bring back hanging yes or no?

[bigdog69]

If they have been shot, electrocuted, poisoned, suffocated, irradiated, drowned, crushed, eviscerated, phasered and survived a blast from the Death Star then yes, it’s okay to try hanging.

[Old Jud]

Originally Posted by AlanF

Some of the Nuremburg executions were a farce. On at least one occasion, the hangman disappeared into the drop to finish off the condemned prisoner.
You would want Albert Pierrepoint in charge if condemned to hang.

I believe that was the old style of execution used by the Austrians, until Albert Pierrepoint introduced them to the British method.
The Austrian technique was a short drop, then the hangman and his assistant would pull on the legs of the condemned to finish them off.

[Meini Again]

I suppose that there are many things we remember that we read and 'shudder' about, years later. I am a self-confessed wimp. Two books I read in my youth
~ GKW ~ were about British Hangings and Japanese WW2 depravity.

(The latter on a summer-vac fruit picking in Medway.Belonged to the guy I was sharing a tent with...ugh. ... The former, I can't remember where I read it, but it shudders me still when it flashes up in my mind
~ when people mention Hanging.)

NEWGATE PRISON -

The gallows were constructed outside a door in Newgate Street for public viewing.
Dense crowds of thousands of spectators could pack the streets to see these events, and in 1807 dozens died at a public execution when part of the crowd of 40,000 spectators collapsed into a human crush.

The crimes committed were as basic as 'stealing a loaf of bread'
Catherine Wilson, nurse and suspected serial killer – last woman hanged publicly in London, at Newgate in 1862...."SUSPECTED"

The original Public Gallows had one placement - this was subsequently raised to 6 placements.... when the crowds increased and hawkers, landlords of pubs and various entrepreneurs earned a living on Public Hangings.

This bit I remember with a shudder from whatever book it was.... the rest is just research.... for this debate.
The women were nearest the steps.
Men in hoods...KKK style but black in the illustrations I recall.. crouched beneath the platform where the women were, and on release, pulled their legs to end their suffering quickly.... and avoid the obvious effluent discharges.
They did not do this for the men. Because the desperate dancing of legs, were what the spectators came to watch.
And Newgate provided it.

This was a method Pierpoint would know about..... from the previous century.
Whereas it was done to provide some empathy or modesty prior to 1868, we cannot know..... it's re-implantation however, does raise questions.

I'm quite proud of this post.... because I may not be the super-wimp, I thought I was....

Hanging... NEVER !

NEVER... NEVER...NEVER

Stay Safe Everyone

[scoundrel]

The Pierrepoint family were rather strange people, but took their public duty as hangmen very seriously and treated their victims courteously and with respect. Rather strange, as I say. Their objective was to kill their victims instantaneously by breaking the neck, and not to have them dancing Danny Deever on the end of a rope.

The short drop technique was little more than kicking a stool out from under the victim or driving away a cart to leave them suspended in the air, as was routinely done at Tyburn in the 18th Century. It was still being used across Eastern Europe in 1945 - a lot of Nazi war criminals and Nazi collaborators were executed this way.

[Old Jud]

Originally Posted by Meini Again

Hanging... NEVER !

NEVER... NEVER...NEVER

Stay Safe Everyone

And I would agree with you in relation to the old 'short drop' that you have detailed in your post.
However, should hanging ever be re-introduced in the UK (most unlikely, but who knows for certain?) then the 'long drop' is the most humane method by a country mile.

The last public hanging in England was in 1868, the condemned was a Fenian terrorist who murdered at least a dozen people in a bomb attack.
The reason public hangings stopped is not because the public was horrified and outraged by them (as believed in some quarters) but because they were too popular with the pubic.
Larger and larger crowds became a nightmare to control, they turned into something akin to carnivals, food and drink readily available.
Songs specifically written for the condemned, in general a family day out!

[Old Jud]

Originally Posted by scoundrel

The Pierrepoint family were rather strange people, but took their public duty as hangmen very seriously and treated their victims courteously and with respect. Rather strange, as I say. Their objective was to kill their victims instantaneously by breaking the neck, and not to have them dancing Danny Deever on the end of a rope.

The short drop technique was little more than kicking a stool out from under the victim or driving away a cart to leave them suspended in the air, as was routinely done at Tyburn in the 18th Century. It was still being used across Eastern Europe in 1945 - a lot of Nazi war criminals and Nazi collaborators were executed this way.

The Pierrepoint dynasty consisted of Albert's father Henry, and Albert's uncle, Tom. Albert started out as an assistant executioner to his uncle Tom.

[Mal Hombre]

Did He show Him the ropes ?

[Old Jud]

Originally Posted by Mal Hombre

Did He show Him the ropes ?

Without doubt, Old Tom would stress to Albert that he needed to work with the utmost speed....'C'mon Albert, no time to hang about'.....

[scoundrel]

Originally Posted by Old Jud

Without doubt, Old Tom would stress to Albert that he needed to work with the utmost speed....'C'mon Albert, no time to hang about'.....

Yeah, but I'm just getting into the swing of it, Uncle.

[Old Jud]

Originally Posted by scoundrel

Yeah, but I'm just getting into the swing of it, Uncle.

I often wonder if young Albert really wanted to be a hangman, or did he just get roped into the job?