The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1882-08-04

agree that MS DOQY, after hanging,
should be put in coffin without being
stripped. The Sheriff may have been
kind, but was certainly weak, for cords
had been twisted around and under the
body, connected with pair of hooks at
the neck, and all concealed under
double shirt and flowing periwig. But
the cunning was frustrated, despite the
weakness of the Sheriff, as johnson
showed signs of life, even after hanging
made, the apparatus discovered, and the
man successfully and finally hanged on
the following day. Whether any tube
was inserted we are not told, but there
was evident collision in the case of the
man hanged at Cork III 1857. His body
was carried by his friends to a prede-
termined spst, where surgeon made an
incision in the windpipe and resusci-
tated the man in six hours. Let us
hope that the rest Of the story Is not
quite true, to the effect that the fellow
went to the theater the same evening.
The William DUEL who was hanged
In 1740, who came to himself again when
Just about to be dissected at Surgeons
Hall, may, like Ann Green, have sur
'iyed through zone peculiarly in the
ueck or some clumSiness on the part of
the executioner, without any collision
or cunning among his friends. In 1887
man named Kelly was sentenced to
execution at Trim, in Ireland. On the
early morning Of the day intended to be
his last he contrived to cut his blanket
into strips about four inches wide, join
them together with strong wooden threads
and form double sling. This he passed
under his arms, fastened the ends at his
neck and there provided an iron hook to
receive the halter. Thus accoured he
proceeded to the place of execution. It
is supposed that he found means to bride
the hangman, to whom he made re-
quest to draw up close to the pully and
lower him gently when dead. But the
crafty maneuyer did rot succeed. Kelly
had not allowed for the stretching Of the
strips of blanket by his own weight, the
point of the hook fastened into his wind
pipe and gave him such pain that he
struggled violently. He was, however,
allowed to hang until he was really dead, :
when the sling apparatus was discovered.
A successful attempt to cheat the gal
lows once brought an under-sheriff into
trouble. William Barrett executed in
Tyrone in 1859, contrived to wear some
kind of concealed collar, which pre-
vented strangulation he was cut down
apparently dead, but afterward re-
covered. Mr.. Aunsley, undel-sheriff,
as q punishment for allowing Bar
rett thus to evade the law, was fined
9100 and imprisoned for two years.
In former times the mode in which the
dismal operations of the gallows were
conducted led occasionally to frustra-
ton of the laws intention. The I'M
happy cuIprit, after the halter was adj
justed around his neck, was pushed so
as to slip or slide from ladder. AS
phyxia was sometimes produced without
any dislocation. Under the modern ar
rangement trap door opens in a plat
form on which the culprit stands, occa-
sioning sudden and considerable fall,
from which recovery is much less prob
able. This change led to the frustra-
ton of plan that might possibly have
been successful under the old system.
William Brodie was executed in Edin-
burgh in 1893. His friends had prear-
ranged for his resuscitation, but the fall
OF the drop was greater than had been
expected, and he was quite dead when
taken down. There is an old Scotch say
ing, Brodie's drap was too much for
Brodie," which, we believe, refers to the
case of this William Brodie, for the
=" drap or drop was too great for the
vital organism to resist.
A reprieve has sometimes arrived too
late TO save the poor wretch in whose
behalf it had been obtained. More fort
innate was burglar who was hanged in
l705, for the reprieve arrived when life
was only half extinct. He was quickly
cut down, placed under medical care,
and restored. A reprieve of another
kind from the effects of afoolhardy trick
came little too late. In 1906 youth
aged II, and named Matthew Watson,
resolved to make small attempt at
hanging himself, " to see how it felt. :"
He went into cellar, and succeeded
more completely than he had intended,
for he was found hanging with life quite
extinct. A strange mania this, but the
examples to illustrate it are more nu-
merous than most of us would suppose.
A question arises which very few liv-
ing persons are IN position to answer,
viz: What are the sensations expert
enced during hanging? Some OF the
few who have been able to give any ac-
count of their consciousness at so criti-
cal moment say that, after one instant
of pain, the chief sensation is that of a
mass of brilliant colors filling the eye.
balls. The Quarterly ReUieaO, volume
SIS, treating on this matter, says San
acquaintance of Lord Bacon, who meant
to hang himself partially, lost his foot
ing, and was cut down at the last ex-
tremity, having nearly paid for his Curl
osity with his life. He declared that he
felt no pain, and his only sensations
were of fire before his eyes, which
changed first to black and then to sky
blue. These colors are even a source OF
pleasure"
A Capt. Montagnac, who was executed
in France during the religious wars, but
was rescued from the gibbet at the in
planned that, having lost all pain in an
| IlSbdut, he udU DG0u UdkSu IRON q 1g11G
of which the charm defied description.
Another criminal, who escaped through
the breaking of the halter, said after a
second or two of suffering light APP
peared, and across it a most beautiful
avenue of trees. All agree chat the I'M
easiness is quite momentagy, that a
pieasurable feeling Immediately sue
ceeds, that colors of various hues start
up before the eyes, and that. these hay
ing been gazed at for q limited space.
the rest is oblivion. The mind, averted
from the reality of the situation, is en-
gagged in scenes the most remote from
that which fills the eyesof the spectator.
Medical men have paid much attention
to the anatomy Of the neck and throat
in regard to the circumstances which
bring about asphyxia, suffocation or
choking, and they say that some necks
possess a power of resisting these effects
to very remarkable degree.
|
Keeping a Yacht.
A New York yachtman says that tbe
expense CT keeping up yacht is exac y
the same as keeping up a good .zed
house-that is to say, Just W., ,5 the