The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1866-05-05
NOT HUNG ENOUGH.
Some Remarkable Escapes from the
aSRllOWa,

as in bygone years. We may by-and:by cease
to lnfict this awful punishment at all. But SO
long as the law, and religion, and justice, and
public sentiment are considered to warrant The
continuance of this ancient mode of retribution,
so long ought there to be no mockery, no mis-,
take, no trickery about it. If man survives
after hanging without proof OF his innocence
accompanying his recovery, 1t would be in
fniely better to society (of bis wretched self we
say nothing), that he had not been hanged at
all; seeing that the sense OF just punishment
would be swallowed up IN a kind of pity for the
novelty Of his position, =
Now such things haze occurred, sufficiently
often to merit attention. Men have recovered
their ives-or rather retained life under nearl v
desperate circumstances-in spite of what seemed
10 be due infection OF the punishment of death
by suspension. Something of this possibility OF
escape was owing to the mode in which the
punishment was usually inflicted; and to many
u may probably be unknown that q change has
been made IN recent times in the construction
ana arrangement of the apparatus for carrying
out the last great penalty OF the law.
For something like six hundred years. at any
rate, such escapes have from time to time been
recorded. In 1864 there was woman named
meta DE Balsham condemned to death for col
fusion with robbers; she was hanged, and re-
mained on the gibbet (if the records OF the time
are to be trusted) no less than three days. and
yet she survived to receive pardon from Henry
III In 1873, Matthew, of Enderby was hanged
for some crime OF which he had been convicted; |;
he was cut down, and revived iust before the
body was about to be inferred. In 1863, Walter
WynkebuTn was hanged at Leicester; when cut
down, he was carried in cart to the cemetery of
the Holy Sepulchre in that city; he gradually
reganed sensibility while the cart was rumbling
along, and escaped with life. Similar cases
occurred in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.
The seventeenth century was exceptionally full
OF such instances. DR.. Plot mentions the strange
lot OF Swiss, on the authority of DR.. Obadiah
Walker, master OF University College; this man
is SAID TO nave been hung no less than thirteen
times without losing his life, his windpipe having
been converted by disease into a substance
almost as hard as bone
No instance has been so much discussed and
written about as that OF Anne Green, which took
place curing the time of the Common wealth.
Judges and physicians alike referred to it, as
anordpg illustrations tor or against legal and
medical testimony. This poor girl was executed
at Marston, in Oxfordshire, on December IA,
1850, for ntanticide, charge which could only
be proved against her by much straning of the
law; TINS severity, and knowledge of the wrong
she had suffered in other WAYS made her an
object of much public sympathy. The hanging
was accompanied by certain coarse and shocking
pullings and strklngs OF the body and limbs
Whlch IN those Gays were supposed to insure
more e1ectually the death of the victim, and to
lessen the period of suffering. After hanging
the usual time, she was cut down, actually tram.
pied on while PROSTATE, and lett with the rope
unfia unsiacked round her neck. Sne was put into
coffin, and consigned to the doctors for dissec-
ton. 10 the surprise OF all, when the coffin was
opened, the bosom was seen gently to heaye;
upon which, brutal blows and pressure were
remarkable, however, to remain concealed; and
men of superior position took up the matter
Sir William Petty, DR.. Wallis, and Dr. Clarke,
who at that time filed the three offices of Pro-
lessor OF Anatomy, President of Magdalen Col
iege, and Vlce-Chancellor OF Oxford University,
being present at the intended dissection per-
ccelve9 that the heaving of the bosom was fol-
lowed y ny vas slight rafting IN her throat Here
former purpose, they presently used means for
her recovery by opening vein, laying her in a
warm bed and using divers remedies respecting
her senselessness head, throat, and chest: inso.
much that within fourteen hours she began to
speak, and the next day talked and prayed
heartily. During the time of this her rec )yer-
lng, the officers concerned in her execution
would needs have had her away again to have 1t
completed on her; but by the mediation of the
worthy doctors and some other friends with the
then governor of the city, Colonel Kelsey, there
was guard set upon her to hinder all further
disturbance till he had sued out her pardon
from, the powers then in being; thousands of
people In the meantime coming to see her, and
magnifying the Just providence of God in thus
asserting her innocence OF murder" g.,
1t Is not stated by Or. Plot whether the medi
cal men satisfied themselves concerning the
cause anatomical or physiological OF her pre-.
servatlon; but they sought to ascertain whether
there were any peculiar mental phenomena con-
neced with he. recovery. They found that the
halt-hour of hanging had left no special impress
sion on her memory. ''She came to herself as
II she had awakened out of a sleep-not recov-
in manner altogether (all at once), beginning
to speak where she left off on the gallows1
Among all the printed narratives of this re-
markable case there is none that offers clear
explanation; and we are left to our surmses on
The subject. There was strong religious bias
in the public mind at that period; and this feel
ing led to belief in the direct interposition of
Heaven IN Anne Green's favor. The under
graduates of Oxford University viewed the mat
ter in another light: they sought to exercise
their wit and poetry on it; and there have been
preserved twenty or thirty epigrams written by
them, and signed with their names-one of
which was " Mr. Christopher Wren." Anne
Green, having received a pardon after this
strange resusctation, retired with her friends to
Steeple Barton, where she married. had a family,
and died in 1869.
Somewhat about the same period, one Cor.
uon, h1ghwayman was condemned for eXecu-
lon. He found means, when his sentence was
no longer doubtful, to obtain the aid of young
surgeon, who, shortly before the execution,
nXed small tube through an opening cut in the
Wmdplpe The artidce failed in its intended
enect IN this case; the culprit being very heavy
man, Grew with too much weight; he breathed
Tor lew minutes, when removed after hang
ing, but did not recover. In 1858 a female ser.
want was hanged for some crime at Oxtord she
was Kept hanging longer time than usual pro.
badly ON account OF the wonderful resuscitation
OF Anne Green few years before. She was cut
down.. and the body allowed to tall to the
ground with much violence vet she lived: hut
the severity of the law insisted upon her under
going second and more fatal hanging There
mas, IL appears, been difference of oDiuion
among legal authorities concerning this double
iptlcuon of the sentence Some contend that
II man is hanged, that is enough; IT the execu-
tloncrs do their work clumsily. he ought not to
bear the consequences, but rather should be
gwen ''the benefit of tue doubtn On the Other
mana, IL Is contended that the sentence means