River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1885-02-19
SCIENTIFIC HANGING.
How CuIprits May be Executed Humanely
aud Decently-The CUES ton of Pain.

The slckening spectacle caused ty the bun
Cling that attended the execution of the negro
Jefferson in Brooklyn, recently, and the fire.
auency of similar ''aceide ats of late, make
recent article in the Lancet by DIR. Barr, medi
cal officer of the royal prisons, important and
interesting. He regards judicial hanging in
its physiological aspects, aud also from hu.
name point Of view, believing that too much is
now left to the discretion Of the hangman
Calcraft, it appears, invariably used the shori
drop (of about two feet and halg and judg
ing from his ropes, still IN existence, deatl
must have been produced by slow asphyxia
Marwood adopted the long drop The Ameri
can method Is called ''a scientific modification
OF running the culprit up to the yard arm.
In hanging, death may result from asphyxis,
excess of blood in the BRAIN asphyxia with
apoplexy, syneope (swoon), and injury to tht
spinal cord and the nerves of the lungs anG
stomach While death from asphyxia, as or.
dinarily brought about Oy the short drop,
should not be tolerated, it might be &C.
complished without much suffering The con.
striction should be complete. The compress.
sion of veins, arteries, and il possible, Of
nerves, is of even more importance in the pro-
duction Of rapid Inconsistencies than the clos
ing of the windpipe. The most suitable posi-
ton OF moose rs between the lower Jaw anC
what is called the hyoid BONE the latter beings
very movable osseous arch at the base o.
the tongue; which, says the medical lexicog-
rapher, separated entirely from the res
of the skeleton, is composed of five dis
tinct portions susceptible of motion up.
on each other" The rope should be thir
and pliable, and not very elastic;
silk rope would be the best The ring should
be placed under the lower jaw, and the droL
should be long enough tofully compress thu
windpipe blood vessels and nerves. half
inch silk rope with drop of from four TO siz
feet according to the weight of the prisoner
would probably be sufficient Deaths from
excess of blood in the brain Cerebral hyper.
mia and its combination with asphyxia are
notifications of the foregoing form Of death
and result from incomplete construction, the
windpipe not being quite closed The return
of the blood contained in the veins is obstruct-
ed, but not the arterial supply Hence suffo-
cation is a rather slow means of fully DESTROY
ing life. Death from syncope or swoon may
be associated with hanging, but is most fire.
quently connected with the long drop. Ii is
about the most rapid and least painful meth
cd, though perhaps the rarest In a case
of syncope DR. Barr found the hearts
action to cease i'll two minutes from
the time the bolt was drawn. Fear largely
contributes to the rapidity of the RESULT these
cases Death may be caused by dislocation oil
fracture of the upper bones of the spine with
consequent laceration of the spinal cord. 1t is
frequently thOu8nt tnat the INJURY arises from
the rupture of ligament of the atlas. the first
bone upon which the head rests. Such cases
must be extremely rare and the facts lead to
different conclusion. The Doctor, who seems
decided in bis opinion that dislocation by means
of the long droD is the most scientific method
of hanging, gives number OF instances OF the
results of this method.
"In every case the vertebre were separated
at the point of injury for at least an inch, the
spinal cord was severed and the vertebral ar
III ~
The shock TO the nervous system produces an
immediate loss of consciousness with complete
paray sis of all voluntary muscles.
The whole time during which the shock could
be felt is one twentieth of a second. Even
from this the time must be deducted which il
taken up by the impression in travelling to the
nervous centers and back. Although loss OF
consciousness is instantaneous, death, as shown
by cessation OF the hearts action, does not
take place so rapidly. The destructive effect
upon the neck of the criminal is i'll proportion
to the weight of the culprlt and the rope. The
force of the fall is equivalent TO half the mass
multiplied by the square of the terminal Yeloc-
ity. A man weighing $40 pounds wouldl equire
drop of nine feet and one weighing 20pounds
should have ten and a half feet The
rope should not be too thick nor too elias
liz, otherwise the abrupt shock Will be
broken and and the advantages of the
long drop lost; but it should not be toe
thin too inelastic or it may break, or the head
u the CFiHlludt DS sHdppou bh LIZ hllOt
should be placed under the angle of the lower
jaw on either side and directed forward; ii will
then be drawn under the chin in the act of
tightening The moose should be placed as
high in the neck as possible and drawn tightly
enough to hold it in position while the body is
falling
Concerning the question of pain itseems that
authorities disagree. Dir. Taylor is quoted as
saying that death from hanging appears to
take place very rapidly and without causing
any suffering to the person" Professor Tidy
also speaks of the painless nature of the death.
Professor Haughton, however, says that ''the
old system of taking a conyicFs life by soffoca-
Barr says: ''No doubt the pain in hanging can
under no circumstance be very acute"