The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-03-08
weight Of a man how far he would let

weight of man how far he would let
Heavy men did not require the distance
to dislocate their necks that light man
did. He refused to say exactly what his
BILE When he had man to execute he
ascertained his exact weight, either by
questions or an estimate, and then ar
ranged his moose accordingly.
A hanging by George Maledon was
worth going miles to see. 1t was a thing
of scientific beauty. From the moment
the subject began to prepare for the
hangman was at his heels. He had been
up before daylight greasing his ropes
oiling the hinges of the gallows trap and
adjusting and readjusting his moose. He
followed the subject to the gallows, and
when the foot of the steps leading up to it
was reached. the little hangman would
trot around and trip jauntily up the stair
way ahead of all the rest.
From that moment Maledon's face was
a study for physiognomist. He needed
not the spectators, or any one on the scaft
fold, except the subject and he moved
around him with an air of ownership.
Sometimes if the subject was slow and
backward, Maledon would encourage him
with a few well-choSen words of impa-
tient hurry, as;
"Oh, come on, now, it's nothing at all
You won't feel it, and I'll have it all
over in jiffy."
Maledon would stand the subject on the
trap and then generally would take
chew of tobacco and stand with the moose
ready in his hands while the clergyman
prayed. After than it was not q minute
till George had the moose firmly adjusted
with one motion, the black cap over the
head with another and the trap sprung
with another. AS the body hung limp and
swayed gently back and forth the little
hangman would walk around the square
hole of the trap with his hands on his
hips looking down at the swinging body
and surveying it critically from every
point of view while he chewed tobacco
anxiously and vigorously and spat down
through the hole past the body. When
Maledon had from two to ten to hang
at one time he attended to it all alone,
adjusting the nooses with his own hands
Maledon gained his proficiency as :,
hangman by experience He was not so
successful with his first two or three Jobs
as he was with later subjects The first
man he hanged was little fellow who
weighed about ninety pounds. He was
not dropped far enough, and the moose
slipped so that the knot was under the
chin instead of the left ear AS a result
the man was strangled to death, and ow-
ing to the position of the rope it took
trltfe over an hour to cause death When
MaledOn came to hang his second man
the lesson learned in the other buneIing
job was remembe and the doomed man
was dropped about eight feet. He was a
large man, and the drop not only dis
located the neck, but jerked the head al
mos{ off the body, and the scene resen1 bIed
a slaughter pen when the execution was
over Blood Spurted out and over the spec-
tators and such a sight was presented
as sickened the beholders Had the drop
been an inch more, the small rope would
have completely severed the head from The
body, as nothing but the tendons and the
muscles IN the back of the neck were held
intact: No such bungling job was ever
done by George Maledon again He GOT
strong sacks and filled them with SAND.
so than they weighed all the way from
80 to 225 pounds, and he practiced drop-
ping them through the trap until he knew
10 nicely Just how far a man of anv
given weight ought to fall to have bis
neck broken scientifically.