The Somerset press. [volume] (Somerset, Ohio) 1873-1977, 1880-08-26
Drawing, Hanging and Quartering.

There appears to be much mlsappre-
hension existing as to the English pun
ishment for 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
ish law for the innovations Of the long
Parliament and Commonwealth, of
course, legally go 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
invar1able sentence was combuston), but
constitutional lawyers held that, mas
much as the sovereign could, in his
mercy, remit the whole of the penalty,
SO he had the power to dispense with any
part. Thus, usually in the case of peers
and connections Of noble families, decap
itation was by the Kings grace, all that
was e3acted The soundness of this
theory of the royal prerogative was
doubted by Lord William Russell in the
case of Lord Stafford, executed for al
legged completely in the pretended Popish
plot, in the reign of Charles IL The
rather overrated husband of Rachel
Wriothesley, with a brutal fanaticism that
does not display his character in a favor
able light, eagerly craved that his polit-
ical opponent should undergo to the full
the whole of the degradation and suffer-
ing involved in his sentence, Charles,
however, exercised his prerogatiye.
When Lord RusselTs own turn came, for
his share in the Rye House Plot, the
King again displayed this peculiar form
of clemency, accompanying the remis-
sion with the sardonic remark: "My
Lord Russell shall now experience that I
do indeed possess that power which he
denied me in case of my Lord Stafford. !"
But to return. The drawing, as every
legal scholar knows, means the drawing
of the criminal to the place of execution,
and therefore precedes the infection Of
death. According to Mr.. Justice Black
stone, vol. iv., "drawing" formally
meant, and formerly actually involved,
dragging the condemned along the
ground by a rope tied round his legs to
the place of execution; and this torture
the Judgment literally ordains. "But," /"
says the learned author Of the "Com-
mentaries," usually 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 indulgence seems of q
piece with the same legal sage's oft
quoted vindication of the humanity and
propriety of the English law in the iudg-
ment for treason passed upon women al
luded to above. The passage is worth
consulting. The last criminals &c drawn .
to the gallows were, I believe, Colonel
Despard (see ante, page 371), 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 humor-
ous expedient vas had recourse to. The
conventional sledge or hurdle-the body
of cart or tumbrl without the wheels
was introduced into the prison-yar
and the condemned men entered it in
patches of two at a time Except the Col.
onel, who had the honor of an appear.
ance en- seuD 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 tower on which they were
to die. When the vehicle returned, aftel
its third journey, to take up the Colonel,
that gentleman reInarked-and no won.
der" Ha, ha! what nonsensical mum.
merry il this?"-Notes and Queries. "'