St. Paul daily globe., 1892-06-07
VIEWS OF A HANGMAN
James Berry, the English Ex-
eeutioner, Writes a Weird
Book.
Necessity, Not Choice, Made
Him a Greatly Detested
Hangman.
Driven to the Work by the
Poverty-Stricken Condi-
tion of His Family.
Hanging as a Fine Art--How
to Adjust the Rope--How
MupdererS Die.


ertv-stricken condition of my family,
which L was unable to keep in reason
able comfort upon my earnings Il was
then engaged as boot salesman at a
small salary. knew that in the line
on which [ was then working there was
no prospect of material improvement
in my position; | knew that was a
man of no extraordinary ability, SO that
my chances of rising were few, and
looked upon the vacancy of the eXecu-
toner's post as being probably my one
chance in life. my tide i'll the affairs OF
men, Personally had great dis
taste for the work, though l did not
consider it in any way dishOnorable or
degrading. and had to weigh my fam
ily's wants against my personal inclina-
ton. 1t seemed to me at the time that
nv duty was clear. so | made appllca-
ton for the vacant position"
Berry first Offeiated as hangman in
1884. the OCCASION being the execution
of the two Gorebridge murderetS in
Edinburgh. He was not, it need hardly
be said, very happy on that occasion.
II filled my time walking about the
prison grounds and thinking of the
poor men who were nearing their end,
full of life, and knowing the fatal hour,
which made me quite i'll to think about.
NV meals did not seem to do HE good,
nv appetite began to fall off. nothing
felt good to me; everything that put
into my mouth felt like sand. and | felt
as wished | had never undertaken
such an awful calling. l regretted for
while, and then thought the public
would only think | had not the pluck,
and l would not allow my feelings to
overthrow me. SO | never gave way to
such thoughts again" -
The night before the execution Berry
retired at 10 O'clock.
But j had only cat maps all night,
one eye shut and the other open, think
ing and fancying things that never viii
be, and which are impossible. l was
dressed and up at ) a. IN, and felt more
dead than alive, as had such respOn-
sible part to play in the programme for
the day. | fancied the ropes breaking;
| fancied l was trembling, and could
not do it; [ fancied fell sick just at
the last push. l was nearly frantic i'll
my mind, but ! never let them know
The execution, however passed off
without a hitch, aud magistrates, gov
ernor and surgeons all afterWard testi-
fed their satisfaction.
Berry has, as we all know, strong
opinions OH the drop, and upon his eX-
perience ar Edinburgh he based a table
of weights and drops which the curious
may consult in his book. The rope,
Berry says, is the ''most important
item," and for successful working must
be strong, but ''must also be pliable in
order to tighten freely"
''Mr. MarWOOd used ropes of about the
same quality and thickness as my own,
while Mr. BinnS used much thicker
rope (abOut one and a quarter inches
diameter after use), of rOugher and
less piiable class of hemp. Until the
commencement of 1890 | supplied my
own ropes, some of which, however,
were made to order of the government,
and | was unable to use the same rope
again aud again. One l used for no
less than sixteen executions. and five
others 1 have used for twelve execu-
tiOns each.
''The rope | use is thirteen feet long
and has one brass ring worked into one
end, through which the other end of the
rope is passed to form the moose. \
leather washer, which fits the rope
pretty tightly. is used to slip up behind
the brass ring. in order to prevent the
moose slipping or siackening after it has
been adjusted"
In using the rope Berry always ad
justed it with the ring just behind the
left ear:
''This position (he says never alter,
though, of course, it there were any
special reason for doing so, for instance,
if the convict had attempted suicide
and were wounded on the side or the
throat, death could be caused by plac
ing the ring under the chin or even be-
hind the head. The position behind
the ear, however, has distinct advan-
tages and is the best calculated to
cause instantaneous and painless
different ways toward the same end. In
the first place, it will cause death by
strangulation. which was really the only
cause OF death in the old method of
hanging before the long drop was in-
troduced. Secondly it dislocates the
vertebra, which is now the actual cause
of death. And, thirdly, if third factor
were necessary, 1t has tendency to in
ternally rupture the jugular vein. which
in itself is sufficient to cause practically
instantaneous DEATH"
Berry liked always to be sure that the
person whom he hanged deserved his
fate, and for this purpose was anxious,
if possible, to obtain confession.
''In some few cases. where the prIs-
oner has not confessed before the time
for the execution, | have approached
him in the cell in kindly manner,
asking him, as il can' make no differ
ence to his fate, to confess the justice
of sentence, in order that L may feel
sure that am not hanging an innocent
person. In most cases they have done
so, either in the cell or at the last mo-
ment OH the scatfold. Of course, the
confidence repOSed in me at such mo-
mentS have never divulged, and it
would be most improper to do so; but
am at liberty to state that, of all the
people l have executed. only two or
three have died without fully and freely
confeSsing their guilt"
In a long chapter Berry gives an ac-
count of 'How Murderers Die" and he
tells us in what light he views these Of
tenders against society:
ssTo the ordinary Englishman a mur-
derer is a murderer and nothing else.
He is vile creature who has taken life,
and who. by law, divine and national,
must die because of his deed. He is q
creature different from the rest of hu-
manity, fiend, a monster, who he's
outraged justice and must die like a
dog. TO me murderer is study.
He is a man who has done an i'll
deed, who may or may not he naturally
vicious; who may or may not be
really responsible for his actions; who
may or may not be devoutly penltent.
My own ideas on capital punishment
are given in another chapter. l believe
honestly, and from long study of the
subject, with unique opportunities of
Judging, that with certain low class of
the human brute the fear of death is
the only check that can i'll any way
curb their IustS aud DassIons."
Humor is not often found to be char
acteristic of condemned persons, but
one James Murphy. whom Berry ext
entad in 1856. seemed to look upon his