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METHODS OF EXECUTION
The Heading Axe and Block
Being dispatched by cold steel rather than being hanged was granted as a privilege to those of royal or aristocratic birth, it being considered less ignoble to lose one’s life as if slain in battle, rather than being suspended by the hempen rope. Such privilege did not necessarily make death any less painful; on the contrary, for although being hanged brought a slow death by strangulation, the axe was little more than a crude unbalanced chopper. The target, the nape of the neck, was small; the wielder, cynosure of ten thousand or more eyes, nervous and clumsy; and even when delivered accurately it killed not by cutting or slicing, but by brutally crushing its way through flesh and bone, muscle and sinew. It was, after all, a weapon for punishment, not for mercy.
Most English executions by the axe took place in London, the weapon being held ready for use in the Tower of London. The one currently displayed there measures nearly thirty-six inches in length and weighs almost eight pounds. The blade itself is rough and unpolished, the cutting edge ten and a half inches long. Its size and the fact that most of its weight is at the back of the blade means that when brought down rapidly the weapon would tend to twist slightly, throwing it off aim and so failing to strike the centre of the nape of the victim’s neck. Unlike hangings, executions by decapitation were comparatively rare events, the executioner thereby being deprived of the necessary practice.
A further factor was that the axe’s impact inevitably caused the block to bounce, and if the first stroke was inaccurate and so jolted the victim into a slightly different position, the executioner would need to readjust his point of aim for the next stroke: no mean task while being subjected to a hail of jeers, abuse and assorted missiles from the mob surrounding the scaffold.
The heading axe’s vital partner, the block, was a large piece of rectangular wood, its top specifically sculptured for its gruesome purpose. Because it was essential that the victim’s throat rested on a hard surface, the top had a hollow scooped out of the edges of each of the widest sides; at one side the hollow was wide, permitting the victim to push their shoulders as far forward as possible, the hollow on the opposite side being narrower to accommodate the chin. This positioned the victim’s throat exactly where it was required, resting on the flat area between the two hollows. Blocks were usually about two feet high so that the victim could kneel, although the one provided for the execution of Charles I was a mere ten inches in height, requiring him to lie almost prone and thus induce in him an even greater feeling of total helplessness.
Boiled to Death
This horrific penalty was carried out using a large cauldron filled with water, oil or tallow. Sometimes the victim was immersed, the liquid then being heated, or he or she was plunged into the already boiling contents, usually head first. France favoured the latter method and continued to do so until the punishment was abolished by law in 1791. In England, an Act was passed specifically to execute one Richard Roose in that fashion, he having been found guilty of casting ‘a certayne venym or poyson into the yeaste or barme wyth whych porrage or gruell was mayde for the famyly of the Byssopp of Rochester and others.’ Seventeen members of the household fell ill, two of them dying, and when news of this un-English type of crime reached the Court, Henry VIII was ‘inwardly abhorrying all such abhomynable offences, the sayde poysoning be adjudged high treason.’ So he was condemned to be ‘boyled to death without havynge any advautage of his clergie.’
An alternative method was to use a large shallow receptacle rather than a cauldron; oil, tallow or pitch being poured in. The victim was then partially immersed in the liquid and then fried to death.
Burned at the Stake
Woman Burned At The Stake
This was the dreaded sentence passed on heretics, sorcerers, witches and women found guilty of treasonable acts. Taken to a public site, usually the marketplace, they were either seated on a stool or made to stand in a tar barrel, secured to a stake by means of a chain attached to a hinged iron ring about their necks and ropes or hoops placed around their bodies. Piles of wood would then be heaped waist-high around them and set alight. As the flames rose and the thick smoke billowed forth, the executioner would either speed their demise by removing the stool so that the ring strangled them, or choked them by pulling the chain. Should the conflagration take too fierce a hold, he would be unable to get near, and it would be some hours before the fire abated, leaving a pile of charred and smouldering ashes.
Some heretics were given the special privilege of having small bags of gunpowder fastened beneath their arms or between their legs, the eventual igniting of which brought death more quickly than by the slow mounting of the flames.
Electric Chair
First used in the late nineteenth century in New York’s Auburn State Prison, the electric chair consisted of a high-backed piece of oak furniture fitted with straps that secured the victim’s head, chest, arms and legs. Two electrodes, metal plates each sandwiched between a rubber holder and a sponge pad moistened with salt solution, were attached to the felon; one to their shaven head, the other to the base of the spine. After a black hood had been positioned over the face, the switch was operated, sending a current of 700 volts through the body for about 17 seconds. After a brief respite a further charge of 1,030 volts was then delivered, with fatal results, although the body was badly burned.
Later experiments to improve conductivity were tried, some victims having their hands immersed in jars of salt water to which electric wires were connected, but this was discontinued when it was ascertained that three electrodes, to the head and each ankle, were sufficient. Similarly, a leather helmet lined with copper screening and damp sponging, wired to the circuitry, was designed, and the requisite voltage finally determined: two one-minute charges of 2,000 volts, with a ten-second interval would, it was estimated, bring about near-instantaneous death, although on occasion more ‘jolts’ were needed.
