Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1902-04-18
SCHOOL FOR HANcMeN.
Training Prescribed For Public Execu-
TONERS In Great Britain.

! training prescribed FOR Pubic ENecu~
TONERS In Great Britain.
An interesting insight into the meth
DDS of the "Hangmans Training
school, is given by a Sussex news
PAPER. which comments ON the recent
demand for a professional assistant
executioner, which was supplied by the
appointment. after due examination, of
Mr.. John Ellis. draper of Roehdale.
Despite the unpleasant nature of the
work. more applications were received
than would comfortably supply the
| United Kingdom and all the colonies.
The artistic knotting of rope and
the sliding of n small iron bolt seems
an easy way to make money, and the
more gruesome side of the work ap-
parentlt does not affect the majority Of
applicants. .,-,a4.s.-. ,,-,...
Hangmen, however, are made. not
born, and the making thereof is an
interesting process. No State secret
was ever more jealousy guarded than
the course of instruction whereby nov
ices are officially transformed into ca
pable eXecutioners. The authorities do
not feel inclined to boast about this
form of Government training. at least.
But then" said a case-hardened,
though philosophical, prison warden re-
Gently, there must be hangings rs long
as there are capital crimes. Why not
have the job done right? OF course,
men must be trained Cor it, or there
would be frightful bungling.." The
dean" of the profession is, of course,
Ellington. But Ellington is not ubi-
quitous, and his inability to hang two
different murderers in different parts
of England at the same time has made
| the appointment of an assistant neceS-
sary. What Ellington does not know
about official methods of putting men
to death is hardly worth knowing, and
it is the most reasonable thing in the
world that he should be selected as
chief instructor in the "School of APP
piled Hanging"
An execution means more than the
mere tying Of a moose and collapse of
trap door. The hangman must make
certain nice calculations-how much of
a fall is required TO produce instan-
taneous death, and how TO adjust the
gallows to meet the requirements of
each particular case. Every detail,
from binding the malefactor in his
cell to the adjusting of the fatal cord.
is conscientiously gone through with
for the benefit Of the novices. 4 weeks
instruction is none too much. A time is
chosen when the head executioner is
not busy for a few days, and then, un-.
Ter his supervision, mock executions.
it is said, take place within the prison
walls.
As a sort of postgraduate course, a
warder sometimes enacts the role of
the condemned man. He is bound i'll
the most approved fashion, and then
led to the gallows, just as though he
was about to suffer the death penalty.
Sufficient to say, however, great care
is taken that the trap door keeps in
place while he Is unou It, Skill is re-
luired to deity secuiv a prisoner about
to take the final drop Tie hangman
must show no nervousness or clumsi-
ness he must be able 10 adjust the
straps quickly and securely. The stu
lents, who are carefully drilled in this
branch Of the work. 90 over and over
sach detail, and a mistake must be fol-
lowed By increased practice.
The warder who acts as lay figure
during this pleasing process must pos
sess sublime patience. No instance is
recorded of any prisoner, condemned or
otherwise, Offering himself as a sub
ject. Thus the school of Applied
Hanging suffers In not possessing the
same facilities for study as a school of
medicine or dentistry. After the final
examination of the candidates by the
prison commissioners, before whom the
entire program of an execution, minus
the drop, is carried out, candidates who
have 'passed" it is said, are granted
licenses by the Home Secretary.
TO many people this businesslike
method of training public executioners
may seem repugnant. 1t is necessary,
however, in order to avoid distressing
scenes on the scaffold. The present
increase in applications for employ
ment as hangmen in England is due
.largely to the unusual number of ex-
ecutions pending in several parts of
England london Express.