The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1874-08-11
PUBLIC HANGINGS.
EXECUTIONS IN ENGLAND.

EAEJO HUNS IN ENOIAND.
THE TERRIBLE SCENES wrrNEssED-A DE
BATE IN THE HOUSE OF LoRDs-ExPERT
HANGMEN WANTED.
The St. Louis Republican contains the
following review of the past and present
condition of capital punishment in England:
In the House of Lords on July 9, Lord Dun
sany, in rising to call attention to the ire
quent instances of unintended and unneces-
sarv torture inflicted on CRIMINALS, in the
execution of capital sentences, through the
clumsiness or inexperience of volunteer
executioners, said that what they had to do
i'm considering this question was to reflect
whether there were sufficient instances to
show that the present method of execution
was attended with unnecessary and uncer-
| tain suffering. He would refer to the recent
execution in Newgate of Frances Stewart,
for the murder of her daughters baby. The
| hangman employed was named MarwoOd,
from one of the Midland counties. The
rope was said to be thicker and
longer than usual. and it slipped round
| TO the back of the neck of the wretched
woman who struggled for at least three
| minutes before life was extinct. When death
| could be produced in a single second, to
prolong prisoners agony for two minutes
and 80 seconds additional, was superauous
ing case the rope employed was too long,
and the convict's head was separated from
/ the body: in another, the mans feet touched
the ground, and be did not hang at all. In
an execution in Ireland not long ago, the
Irish papers declared that the criminal
struggled for 20 minutes. In another case
The rope broke, and the prisoner fell 10 the
pavement. He was carried, pinionsd as he
n was, back to the drop, and messenger sent
into the town to get new rope. The pris-
oner cried for mercy. exclaiming: "The first
time / stood it like a brick, and don't
think / ought to be hanged again" The
sheriffs, however, had no option, and when
the rope procured the man was Sus
pended a second time.
FEARFUL SPECTACLE.
Such scsnces unworthy of a civilized
country, and they might at any time occur
again. The system was one under which
the most unequal suffering was inflicted on
different individuals. according to the
J clumsiness or inexperience of the hangman
and the lightness or weight of the body OF
the culprit. He remembered a criminal
named Tawell, who was hanged many years
ago for the murder OF woman at Slough
J He was a small and light man. and be
! struggled so long that the hangman jumped
! upon his shoulders until he died. Was that
a seemly or decorous spectacle? Death by
; hanging was death by strangulation, and
r that, to be effectual, required that the
integuments of the windpipe should be
crushed. In The case OF muscular
5 pugilist these enteguments were not easily
e broken, and death, if it occurred
: would probably be caused by
!. diminishing the supply of blood to the
brain and by causing an apoplectic fit. Life
/ in such cases would sometimes be only sus-
= pended, and hence there were well-authen-
: ticated cases in which criminals had not only
: survived the punishment of hanging, bu
had actually received the royal pardon. II
: might be assumed that in a small number o
? cases the same thing still happened, and
e that consciousness was merely suspended
: They all knew that a very brief perioC
q elapsed between the cutting down and the
d burial. An inquest was Immediately held
$ the surgeon certified the cause of death, anC
!. the body was Immediately buried within tn
Q precincts of the prison. Thus there nigh
be cases like that recently reported iron
Y Paris, where newly married woman wa
:, found to have turned in her coffin and {,
i have bitter her shroud. He had said tina
n there were were well authenticated instances
: OF criminals who had survived executions
o and he would mention few.
HALF HANGED MEG.
The noble lord proceeded to mention sew
r eral cases from Notes and Queries, but tn,
u names of the criminals did not reach TIN
: gallery. He mentioned the case of a woman
o who had been hanged in Edinburgh in 172
!. for child murder, and whose body wa
:, given for dissection, but before tn
e dissecting knife was applied it was foun,
sl she was not dead, and she lived fol
a several years, married. had children. an,
was always called 'Half Hanged Meg.
Another well authenticated case was re
l. lated in the rolls of King Henry III. Thes
"a we're cases which required some answer.
they had occurred once they might occu
+, again. In the first resolution he placed OF
p the paper he suggested the substitution c
lie the guillotine for the gallows, but the yer
10 mention of the guillotine shocked the fee
10 ings of many noble lords for whom he ha
10 great respect, although he could not hel
( thinking that If any of them were place
Il in the unfortunate position of havin
g to make selection they would prefer to th
8. guillotine. The objection made to the guil
81 lotine on the score of shedding blood was
7 sentimental one. for the authority to TAX
,e human life was based on the passag,
OF "Whoso taketh mans blood. by man sha
his blood be she'd" He hoped the govern
ment would, duty to humanity. cons ide
* whether measures could not be taken to pre-
10 vent the recurrence of such cases as that {
5, Frances Stewart He would not move tn
I'd second of the two resolutions, recommend
er ing the Spanish garrote, and If the govern
I'd ment would take the matter into their ow
I'D hands he had no wish to press the first ress
TT luton, which, however, he would ccnclud
4 by moving. It was rs follows: THAT. |
ct the opinion of the house, the present syste1
IN of executing criminals is attended wit
I'd unequal and needless torture, and oite
as leads to revolving and discreditable scenes.
THINGS OF THE PAST.
n Earl Beauchamp would not follow I'll
q noble lord through the CHASTITY storms /
"A had narrated, some of which were rather il
,ir relevant The quotations from Jerem
Bentham referred to state of things Ion