The Red Cloud chief., 1882-08-10

O0s xbE91 DC l0Iu y
To some more sd than thee:
Ana while thou thus dost minist@r,
strange bliss In thine own hear, shall st1y,
And grief forgotten be.
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EXPERIENCES IN HANGING.
Historical Records OF Phesomens Cor
nccted with the Hsngman's Moose
schemes OF Cuiprits to Save Their Nseks
There are many instances on record
In which the punishment OF hanging by
the neck. has failed. either through
some peculiarly in the neck Of the In.
dividual. or a wan Of tact in the hang.
man. More than six centuries ago-ii
old records are truthful-Juetta de
Balsham, convicted Of harborine
thieves, was sentenced to be executed.
She hung for three days, revived. and
was pardoned. as q phenomenon who
had somehow OF other overmastered
the gallows. There Is the authority Of
Obadiah Walker, Master Of New College,
Oxford, for . story that q Swiss was
hanged thirteen times over, every at
tempt being frustrated by a peculiarly
in the wind-pipe which prevented
strangulation. We are not told whether
the thirteenth experiment was success
full, or whether justice vas merciful
at last. Ann Green was hanged at
Oxford for infanticide in 1850; nay, her
legs were pulled. and her body struck
with soldiers muskets. in accordance
with u barbarous custom sometimes
adopted Of making assurance double
sure. Nevertheless she survived, after
hanging some considerable time. Her
body was given up for dissection.
The surgeon observed faint signs Of
animation, tended her instead OF an
atomiziEg her, and in thirteen hours
she was able to speak. She remembered
nothing distinctly of what had occurred,
but seemed to herself to have been in
a deep sleep. The Crown pardoned
her.
Other examples OF q more or less
analogous kind are the following: A
woman name unrecorded was hanged
in 1908. She came 10 herself after q
suspension for the prescribed period,
not by slow degrees, but suddenly.
John Green experienced N ordeal some.
thing like hat Of Ann Green. After
being hanged at Tyburn his body was
taken To Sir William Blizzard, the cele-
brated surgeon; and while laid out on q
table in the dissecting.room he dis
played signs of life, and eventually re-
covered. A female servant of Mrs.
Cope, of Oxford, convicted OF some pc
nal offense. was executed in 1850. After
hanging nm unusual long time she was
cut down and fell heavily to the ground.
The shock revived her. but the unfort-
innate wretch was effectually hanged
the next day. Margaret Dickson. a
century and a half ago. was convicted
of concealment of birth, and was SUBJ
jcctcd to the last penalty of the law.
Her body. after hanging on the gibbet
at Edinburg, was cut down and given
to her friends. They put it into q cof-
fin, and drove Of with it in a cart six
miles to Musselburg. Some apprentices
rudely stopped the cart and loosened
the lid Of the coffin. This let in the air,
and the air and the jolting together re-
vived her. She was carried indoors
alive. but faint and barely conscious; a
minister came to pray with her. and she
efiectually recovered. No mention of
collision occurs in this narrative, al
though some of the incidents would
to point that way.
Instances are known in which a re-
bound after the fall has enabledt the feet
Of the victim to touch the platform, and
with what ultimate result has to be de-
termined by . conflict between mercy
and sternness on the part of the authori-
ties. A disgraceful scene took place at
Edinburgh in 1918. The rope with
which a man was hanged being too
loose, his o e touched the platform; the
assembled mob got up q riot on some
pretext, the half-hsnged man was
carried of, recaptured. and finally
hanged on the following day. A scene
of q similar deplorable nature had been
witnessed at jersey a few years pre-
yiously.
A whimsical legend. made the subject
Of one Of Southey's ballads, relates to-
man who was resuscitated after hanging,
and disappeared from the gibbet in .
mysterious manner. In n~inety-one
stanzas Southey tells the story OF Ro-
precht, the robber, believed in Germany
TO have had some foundation in fact
Roprecht, who had long been . terror
to the inhabitants of Cologne, was 1t
length caught. tried. sentenced and
executed. On the next morning, to the
surprise Of the early passers-by, the
gibbet was found TO be empty. One
week later Roprecht was seer hanging
there again, but wearing boots and
spurs instead of shoes. What
this could all mean was left
to Peter Suoye to tell. He and his son
Pet were driving home late ON the night
after the execution. Passing near the
they heard . low moan. Look
ing up they foand il TO proceed from
Roprecht. Robber and rascal though
Ne might he. they did not like to leave
him in such . pitiable state. They cnt
him down. put him into their cart car.
RED him 70 their home, revived him.
succored him and concealed him from
the authorities. Whatevee virtnes Ro- |
precht may have punsessed eza&itude
Was not one Of them. for Ne are told
one morning early. before the fam
by wer astir. he took Peters horse and
Pets boots and spurs and absconded.
But Frau Suoye. who had some little
suspicion Of the man, overheard some of
his movements. and aroused her hus-
band and son. These two mounted
spare horses, gallopcd after him. kant
him In sight overlook him, seised Hlm |
after . Desperate Struggle. d.gged him
b the gibbet and tkere hanged him
most edeotually.
ass !. - - 80 sssee:
ADa e 5ob vtfch d bangfing hAng1an -