Firing Squad
Depending on the country, firing squads vary in both size and armament, from one man with a pistol or two men with machine guns, to up to twelve men with rifles. The target can be the back of the victim’s neck, the head or the heart. Generally, a firing squad is of eight to a dozen men, usually soldiers, standing six yards or so from the victim who is blindfolded and tied to a post with a circular piece of white cloth over the heart as an aiming point. Rifles are collected at random by members of the firing squad, one weapon traditionally being loaded with a blank, reputedly to salve their consciences, enabling them to persuade themselves that they were not responsible for the victim’s death. However, with modern weaponry a blank-loaded rifle does not ‘kick’ as does one with a live round, nor is the cartridge ejected from the weapon.
The signals ‘Make ready’, ‘Aim’, ‘Fire’ are given by the officer in charge by word of command, the hand, a wave of a cane or handkerchief, depending on the circumstances. The sergeant in charge of the squad is armed with a pistol and, should the victim show signs of life after the fusillade of shots, he has the responsibility of administering the coup de grâce: a shot to the temple.
In many Eastern countries a pistol bullet in the back of the neck of the kneeling victim is deemed adequate; one bullet at a range of two inches being considered more accurate – and economical – than ten or so bullets fired from twenty feet away.
Gas Chamber
First introduced in the state of Nevada in 1924 after its invention by Major Turner of the US Army Medical Corps who had been analysing the effects on casualties caused by gas warfare in World War I, the gas chamber basically consists of a small airtight room made of steel with two plate-glass observation windows (one for the benefit of the spectators, the other for officials to ensure that the execution is proceeding according to plan) and a chimney to vent the fumes afterwards. It is just large enough to contain one or more chairs bolted to the floor, together with other essential equipment including a container of sulphuric acid.
/> The victims are secured to the chairs by straps and after the officials have vacated the chamber, the door is closed tightly, hermetically sealing the room. The executioner, stationed in an adjoining room, operates a red-painted lever which, through linkwork, rotates a long rod extending into the gas chamber, thereby allowing it to lower a cloth sachet of sodium cyanide pellets into the acid, the resultant chemical reaction generating hydrogen cyanide, prussic acid (HCN). Exposure to three hundred parts of this toxic cocktail to one million parts of air is fatal, and even if the victim attempts to hold their breath, the longer they attempt to do so, the deeper the eventual breath – and the more rapid the death from asphyxiation.
This method of execution poses various hazards, not only for the victim should the routine itself go wrong, but for those in the immediate vicinity. To ensure that only the victim dies by being gassed and not the officials and spectators as well, it is essential that the chamber is completely air-tight, that the seals around the chimney and operating rod, and in particular those around the door and the two windows, are totally effective. To further reduce the risk of a gas leakage, a pump to reduce the air pressure slightly inside the chamber is sometimes incorporated, so that a faulty seal would result in air being sucked in, rather than allowing the poisonous gas to leak out.
Nor do the risks end when the execution is over. For those having to handle a victim after execution by the rope, electric chair, lethal injection or even broken on the wheel, picking up the component body parts must have been messy in the extreme but was hardly dangerous to the individual involved; but carrying out the same task after a gas chamber execution is fraught with risks. Although powerful pumps extract the gas via the chimney before anyone re-enters the chamber, not only does the gas tend to condense on the walls and floor, but the clothes worn by the victim, even his or her very skin, become impregnated with highly toxic prussic acid. All the surfaces within the room and the corpse itself have to be sprayed with neutralising bleach or ammonia, and the members of the prison staff detailed to remove the body have to wear protective clothing and oxygen masks.
The Guillotine
Introduced in France just in time for the multiple executions resultant from the Revolution, the basic guillotine consisted of two six-inch-thick oak uprights, ten feet high and secured by a cross-piece, mounted on a high wooden base. An inch-deep groove, cut vertically down the inner surfaces of each upright, provided the channels down which the triangular-shaped blade travelled. This blade was six inches in depth and weighed fifteen pounds, with an iron block weighing sixty-five pounds mounted on top in order to maximise the speed of descent.
The blade was held in the raised position by a rope which passed through a ring on its top, each end passing through brass pulleys installed high up on each upright, the two lengths of rope then hanging down the outsides of the uprights and secured there. A block of wood, four inches wide and eight inches deep, scooped out to accommodate the victim’s throat, was bolted to the base between the uprights. A transverse groove cut across its top allowed the falling blade to be brought to a shuddering halt after it had passed through the victim’s neck. Attached to one side of this block was a hinged iron crescent, the lunette (socalled because it resembled a half-moon), which pressed the neck down, thereby holding the head immobile.
A narrow bench extended from the neck block at right-angles to the uprights, and at its free end a plank was hinged, the bascule, against which the victim was held facing the guillotine while their body and legs were quickly strapped to it. The plank was then rapidly pivoted into a horizontal position and slid forward, thereby placing the victim’s neck between the two uprights. The iron crescent was instantly dropped into place and, on the release of the rope, the blade would descend, the severed head falling into the waiting basket. The executioner’s assistants then rolled the torso into a full-length wicker basket positioned next to the guillotine, into which the head would also be transferred after having been held high for the crowd’s acclaim and abuse, the remains later being taken away for an ignominious burial.
