The Arkansaw traveler., 1886-02-13
LONDON EXECUTIONS.
lLoadoa Letter, tn ExcAaaes.l

Tue hangmAn is common, ignorant man. Marwood was a stupid fellow. Binns was worse, and Berry is not his equal. Everthing, however, points to the necessity of employing . really eompe- tent person, tor a great deal depends on the selection of the cord, the way in which 1t is placed around the neck, the extent of the drop and the general way the operation is conducted. This is sAown, for instance, by the case of the butler Leo, three times hung by a rope which three times broke, and that of Robert Goodall, who got such a dispro. portionate fall that hardly had be droppsd before the rope whipped up to the very beam, having left at the bottom on one side his body and on the other his head
 The rope must be elastic As we'll as strong. The clip knot must be placed exactly under the Jeff jaw. The ial must be proportionate to the weight of the body, fourteen -stoner needing hardly half the fall of seven one A three loot fall is generally allowed in this country. Nothing Is more uncertain and more unequal than the swiftness of death among criminal executions here.
 Dr. Gibson, most amiable. kind. re- membering man, who preceded Dr. Nor gan at Newgate, and who has witnessed at least two scores ot executions, tells me that he never saw fellow die as quickly as Miller, the German who murdered Mir. Briggs in railway carriage. He never moved after his fAtl, and became imme- diately as still as if he had been swung a couple of hours before. Not so with the Australian, Herbert, who had shot his sister.in-law In Finsbury p ark. for sepel. ling his wicked proposals. Dr. Gibson distinctly felt his pulse fourteen minutes after the execution. Quite lately Dr. Morgan had q similar case. English doctors, however, do not attach much importance to this action of the pulse and the post mortem vibration of certain mus. cles, which they consider as merely auto. ma,ic. ls it not so2 lf the constitution ot the sufferer goes far to explain the various phenomena which follow death by hanging, the way 1t is done has also much to answer for.
 The superiority of the guillotine Is tha, almost every one might work it, putting aside, ot course, the question oi inclina- tion. The same cannot be said of hang. ing. asked Dr, Gibson what he thought of the guillotine.
 He replied that l, was, no dorh., msst expeditions means Of destroying life, but that the shedding of blood strongly repelled the people of this country.
 l linterroga,ed him on the way crimi. nals generally behaved at the last mo. ment.
 He said: "It may be that those who have killed naturally make light of life, or that they ind in expiation the best means of escaping the torture of remorse {; but they mostly conduct themselves with passiveuess. lt Is true that l remember q tonvict-i forget his name who, to avoid his punishment threw himself on the fire of his cell. He was, of course, pulle d back at once by his warders, but this did not bring him resignation He was SO violent on the scafiold that he had to be tied 10 chair, and even this was not enough for him. At that time the legs oi the convic,s were not pinioned When the floor gave way, by a desperate effort he somewhat caught hold Of the edge of it with his feet, which resulted in
 
 and backward, the miserable fellow trying each time to grasp the sides of the scaf- fold with his feet. Marwood had to de- scend and stop him from below. Never, on the other hand, have l seen a man more collected than Dr. Palmer. the poi. soner, when he came up the yard. Of all muFdereTs, poisoners are the worst, for they cannot excuse themselves with the plea of a sudden impulse or provocation They quietly plan and premeditate their plan and perhaps do ittwen,y times over. Some criminals, per contra, are not SO bad as they look. Given the sound prison diet and air with its moral surroundings, instead of their wretched food, their vile drinks, their unventilated slums, win their disofderly encouragements, and they would have lived like you and me |"
 The doctor told me also about the time when the executions were public. No phrases, 1t appears, could convey an ac- curate idea of the shocking saturuaiia, of the gruesome mob. so tightly packed that you only saw heads, of its noise, of its jokes, of its blasphemies, and of its com. manding windows, not uncommonly alive with the youngest and prettiest faces of tne ansiocraCy.
 Now this is what occurs The convict condemned to death is locked up in q cell, much larger than an ordinary one. with two wasders. His food and time of exercise are not habitaally those oi the ordinary prisoner. He wears his own clothes. He has reserved seat in the chapel at the foot of the pulpit. The day before the execution hs takes leave Of his nearest relations. The chaplain, the priest or the minister, who. like the doctor, visits him daily, if he 60 wishes, comes early to his cell on the last day He is not forced to receive religious com fort if he declises 1t. The doctor after. ward proceeds to the cell also. The gsv. ernor and the chief warden are near there A little while after his breakfast the hang. man enters and pinions him. The small procession starts for the shed in the yard, where the scsfiold has been built. with as little show as possible. You would pass
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