The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1902-08-01


the whole site thus obtained new court
buildings Of modern type will be
erected.
Newgate's history is packed unusual
~ full of horrors, even for prison
which did duty in such cold-blooded
times as the early part Of the eigh-
teenth century in England. Then all
execution was regarded as sort Of d.
version-only that there was no good
humOr about it. When hanging was
due at Newgate-they were held in the
open, just outside the walls-crowds
used to camp out all night on the steps
Of the buildings round about. Gin was
sold even on the steps Of the scaffold,
and 1t was no uncommon thing when 4
criminal who had committed some par
ticularly outrageous offense was led out
for the mob to fling themselves on him
and half murder him before the rope
could be put around his neck. Earlier,
when the prisoners who were kept In
Newgate were executed in Tyburn,
there were even more revolving scenes
Men and women who were being hang
ed were howled at and pelted with
stones and dirt. Others were set upon
on the road to the gallows.
Almost Cheated the HanRman.
One Of these was Mrs Brownrigg
She was notorious for her brutality
to her girl apprentices, but finally
eclipsed even her own record by strip
ping one young girl to her waist, fasten-
ing her hands to ring In the ceiling
and 11ogging her so mercilessly that she
died from the effects. While Mrs
Brownrigg, who was captured while
trying to get out Of the country, was
being taken to Tyburn she was pounc-
ed upon by a mob Of women who came
within an ace Of cheating the hangman
Of her
The scenes around the Newgate gal
lows grew more violent as time went
on. In 1907 $4,000 people gathered to
see the execution Of two men, and IN
the crush twenty-eight were killed and
seventy injured. After the hangings
were over the executioner used to sell
ling or more the inch.
Jack Sheppard was confined at New
gate after his first capture, but soon
escaped. He was recaptured, loaded
with chains and made fast to staple
In the floor. Even then he got free.
forced six doors, burrowed through !,
wall, and then went back to his cell 10
get blanket by means of which he let
himself down from the roof to the
street. They captured him again, how
ever, and he was hanged at Tyburn
while over 100000 jeering people look
ed on. In Newgate Mary Edmonson
also was Jailed. She was hanged for
the murder Of her aunt, but many sus-
pected that she was letting herself be
destroyed In place Of her lover, who
was supposed to have done the deed.
He was present at the execution and
kissed the girl on the gallows. After
ward he confessed that he had killed
the woman but was reprieyed, as the
authorities were afraid to let it be
known that they had taken the life Of
an innocent person.
Acted Like Demons.
At this young woman's execution, as
we'll as those Of Fauntleroy, the bank
er, and Greenacre, who murdered his
sweetheart, surging crowds gathered
and acted like demons. Finally these
outbreaks got to be so serious that the
public hangings were given up, and
since then they have been held inside
Newgate, black flag being hoisted on
the roof at the moment when the drop
falls. This is the custom still, and on
execution days small cvrowds collect,
wait until the flag goes UP and then
dispense. As for old Tyburn, not only
have all traces of the, old execution
ground been swept away, but its site is
now one Of the most fashionable parts
of aristocratic Hyde Park. Every one
Of the handsome carriages passing the
Marble Arch and entering the Long
Drive rolls close to the spot where once
stood the busy gallows. - ~
$4,000 Hanged In One Reign.
81 How old Newgate is no one knows.
t was used g q prison as Tar back g