Guillotine
It was acknowledged by those who lived through the French Revolution that the three most unforgettable sounds of those grim days were the ‘bang’ as the bascule, weighted by the victim’s body, fell into the horizontal position; the metallic ‘clang’ of the lunette falling to pin the neck; and, split seconds later, the ‘crash’ as the blade, having severed the victim’s head, impacted against the lead lining of the groove beneath.
The mechanism was simple and comparatively trouble-free in its action, although it was necessary to ensure that the structure was absolutely level, otherwise the falling blade, being out of true, would jam during its descent; a similar catastrophe was also possible if, due to rain, the two uprights absorbed moisture and became swollen, trapping the blade between them. However, so generally effective was the ‘Widow Maker’ that, after minor modifications had been incorporated, Monsieur de Paris, the executioner Charles-Henri Sanson (1739–1806) who had dedicated himself to dispatching his aristocratic victims as speedily and therefore as mercifully as possible, perfected his expertise to the extent that eventually he and his highly organised team of assistants were capable of executing 12 victims in 13 minutes, 20 in 42 minutes, 300 in three days and 1,300 in six weeks – a veritable production line of death. This was an incredible achievement when it is realised that these timings included not only the time taken by the actual decapitations, but also by Sanson having to go down the scaffold steps each time, call out the name of the next victim waiting patiently in line, shepherd them up the steps (not easy, their arms being bound behind them) and then manoeuvre them into position facing the bascule.
Hanging
This is possibly the oldest method of execution, doubtless originated by someone who realised that a rope around the neck of a falling body could not slip off because of the projecting mass of the head. Thereafter it was simple to construct a device from which to let the victim fall, and so the gallows came into existence. In twelfth-century England these generally consisted of two uprights joined by a crossbeam capable of accommodating up to ten victims at a time. They would be forced to mount a ladder propped against the beam, the hangman’s assistant, straddling the beam, would position the rough hempen rope with its primitive slip knot around their necks, and the hangman would twist the ladder, turning off the victim, death coming slowly and agonisingly by strangulation. As a concession the hangman would sometimes permit the victim’s friends or servants to hasten the end by pulling the legs or thumping the chest. The body was then left for an hour before being cut down.
The general practice was to execute the criminal as near as possible to where they had committed the crime, but eventually more permanent sites were established in open areas rather than in the narrow streets and lanes in order to accommodate the vast crowds which would inevitably gather.
London’s chief execution site was Tyburn, situated by the main road leading into the capital from the north-west, and it was obvious that the spectacle of the scaffold and the corpses of those who had recently been hanged, swaying on the gibbets, would have the been the greatest deterrent to felons entering the City. Its precise site is difficult to determine, but there is little doubt that the scaffold itself stood near the junction of Edgeware Road and Oxford Street (the latter was once named Tyburn Way) and in fact, should one venture on to the small traffic island there, a plaque will be found, set in the cobbles, bearing the words ‘Here stood Tyburn Tree. Removed 1759.’
In 1571, in order to increase production – or rather, extermination – the Tyburn gallows were modified, a third upright and crossbar joining the other two. This triangular arrangement allowed a maximum of twenty-four felons to be hanged at the same time, eight from each arm. The ladder method was also replaced, the victims being brought to the scaffold in a cart which halted beneath the gallows just long enough for the malefactors to be noosed; the horse would then receive a smart slap on the flanks,
causing it to move away and take the cart, but not the passengers, with it.
The Triple Tree, About 1680
The last execution took place there on 7 November 1783, after which, due to the expansion of the City’s residential suburbs into the Tyburn area, the site was moved to Newgate Prison, executions still being carried out in public outside the walls of that gaol on a portable scaffold which was pulled into place by horses when required. This platform was equipped with two parallel crossbeams positioned over trapdoors: the drop. These were eight feet wide and ten feet long, large enough to accommodate ten felons, and were designed to fall when a short lever was operated. After being noosed and hooded – to conceal their contorted features from the vast crowd of spectators – the victims were allowed to fall a mere three or four feet, thereby dying a slow, lingering death by strangulation, watched by the sheriff and other officials who sat in the comfortable seats arranged at one side of the scaffold.
In England this inhumane ‘short drop’ method remained unaltered until late in the nineteenth century, when executioner William Marwood introduced the more merciful ‘long drop’ method in which the distance the victim had to fall depended on his or her age, weight, build and general fitness. The distance was usually between six and ten feet, death coming almost instantly by the dislocation of the neck’s vertebrae and severance of the spinal cord. It is often thought that hanging immediately arrests respiration and heartbeat, but this is not so. They both start to slow immediately, but whereas breathing stops in seconds, the heart may beat for up to twenty minutes after the drop.
Amazing True Stories of Execution Blunders Page 2
