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Authors: Geoffrey Abbott
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be exonerated. He waved it away and proceeded to obey the Sheriff ’s orders to remove his doublet, waistcoat and hose.
He was then made to stand on a high stool with his back against the stake, to which he was secured by an iron hoop which was so tight that he had to press his stomach in with his hands so that the executioner could fasten it. Upon the man approaching with more hoops with which to encircle his neck and ankles, he said they would not be necessary, exclaiming, ‘I am well assured I shall not trouble you; I doubt not God will give me strength to abide the extremity of the fire without bands.’
The man appointed to kindle the fire then came to him and requested his forgiveness, of whom he asked why he should forgive him, since he knew of no offence he had committed against him. ‘Oh, sir’ said the man, ‘I am the man appointed to make the fire.’ Replied the bishop, ‘Thou dost nothing to offend me. God forgive thee thy sins and do thy office, I pray thee.’
He had been granted the concession of having three bladders, each containing a pound of gunpowder, one hung between his legs, the others beneath his armpits. Then, as described by an eyewitness,
‘command was given that the fire should be kindled, but it did not kindle speedily, but was some time before it took the reeds placed upon the faggots. At length it burnt about him, but the wind, having full strength in that place, it blew the flame from him, so that he was in a manner little more than touched by the fire. Endeavours were then made to increase the flame, and then the bladders exploded, but did him little good, being so placed, and the wind having so much power. In this fire he exclaimed, ‘Lord Jesus, have mercy upon me! Lord Jesus receive my soul!’ And these were the last words he was heard to utter. But even when his face was completely black with the flames and his tongue swelled so that he could not speak, yet his lips went till they were shrunk to the gums; and he knocked his breast with his hands until one of his arms fell off, and then continued knocking with the other while the fat, water and blood dripped out at his finger ends.
Soon after, the whole lower part of his body being consumed, he fell over the iron that bound him, into the fire, amid the horrible cries and acclamations of the bloody crew that surrounded him. He was nearly three-quarters of an hour or more in the fire, as a lamb, patiently bearing the extremity thereof, neither moving forward or backward, but died as quietly as a child in his bed.’
At the execution of François Courvoisier for the murder of Lord William Russell in 1840, the famous novelist William Makepeace Thackeray was among the spectators, afterwards describing the surrounding windows as ‘being full of quiet family parties of honest tradesmen, sipping tea, and moustached dandies squirting the throng below with brandy and water.’
The Electric Chair
William Kemmler
It was almost certain that if anything was going to go wrong, it would go wrong when William Kemmler, alias John Hart, who had murdered his mistress Tillie Zeigler with a hatchet, occupied the electric chair, for his was the baptism of the device which took place on 6 August 1890 in Auburn Prison, New York.
He, a short, black-bearded man, was introduced to the large body of physicians and scientists present to watch the proceedings and then strapped into the chair. The two electrodes were attached: one to the base of his spine, where his shirt and waistcoat had been split in readiness, the other to his shaven head. As the warden, Charles Durston, positioned the head electrode Kemmler shook his head a little, then said, ‘I guess you’d better make it a little tighter, warden.’ Durston readjusted it, then placed the mask over Kemmler’s face, saying goodbye as he did so. ‘Goodbye,’ came the muffled reply.
The warden rapped twice on the door of the adjoining room and at the signal the
He was then made to stand on a high stool with his back against the stake, to which he was secured by an iron hoop which was so tight that he had to press his stomach in with his hands so that the executioner could fasten it. Upon the man approaching with more hoops with which to encircle his neck and ankles, he said they would not be necessary, exclaiming, ‘I am well assured I shall not trouble you; I doubt not God will give me strength to abide the extremity of the fire without bands.’
The man appointed to kindle the fire then came to him and requested his forgiveness, of whom he asked why he should forgive him, since he knew of no offence he had committed against him. ‘Oh, sir’ said the man, ‘I am the man appointed to make the fire.’ Replied the bishop, ‘Thou dost nothing to offend me. God forgive thee thy sins and do thy office, I pray thee.’
He had been granted the concession of having three bladders, each containing a pound of gunpowder, one hung between his legs, the others beneath his armpits. Then, as described by an eyewitness,
‘command was given that the fire should be kindled, but it did not kindle speedily, but was some time before it took the reeds placed upon the faggots. At length it burnt about him, but the wind, having full strength in that place, it blew the flame from him, so that he was in a manner little more than touched by the fire. Endeavours were then made to increase the flame, and then the bladders exploded, but did him little good, being so placed, and the wind having so much power. In this fire he exclaimed, ‘Lord Jesus, have mercy upon me! Lord Jesus receive my soul!’ And these were the last words he was heard to utter. But even when his face was completely black with the flames and his tongue swelled so that he could not speak, yet his lips went till they were shrunk to the gums; and he knocked his breast with his hands until one of his arms fell off, and then continued knocking with the other while the fat, water and blood dripped out at his finger ends.
Soon after, the whole lower part of his body being consumed, he fell over the iron that bound him, into the fire, amid the horrible cries and acclamations of the bloody crew that surrounded him. He was nearly three-quarters of an hour or more in the fire, as a lamb, patiently bearing the extremity thereof, neither moving forward or backward, but died as quietly as a child in his bed.’
At the execution of François Courvoisier for the murder of Lord William Russell in 1840, the famous novelist William Makepeace Thackeray was among the spectators, afterwards describing the surrounding windows as ‘being full of quiet family parties of honest tradesmen, sipping tea, and moustached dandies squirting the throng below with brandy and water.’
The Electric Chair
William Kemmler
It was almost certain that if anything was going to go wrong, it would go wrong when William Kemmler, alias John Hart, who had murdered his mistress Tillie Zeigler with a hatchet, occupied the electric chair, for his was the baptism of the device which took place on 6 August 1890 in Auburn Prison, New York.
He, a short, black-bearded man, was introduced to the large body of physicians and scientists present to watch the proceedings and then strapped into the chair. The two electrodes were attached: one to the base of his spine, where his shirt and waistcoat had been split in readiness, the other to his shaven head. As the warden, Charles Durston, positioned the head electrode Kemmler shook his head a little, then said, ‘I guess you’d better make it a little tighter, warden.’ Durston readjusted it, then placed the mask over Kemmler’s face, saying goodbye as he did so. ‘Goodbye,’ came the muffled reply.
The warden rapped twice on the door of the adjoining room and at the signal the
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