was
taken down and buried, but not before the greatest scandal had been
caused by the unseemly proceedings of the crowd that flocked to see the
sight. A sort of fair was held, gaming-tables were set up, cards were
played under the gibbet, to the disturbance of the public peace and the
annoyance of all decent people.[103] At Jarrow Stake, where the Durham
murderer's body was exposed, there were similar scenes, mingled with
compassion for the culprit's family, and a subscription was set on foot
for them then and there at the foot of the gibbet. Later on, after dark,
some friends of the deceased stole the body and buried it in the sand,
and this was the end of hanging in chains. After this a law was passed
which prescribed that the bodies of all executed murderers should be
buried within the walls of the gaol.
Although these objectionable practices had disappeared, there were still
many shocking incidents at executions, owing to the bungling and
unskilful way in which the operation was performed. The rope still broke
sometimes, although it was not often that the horrid scene seen at
Jersey at the beginning of the century was repeated. There the hangman
added his weight to that of the suspended culprit, and having first
pulled him sideways, then got upon his shoulders, so that the rope
broke. "To the great surprise of all who witnessed this dreadful scene,
the poor criminal rose straight upon his feet, with the hangman on his
shoulders, and immediately loosened the rope with his fingers." After
this the sheriffs sent for another rope, but the spectators interfered,
and the man was carried back to gaol. The whole case was referred to the
king, and the poor wretch, whose crime had been a military one, was
eventually pardoned. A somewhat similar event happened at Chester not
long afterwards; the ropes by which two offenders were turned off broke
a few inches from their necks. They were taken back to gaol, and were
again brought out in the afternoon, by which time fresh and stronger
ropes had been procured, and the sentence was properly and completely
carried out. Other cases might be quoted, especially that of William
Snow, _alias_ Sketch, who slipped from the gallows at Exeter and fell to
the ground. He soon rose to his feet, and hearing the sorrowful
exclamations of the populace, coolly said, "Good people, do not be
hurried; I am not, I can wait."
Similar cases were not wanting as regards the executions before Newgate.
Others were not less horrible, although there was no failure of
apparatus. Sometimes the condemned man made a hard fight for life. When
Charles White was executed in 1823 for arson, he arranged a handkerchief
in such a way that the executioner found a difficulty in pinioning his
hands. White managed to keep his wrists asunder, and continued to
struggle with the officials for some time. Eventually he was pinioned
with a cord in the usual manner. On the scaffold he made a violent
attempt to loosen his bonds, and succeeded in getting his hands free.
Then with a strong effort he pushed off the white cap, and tried to
liberate his neck from the halter, which by this time had been adjusted.
The hangman summoned assistance, and with help tied the cap over White's
face with a handkerchief. The miserable wretch during the whole of this
time was struggling with the most determined violence, to the great
horror of the spectators. Still he resisted, and having got from the
falling drop to the firm part of the platform, he nearly succeeded in
tearing the handkerchief from his eyes. However, the ceremony went
forward, and when the signal was given the drop sank. The wretched man
did not fall with it, but jumped on to the platform, and seizing the
rope with his hands, tried to avoid strangulation. The spectacle was
horrible; the convict was half on the platform, half hanging, and the
convulsions of his body were appalling. The crowd vociferously yelled
their disapproval, and at length the executioner forced the struggling
criminal from the platform, so that the rope sustained his whole weight.
His face was visible to the whole crowd, and was fearful to behold. Even
now his sufferings were not at an end, and his death was not compassed
until the executioner terminated his sufferings by hanging on to his
legs.
When Luigi Buranelli was executed in 1855, through the improper
adjustment of the rope his sufferings were prolonged for five minutes;
"his chest heaved, and it was evident that his struggle was a fearful
one."[104] A worse case still was that of William Bousfield, who, when
awaiting execution for murder, about the same date, had attempted to
throw himself upon the fire in his condemned cell. He was in consequence
so weak when brought out for execution, that he had to be carried by
four men, two supporting his body and two his legs. His wretched,
abject condition, seated in a chair under the drop, was such as almost
to unnerve the executioner Calcraft, who bad been further upset by a
letter threatening to shoot him when he appeared to perform his task.
Calcraft, the moment he had adjusted the cap and rope, ran down the
steps, drew the bolt, and disappeared. "For a second or two the body
hung motionless, then, with a strength that astonished the attendant
officials, Bousfield slowly drew himself up, and rested with his feet on
the right side of the drop. One of the turnkeys rushed forward and
pushed him off. Again the wretched creature succeeded in obtaining
foothold, but this time on the left side of the drop." Calcraft was
forced to return, and he once more pushed Bousfield off, who for the
fourth time regained his foothold. Again he was repelled, this time
Calcraft adding his weight to the body, and the strangulation was
completed.
It was stated in evidence before the Commission on Capital Punishment in
1864, that Calcraft's method of hanging was very rough, much the same as
if he had been hanging a dog. There has never been much science in the
system of carrying out the extreme penalty in this country; the
"finisher of the law" has come more by chance than fitness or special
education to exercise his loathsome office. Calcraft, of whom mention
has just been made, was by trade a lady's shoemaker, and before he took
to hanging he was employed as a watchman at Reid's brewery in Liquorpond
Street. He was at first engaged as assistant to the executioner Tom
Cheshire, but in due course rose to be chief. He was always known as a
mild-mannered man of simple tastes, much given to angling in the New
River, and a devoted rabbit fancier. He was well known in the
neighbourhood where he resided, and the street _gamins_ cried "Jack
Ketch" as he went along the street. While Calcraft was in office other
aspirants to fame appeared in the field. One was Askern, who had been a
convicted prisoner at York, but who consented to act as hangman when
Calcraft was engaged, and no other functionary could be obtained. It was
not always easy to hire a hangman. There is still extant a curious
petition presented to the Treasury by Ralph Griffith, Esq., high sheriff
of Flintshire, which sets forth that the petitioner had been at great
expense by sending clerks and agents to Liverpool and Shrewsbury to hire
an executioner. The man to be hanged belonged to Wales, and no Welshman
would do the job. Travelling expenses of these agents cost £15, and
another £10 were spent in the hire of a Shropshire man, who deserted,
and was pursued, but without success. Another man was hired, himself a
convict, whose fees for self and wife were twelve guineas. Then came the
cost of the gallows, £4 12_s._; and finally the funeral, cart, coffin,
and other petty expenses, amounting to £7 10_s._, making the whole
outlay close on £50.