The Saline County journal. [volume] (Salina, Kan.) 1871-1893, 1891-02-19

- Riah nag e tAs wesA.
An insss.is.tisa Il thsqaafien vkssAsr
Friday b day whieh b especially ct
spsrs for hanging sbs~s that nost man
bsn Of ths legal professtoa ere ignoSant On
thsa Point TbU esnsst afArm Wseshsr
Il wss accident or design that caased the
unlueky day Of the week to Be chosen for
i the executiona
One membcr Of the lss.l profezzsoa
i maintained that there va an old eustOtn
which MARRIED cut FRIDAY ~ tie day for
hsngtnZ8 because the cruclhxion u the
] two Thieves occurred 90 thst day. Another
| Hight Of the Law remarked: "You -, FRIDAY
b bad day. There b oaly one Good m
| day In the whole year, consequently it Il
looked upon by judges ~ o most ApPrupri-
ste day for hanging criminAls"
II may be stated right here that there q
nothing In the above rezsons, and that 70
b only . chance eircumstanes that -four
ffths Of the executions take place On Q
Friday. In the earlier days Of Esglish
justice, when the banging Of q man was Q
most ordinary Occurrences, and wa The pen
atty which followed lighter offrnsss. such
- stealing. forgery, Arson and other feio-
mics, rs we'll - murder, hangines occurred
on every day Of the week except Sunday.
The act governing the time Of execution
provided that felon should be exeeutnd
on the next day bat one after his eonyic-
ton.
In consequences no particular day Of the
week was ever fired upon. All this wa
In those good cd days when Lord Chief
Justice Je1reys, In q circuit Of eight
weeks, sentenced no less than 80 persons
10 be hanged. Well indeed might be boast
kGN L..
whole OF his predecessors since the con
Questi That was after the Monmouth 70
balloon Ia los, ben the king referred 20
tbese doiEgS 81 his favorite judge - the |
chief justice campo IN In the west"
That, too. was Ia lbe time of the famous |
Jack Keteh, Who became 20 notorious q
an executioner that his name II generally |
given TO the common bsngmAn In the city |
Of London. Il was Of this rope artist, " /
~ the mOderus hippantly call that function /
arr, that his wife remarked, ANY bunglsr /
can put man 20 death, but only my Jack /
knows how TO make . gentleman die
sWeetfy." Later on Q more humane spirit Il
pervaded English justice. Il was recog.
niEed that forty eight hours was indeed Q
short period wherein 10 allow q criminal 70
repent and 10 make his peace with his
CreAtor
The first step was 10 hold all criminal
trials on Friday. Tha. was not the period
when trial lasted . week or longer Il
generally took the court only few hOun
20 decide on q felon's fate Justice was
indeed quick-very frequently too quiek-
and . murderer would be sentenced on the
same day. By sentencing him on Friday
his execution would fall on Sunday, &C
cording 10 the two days Law, and, a. nc
hanging were allowed till Monday, the
felon thus gained q days respite In con
sequence Of this Monday was the usual
hanging day. and In narratives Of the "Old
Bailey" this explains the dark way In
which Monday was always spoken Of
In 1888 the two days law was repealed,
and the present Law came into force, which
allows . murderer reasonable time. The
eustcm Of appointing Monday for hang.
Ing still remained. In order not TO have
two EXECUTIONS On the same day the Judge
appointed Tuesday, and for
nigh fifty yeArs In the English criminal
caller lar Il will he found that ninety nine
but Il q hundred executions have occurred
On . Monday or q Tuesday. Nowadays
this distinction Il beginning to die out, al
thou sh IL has only commenced In England
On ne other side Of the water no distinc
don IS made, and murderers are hanged ON
Ehaiever day the judge sees fit-Ottawn
Cor Albany Argus.