Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1888-09-30

/ hans soon be out OF uhte-nOue toO eoOh'
For we apprehend that hanging when
skilfully performed is but barbarous
mode Of putting en- end to life. and I'M
skilfully performed there is reason to be-
lieve that it becomes n positive torture !;
and moreover, the mere difference III the
weight of the culprits renders it mt all
times an unequal punishment Heavy
murderers escape much OF the pain we
inaict on lighter ones.
FRENCH GIBBETs.
The modern gallows is not like the
ancient qibbet Down to the French
Revolution gibbets used to stand In
every French town and village. They
were generally composed of pillars OF
stone, Joined at the summit by wooden
raverses. TO which the bodies of male
factors hung until they had crumbled to
dust That of Montiaucon, which is so
famous in history, stood on an eminence
by the high road leading to Germany.
I Il consisted Of q mass OF masonry COM
posed Of ten or twelve layers of rough
stones. aud formed an Enclosure of forty
by thirty feet. At the upper part
WAS n platform, reached by a stone stair
case. In the centre of the Enclosure was
deep pit where pell-mell the skeletons
we're thrown. Crows and buzzards
/ few about and fed upon the corpses and
tho stencil was horrible. As many as
| ffty-two were sometimes hanging nj
once. Sometimes the remains hung IN
wicker baskets or iron caekets Those
Of Pierre des Esssrts hung three years
before they were delivered to his family
| for burial.
The victim rode in cart to the eibbet,
and, when the cart arrived at the foot,
the exccutioner assembled the ladder
backward drawing the culprit after him
by means OF ropes, and on arriving at
the top he quickly fastened two ropes Of
the size Of the little finger, each having
2 elip-kuot around his neck, 10 the arm
OF the gibbet, aud by jerk OF the knee
he turned the culprit off the ladder. lie
still held in his hand a small rope called
a get, used to pull the victim of the lad
der. lie then placed his feet on the
! hands OF the condemned, and suspend
ing himself by his hands TO the gbbet,
lie finished his victim by repeated jerks,
which completed strangulatlon.
ENGLISH SUSPENSIONS.
In England, from 1871, when Fityas-
born was hanged there, to 1888, when
John Austen was hung at Tyburn-a
place notorious in the criminal annals OF
England many eminent people were
executed. Among these we're the pretty
and wicked Lady Agnes Hungeriord, for
poisoning her husband the poet South
well Sir Thomas Armstrong, q victim
Of the Rye House plot affair; Lord Fer
riers, who would be hanged in his we'd
ding clothes, and Rev. DR.. Dodd, that
once fashionable preacher, for whom one
cannot help feeling a little sympathy.
People went to the Tyburn hangings as
to festival The vulgar drank and
swore. while the equality" made pic
mic Of it.
In Massachusetts, in the seventeenth
century several women were among the
victims Of the witchcralt delusiOn, among
them being Mrs. Hibbens, who WAS a
sister of Governor Beliingham and widow
Of a man Of good position IN the colony.
Some of those persons who were hanged
mt the time OF the "Salem Wltchcraft "
were women of good repute. One was
banged in New York charged with having
been concerned in the Negro Plot Of
l741, one OF the strnngest events OF colo
NAL history. Mrs. Bsthsheba SpOoner
was hanged in Worcester, Mass,
on July 3, IT'S, she having
taken part in the murder OF
her husband. Mrs. Spooner was n
daughter Of General Ruggels, a public
man Of great note one hundred years
ago. bnt who took the Tory side OF the
Revolution and was ruined; AMI Mrs.
SpOoner was a superior woman who was
unhappiy married. She seduced a
young American soldier, Ezra Ross. and
Ross and two Brit sh soldiers OF Bur
Coyne's army, James Buchanan and
William Brooks, Killed Mr. Spooncr
through her procurement All four
were executed at the same time
and place, AMI most terrific
thunderstorm broke ont before they
reached the esllOws. While under sea-
tence Mrs. Spooner declared that she
was quick with child, and asked a re-
spite. which was refused because she was
not believed, bnt after her death it was
ascertained that she was right, and the
circumstance caused a great sensation.
Some years later woman named Wall
wa. hanged III Boston for theft There
are quite a number OF other cases Of the
hanging Of women in this country.
A TERRIBLE INCIDENT.
No other instance has been so much
discussed and written about as that Of
Annie Green, which took place in Eng
land during tine time of the Common
wealth. judges and physicians alike re-
feIred to it as ahOrding illustrations for
or against legal aud medical testimony.
This poor Girl vas executed at Mertson,
in OXfOrdshire, on December il. 1859,
for iniruticide, charge which could only
be proved against her by much strainlng
of the law This severity and
knowledge Of the wrong which
she had suffered in other ways
made her an object of much
public sympathy. The hanging was ac-
companied by certain coarse and shock
ing pullngs ard striking OF the body
and limbs. which in those days were
supposed to insure moro elfectually the
death of tine victim and to lessen the
period of suffering. After hanging the
usual time she was cut down, actually
trampled on while PROSTATE, and left
with the rope unslackened round her
neck. She WIS put into coffin and con-
signed to the doctors for dissection. To
the surprise OF al when the coffin was
opened the bosom was seen gently to
heave.
The incident was too remarkable, how
ever, to remain concealed, and men OF
superior position took up the matter.
Sir William Pity, Or. Wallis, and DR..
Clarke, who at that time filed the three
Offices Of professor OF anatomy, president
of MaqdaIen College, and vice chancellor
Of Oxford University, being present at
the intended dissection. perceived that
tie heaying Of the bosom WIS followed
by slight rafting in her throat. DR..
Plat writes OF this case as follows:
HereupOn, desistirg from their former