The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1880-07-22
Drawing, Hanging and Quartering.

Inere appears 10 De mucu mlStppIe-
hension existing as to the English pun
islment or treason, and this may be
fitting occasion on which to point out
that the sentence of decapitation, pure
and simple, is one unknown to the Eng
lish law Qor the innovations of the
Long parllan. ent and commonwealth. OF
course, legally 60 for nothing). The
same doom OF drawing, hanging, evis-
ceration, dismemberment and quarter
ing was passed on peer and peasant
alike (of course, except the fair sex,
whose invariable seh tence was combus-
tion), but constitutional lawyers held
that, inasmuch as the sovereign could,
in his mercy remit the whole of the
penalty. so he had the power to dis
pense with any part. Thus, usually in
The case of peers and connections OF
noble families, decapitation was, by the
kings grace, all that was exacted. The
soundness of this theory of the royal
prerogative was doubted by Lord Will
liam Russell in the case CT Lord Stat
ford, executed for alleged completely in
the pretended popish plot. in the reign
Of Charles III. The rather overrated
husband of Rachel Wriothesley, with a
brutal fanaticism that does not display
his character in favorable light,
eagerly craved that his political oppon
ent should undergo TO the full the
degradation and suffering involved in
his sentence. Charles, however, exer-
cised his prerogative. When Lord Rus
sells own turn came for his share in tae
Rye House plot, the king again dis
played this peculiar form OF clemency,
accompanying the remission with the
sardonic remark: my Lord Russell
shall now experience that | do indeed
possess that power which he denied me
in the case of my Lord Stafford" But
to return. The drawing, as every legal
scholar knows, means the drawing OF
the criminal to he place OF execution,
and therefore precedes the infiction Of
death. According to MIR. Justice Black
stone, vol. iv., drawing" formerly
meant, and formerly actually involved, ,
dragging the condemned along the
ground by q rope tied about his legs to
the place of execution; and this torture
the judgment literally ordains. But, !"
says the learned author of the Com
menlaries, y" usually a sledge or hurdle
is allowed, to preserve the offender
from the extreme torment OF being
dragged on the ground or pavement
This quaint view of indulgen &c seems
of a piece with the same legal sage's
oft.quoted vindication OF the humanity
and propriety of the English law in the
judgment for treason passed upon wo-
men al uded to above. The passage
is worth consulting. The last crimi-
mails " drawn to the gallows, were. ]
believe, Colonel Despard (see ante, pagc
37D, and his gang. AS they were to be
executed in the prison in which they
were confined, and as the government
insisted that they should be drawn"
this grimly humorous eXpedient was
had recourse to. The conventional
sledge or hurdle-the body Of cart or
tumbril without the wheels-was intro
duced into the prison yard, and the con-
denned men entered it in patches OF
two at time Except the colonel who
had the honor of an appearance en- seul)
at the door of the staircase leading to
their cells. and the vehicle thus making
four trips, its miserable passengers were
drawn across the tagged space to the
foot Of the stairs leading to the towtl
on which they were to die. When the
vehicle returned, after its third journey
10 take up the colonel, that gentleman
remarked-and no wonder" Ha! ha
The late DR.. Dorsn tells us {" London
during the horrid year that followed
the AS, the sledges arrived to receive
their wretched occupants outside the
gates Of Newgale, to set out on theil
CHASTITY progress to Tyburn or Kenning
ton common, the polite keeper of thu
Jail would announce the fact to the
moribund in these courteous terms
Now, gentlemen, if you are quite
ready, your carriages are at the door,
Notes and Queries.