The Hartford herald., 1879-12-24


A long and intimate acquaintance
with death as Ii Is met with i'm hospital
life led me few years since to institute
careful comparative study of the rela-
tive time and mode Of death in the diff
ferent forms of execution to-day sane
toned and practiced by civilized ma
tiOns. These studies, carried ON at
home and abroad, and pursued, where
occasion offered, even beyond the scaf-
fold, have led to the detection of GER
tain errors, heretofore universally ac
cepted as truths, in regard to each of
the common methods of executing
criminals. The origin of capital pun
ishment, though not like crime, as old
as humanity, Is probably coeval with
society. The early methods of putting
criminals to death We're as infinite in
their variety a. the varying habits and
tastes of the different communities
among whom the death penalty was
enforced. But, however dissimilar i'm
other respects, the ancient forms of cap
ital punishment possessed one striking
similarity in cOmmOp-the universal
practice of subjecting the criminal to as
much preliminary torture as the hu-
man frame was thought capable of bear
ing. All the museums of Europe bear
witness to this universal barbarism,
which died natural death at no re-
mote period of history. To-day there
are practically but three forms of exc
cutiOn in use-hanging, decapitatiOn
(either manual or mechanically and
shooting. Shooting, which Is almost
entirely confined to military organiza-
tiOns, shall not consider minutely, be-
cause the objections which can be urged
against hanging and decapitation apply
with tenfOld force against shooting, on
account of the uncertainty Of its appli-
cation, and because the modification
urge is equally applicable to all forms of
execution, not excepting garroting rs
practiced in Spain. The term "capital
punishment" indicates i'm its derivation
that IL is the head we endeavor to at
tack, from the generally accepted idea
that the head, containing the brains, is
the most vulnerable part Of the body
but a little reflection will show that the
brain is not directly and Immediately
affected either i'm hanging or decapita-
ton. First let us minutely study the
mOdas Operdndi of hanging, What is
the time and manner of death? The
time is variable, the mode is uniformly
strangulatiOn, more or less rapid, as
more or less oxygenated blood reaches
and traverses the brain. The interrupt
ton of the respiration is only mediate
in its effects upon life. We could COM
fortably dispense with its function alto
gefher if we could be supplied with OK
ygen and eliminate carbOlic acid gas by
some other means. Indeed, for nine |
months of our existence such is really
the ease. In all cases of strangulation,
therefore, whether the neck be broken !
or not, we die not because We can not
get air, but because We are poisoned by
the nOn-eliminatiOn and storing up in
the brain of carbonic acid gas. The du- |
ration of consciousness in this form of
death is in direct proportion to the ra- |
pidity of the action of the poison, while |
the acuteness of pain is in the inverse |
ratio to both. That is to say, slow
is not altogether an UNI
pleasant form of death. Drowning il |
probably the slOwest mode of strangu- !
lation and yet persons who have been |
rescued from imminent drowning uni |
formly testify that, after a certain point, |
their sensations We're altogether pleas
ant. Again, many suicides have been |
found in positions which they could |
not have maintained had their deaths
been painful.
PAINLESS sTRANGULATIoN.
Men have been found tied to the do II i
knob, with their knees upon the floor,
and other men have hung for supposed /
murders, simply on account of this
erroneous idea in regard to the painful
ness of slow stranguhtion. Anyone
can demonstrate the truth of this as-
sertion who can lean his neck upon a |
cord or rope i'm such way as to slight
ly contract the jugular veins, and thus
slowly narcotize himself by impeding
the circulation of the blood through the
brain. such an experiment, if thor
Oughly tried, will almost inevitably
lead to unintentional suicide. Within
4 week of a recent hanging I'm London
four boys have killed themselves by
playing at hanging. do not for mo-
lnent hold that the entire process is a
pleasant One-far from 1t. IL IL only
when the action of the poison begins
that conciOus pain ceases, and when
the poisoning is very slow the pain Is so
slight that the boundary line is easily
passed. 1t has al Says been the endeav-
or of the hangman to break the neck
Of the criminal from this same mistak-
EN- idea While the attempt is lau,la-
BILE, as death undoubtedly does take
place a little more rapidly, yet 1t can
not be proved that the man becomes
IA moment sooner than he
would have done had his neck not been
broken. There is, of course, no sensa-
lion of any kind, and, consequently, no
pain in that part of the body to which
ire distributed the nerves emerging
rom the spine below that point of frac-
lure or dislocatiOn. 1t is this entire alb
'ence of voluntary motion i'm the body
which renders this form of hanging APP
parentiy 50 much easier than the 9TH
sr. The sensations of the criminal are
like i'm both cases and the duration of [
Identical In each. In ac-
:idental fracture of the spine, then, as
,ften happens the breakage occurs be-
ow the Insertion of the nerves which {.
control the respiration and circulation,
men have remained conscious varia-
DE length of time, extending often over
weeks, and sometimes even have re-
covered. That death by hanging can
lever be instantaneous, and that the |
lower form is not necessarily the more /
,ainful, believe / have full demon |
trated. The same error is held in re- !
yard to decapitatiOn. Leaving out Of |
the old clumsy and more {
" less uncertain method of beheading /
" the sword, deny that death by the {
.uillOtine Is instantaneous. The sew
rance Of the head from the trunk, i'm I
o far as the body is concerned, does not I
|iffer essentially from that form of /
hanging i'm which the neck is broken
mt as regards the head and brain, what
axes place: The man dies when the /
rain Is drained of the blood contained !
t the moment the head is severed. / 4
10 not hold that he is conscious until l
he last drop of blood has left the {
rain, for, as the ris a tergo (the propul- 9
i've power Of the heart il absent, some