NIGEL CAWTHORNE

Public hangings [in England] were abolished in 1868. The last one took place outside Newgate Prison on 26 May of that same year. The man hanged was an Irish terrorist called Michael Barratt who had blown up the Clerkenwell House of Detention killing six people. A drunken crowd stayed up all night to witness the execution. They cheered wildly when the scaffold was brought out at dawn. More people – mainly young women and children – began to arrive. By the time a bell was sounded at eight o’clock in the morning to announce the arrival of the condemned man, the crowd stretched back as far as Smithfield.

The Persian King Darius I ordered the crucifixion of 3,000 Babylonians in about 519 BC.

In England, the ultimate execution method for men who committed high treason was hanging, drawing, and quartering. It was considered indecent at the time to mutilate a woman’s body in this way, so female traitors were burnt at the stake.

The Romans learned about crucifixion from the Greeks, although they noted that many of the ‘barbarian’ races (Indians, Assyrians, Scythians, and Celts) also used it.

The bodies of victims were ... the hangman’s property. Although obliged to sell the corpses of murderers to surgeons for dissection purposes, the executioner sometimes sold them back to the families if they offered a better price. It was often difficult to keep the body intact as the crowd would grab pieces as macabre souvenirs. On 18 December 1758, a riot broke out when the medics fought the family for possession of the victim’s body – however, the mob won and carried the corpse away in triumph. The hangman would also be allowed to cut up the rope that was used in the execution and sell bits off in the pubs on Fleet Street.

When it came to the burning of witches, Germany was home to a kind of pre-Holocaust, where at least 100,000 people were executed for witchcraft, usually by public burning.

A healthy person could survive on the cross for one or two days. The naked man would be jeered at and ridiculed. Insects would infest his mouth, eyes, and open wounds. With his hands nailed to the cross, he would have been unable to stop them. Left to the elements, unable to eat or drink, in constant pain, and brutally aware he was going to die, there can be no doubt that, as the ancients tell us, crucifixion was the worst of deaths.

The last official public hanging in the United States took place in Galena, Stone County, Missouri, in 1937.

Once the felon had been hanged, women would sometimes rush forward to press their faces or breasts against the still-twitching hands. This bizarre practice was thought to cure blemishes. The sweat of a dead criminal was also thought to be beneficial and mothers would hold up sickly infants at public executions. Lengths of hangman’s rope and shavings from the gallows were also thought to have a curative effect.

in Germany in 1851, the death of one Bertha Zillman in 1893 was witnessed by a number of journalists. She was sentenced for poisoning her husband, although the court heard evidence that he beat both her and their children. The execution was scheduled to take place on 31 October at Plötzensee Prison in Berlin at eight o’clock in the morning. Her hair was put up in a bun and her dress cut down to her shoulders, though she was given a shawl to cover herself. When the warden went to fetch her, she was prostrate with fear and had to be helped to the block by two male warders. She silently dropped the shawl and, with one swing, was beheaded by her executioner.

The Persian King Darius I ordered the crucifixion of 3,000 Babylonians in about 519 BC.

The Romans learned about crucifixion from the Greeks, although they noted that many of the ‘barbarian’ races (Indians, Assyrians, Scythians, and Celts) also used it.

A healthy person could survive on the cross for one or two days. The naked man would be jeered at and ridiculed. Insects would infest his mouth, eyes, and open wounds. With his hands nailed to the cross, he would have been unable to stop them. Left to the elements, unable to eat or drink, in constant pain, and brutally aware he was going to die, there can be no doubt that, as the ancients tell us, crucifixion was the worst of deaths.

In England, the ultimate execution method for men who committed high treason was hanging, drawing, and quartering. It was considered indecent at the time to mutilate a woman’s body in this way, so female traitors were burnt at the stake.

The last official public hanging in the United States took place in Galena, Stone County, Missouri, in 1937.

Public hangings [in England] were abolished in 1868. The last one took place outside Newgate Prison on 26 May of that same year. The man hanged was an Irish terrorist called Michael Barratt who had blown up the Clerkenwell House of Detention killing six people. A drunken crowd stayed up all night to witness the execution. They cheered wildly when the scaffold was brought out at dawn. More people – mainly young women and children – began to arrive. By the time a bell was sounded at eight o’clock in the morning to announce the arrival of the condemned man, the crowd stretched back as far as Smithfield.

The bodies of victims were ... the hangman’s property. Although obliged to sell the corpses of murderers to surgeons for dissection purposes, the executioner sometimes sold them back to the families if they offered a better price. It was often difficult to keep the body intact as the crowd would grab pieces as macabre souvenirs. On 18 December 1758, a riot broke out when the medics fought the family for possession of the victim’s body – however, the mob won and carried the corpse away in triumph. The hangman would also be allowed to cut up the rope that was used in the execution and sell bits off in the pubs on Fleet Street.

Once the felon had been hanged, women would sometimes rush forward to press their faces or breasts against the still-twitching hands. This bizarre practice was thought to cure blemishes. The sweat of a dead criminal was also thought to be beneficial and mothers would hold up sickly infants at public executions. Lengths of hangman’s rope and shavings from the gallows were also thought to have a curative effect.

In antiquity, hanging was considered a form of death befitting cowards. Consequently, it was seen as a dishonourable way to die. In England, from Anglo-Saxon times it was the traditional method of execution, until beheading was introduced in the eleventh century by William the Conqueror.

in Germany in 1851, the death of one Bertha Zillman in 1893 was witnessed by a number of journalists. She was sentenced for poisoning her husband, although the court heard evidence that he beat both her and their children. The execution was scheduled to take place on 31 October at Plötzensee Prison in Berlin at eight o’clock in the morning. Her hair was put up in a bun and her dress cut down to her shoulders, though she was given a shawl to cover herself. When the warden went to fetch her, she was prostrate with fear and had to be helped to the block by two male warders. She silently dropped the shawl and, with one swing, was beheaded by her executioner.

Until 1513, women convicted of adultery in Nuremberg were buried alive. After that, they were drowned. Schmidt advocated that they should be beheaded for a quicker, more merciful death. He got his way even though critics maintained that weak women might faint and he might be obliged to finish them off on the ground. Consequently, Schmidt took the precaution of seating the condemned woman in a chair and beheading her with his sword from behind.

When it came to the burning of witches, Germany was home to a kind of pre-Holocaust, where at least 100,000 people were executed for witchcraft, usually by public burning.