The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-06-06


UN the eighteenth century the hangmaa
was the busiest man in England. The
Il death penalty was inflicted for
the most trifling misdemeanors. Men
were hanged for stealing spoons, for de-
frauding their creditors, for perjury. ar
son, disturbance of the peace There was
no discrimination in favor of the women.
Scores of servant girls were hanged in
those grand old days for offenses whi,,h
would scarcely draw a reprimand in these
easier times. Naturally, the hangman and
his assistants and the jailors, and all who
had to do with the condemned, were cal
loused and brutal; and doomed steer
at the stock yards receives more consider
alton now than did the doomed human
being then. He was hustled from the
prison to a cart or sedge and hauled to
the galows without ceremony. and ar
rived at the fatal tree he was turned
off, as part of the days work.
Yet snobbery was possible even in this
dismal matter of execution. The treat
ment that was good enough for a poor
but respectable thief wasn't good enough
for a blooming nobleman; and the plaia
people of London never knew now artistic
a hanging could be until Laurence, Earl
Ferrers met his fate at Tyburn.
Lord Ferrers had the blood of Planta
genet kings in his veins. His ancestors
for ages had distinguished themselves on
battle field and in council room, and one
of them, who died heroically at Shrews-
| ;e, 6
earl himself was man of high ability
and when he was sober, which happened
perhaps once in four or five years. he
was said to have the most charming man
ners. But he kept himself picked nearly
all the time and his charming manners
were not in evidence. He flew into sense
less RACES over nothing, conceived violent
prejudices against people and always was
threatening to kill one person or another
He was so cruel to his wife that she ap-
piled to parliament for relief and parlia-
ment granted her separate maintenance
with the revenues from certain farms and
other property.
William johnson was his lordship's
steward, and because he had to pay
money from the estate to the lady, the
earl began to hate him bitterly His
lordship got the .dea in his sodden mind
that there was too much johnson in the
negotiations, and determined upon his de-
struction He prepared for the crime de-
liberately, notifying johnson to attend
upon him at a certain hour in the after
noon. AS the hour approached the earl
managed to send everybody away from
--.txI A.. af nv
three maid servants. johnson appeared
for the interview promptly on time. and
the earl handed him paper and told him
to sign it. The paper was a. confession of
all sorts of crimes and crookedness on the
part of Johnson, and he refused to sign
it, and began to expostulate. but the earl
produced a pistol and told him to get OH
his knees. johnson fell upon his knees
and then the noblenan shot him. He lin
gered until the next day. when he died.
Then the earl barricaded himself in his
ancestral hall and defied arrest. He was
armed to the teeth with pistols and blum
derbuses ard other weapons. He held oft
the crowd of Officers and citizens for sev-
eral hours but was finally captured while
trying to make his escape through a back
garden.
He was taken to the tower of London,
where he sobered up completely and JUS
titled the theory that he was naturally a
charming man. All who came in contact
with him during his imprisonment agreed
that he was just too sweet for anything.
In due season his trial occurred, and n.
conducted his own defense, introducing a
great deal of testimony calculated to show
that he was insane when the crime was
committed. There were no professional
aliensts in those Gays. and his showing
didn't make much of an impression upon
the jury. He was found guilty of willful
murder and sentenced to be hanged and
then turned over TO the college of sur
geons for dissection. This little matter
being settled. he expressed regret that he
had tried to prove himself insane. He did
! v by the advice of friends, he said. Had