Execution Tales Chapter 23 Part 4 Revision 2
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The next day to their delight the first copy of “True Crime Monthly” was delivered. After they had eaten they again lay on April’s bed & opened “A History of Women & the Death Penalty in Europe” which they had decided to finish before looking at the magazine
The final execution recorded that took their fancy was that of 32 year old Martha Brown in 1856 in Dorchester in the south west of England. She had been condemned for stabbing her drunken & allegedly violent husband to death with a kitchen knife.
Martha Brown
The gallows was erected outside the gates of Dorchester Prison the evening before, & was an impressive affair. A crowd of between three & four thousand people had gathered for what was by then quite a rare event, the public hanging of a woman.
To add to the public interest Martha was very attractive & she looked younger than her 32 years. She had chosen a long, tight fitting thin black silk dress for her hanging. At the prison gates she was calm & composed & declined to be taken to the gallows in the prison van, even though it was raining. Instead she chose to walk from the prison to the scaffold.
She mounted the first flight of eleven steps, where the hangman William Calcraft, a forbidding figure in his black suit & bushy white beard, pinioned her arms in front of her before leading her up the next flight of nineteen steps, across a platform & on up the last six steps to the actual trap.
Here Calcraft put a white hood over her head & the noose around her neck. The rain made the hood damp & it clung to Martha’s features. She stood there silent & unmoving waiting stoically for death.
A witness recorded, “The crowd was silent as the culprit mounted the gallows. The rustle of the thin black gown the woman was wearing as she was led forth by the prison warders could clearly be heard. A penetrating rain was falling; the white cap was no soon over the prisoner’s head than it clung to her features, & the noose was put round the neck of what looked like a marble statue”
Calcraft was noted for his “Short drops” causing most of his victims to die a slow & agonising death. Poor Martha was to be no exception. The hangman went below & pulled the bolts releasing the trap. Martha dropped about a foot with a resounding thud & her body wheeled half round & back her dress billowing up exposing her black stockings as she kicked & struggled.
The crowd could see her mouth gaping open under the rain soaked hood as she desperately tried to breathe. Her body convulsed under the tight black dress her chest heaving as she fought for air. Martha danced on the rope for about five minutes before her agony was over. Her body was left to hang for the regulation hour before being taken down & buried within the prison.
April & Beth wriggled on the bed, closed the book & opened their first copy of “True Crime Monthly”. They were very pleased to see that two articles in the magazine should be of special interest to them
Susanna Cox
The first recounted the case of Susanna Cox in 1807 who was tried & convicted of killing her new born baby & hiding the body. Susanna was a 24 year old woman working off an “Indenture” as a hose servant to the Jacob Martin family. The Martin farm was near the settlement of Friedensburg in the Pennsylvania county of Berks.
The Sheriff had no experience with executions so the county prosecutor hired a man from nearby Lancaster to oversee preparations & to perform the actual hanging. The hired executioner immediately set about building a gallows for his victim.
The gallows he built was a very simple affair. It consisted of two uprights about fifteen feet high topped by a stout crossbeam. It was said to look a large inverted “U”. It stood in what was called Penn’s Common which was a large grassy area about one hundred yards from the courthouse, in the basement of which Susanna languished .
On Tuesday June 9th Susanna had a visit from the Sheriff’s wife, Mrs Zahn, who had taken a liking to the girl. She had gotten some of her friends to make her a new dress. Susanna was grateful to the point of tears. The dress was in white cotton with little black bows sewn on the bodice & skirt. Along with the dress, the ladies had provided a muslin chemise & a new pair of dainty kidskin slippers.
The morning of June 11, 1807 broke crisp & clear. At 7am. Susanna was given a bucket of water to wash in & was able to make herself presentable. She carefully washed her hands & feet & put on her new dress.
She was visited by the local minister & Mrs Zahn with whom she talked & prayed, breaking down & sobbing continuously Finally the Sheriff’s wife fastened Susanna’s braid up on her head & covered her hair with a white muslin “Mobcap”. The girl’s curls framed her pretty face below the ruffles of the cap. She looked as pretty as a picture in her new dress. Mrs Zahn hugged Susanna as she took her leave.
At nine thirty the Sheriff, two deputies & the executioner came for her. The deputies took the trembling girl’s arms & led her out of the cell. They went out of the door of the courthouse in front of a crowd of three thousand who had turned up to watch the hanging.
The spectators saw a small figure in white being led by two large men. She looked so small & helpless. The procession from the courthouse walked slowly along the hundred yard path to the gallows. As they neared the scaffold Susanna began to breathe rapidly, her eyes opened wide with terror.
The gallows stood as it had for the past week however today there was a thick rope ending in a large noose dangling from the centre of the high crosspiece. Under the noose was a small four wheeled horse driven cart & on the cart was a coffin.
The girl would be made to stand on her own coffin & the cart would then be driven from beneath her feet. There was a stool to help the prisoner mount the cart
At the gallows Susanna fell to her knees & prayed for forgiveness. The minister joined her & helped her to her feet when she had finished. It was almost ten o’clock in the morning as thee deputies helped the girl onto the cart & then onto the lid of the coffin.
The hangman bound Susanna’s hands behind her back. She was turned to face the courthouse. The crowd was silent, the only sound was the soft scuffling of the girl’s slippers on the smooth wood of the coffin.
The Sheriff approached & looked up at the condemned girl, “Susanna Cox, you are ordered to be put to death by hanging. Do you have any last words?”. The girl slowly shook her head & whispered, “No”, in a cracked voice. She was weeping.
The executioner removed the white frill mobcap from Susanna’s head. He pulled the large noose over her head & adjusted it around her neck & then climbed down from the cart leaving the shaking girl alone & picked up a whip. The executioner then looked at the Sheriff waiting for the signal. The law officer nodded & the hangman cracked the whip which drove the carthorse forward
The cart & coffin lurched from beneath Susanna’s feet & she fought to keep her balance but very soon there was just air beneath her. The girl opened her mouth to scream, but the tightening rope reduced it to a gagging choking sound. She dropped just a short distance, making a soft thud as the rope arrested her fall.
The doomed girl began to thrash, buck & kick. A moaning sound came from the crowd as they watched Susanna start to hang. One of her slippers flew off, she pointed her toes in a futile effort to reach solid ground but there was none within reach. Her eyes were half closed & her tongue protruded from swollen lips. The unfortunate girl was fighting a losing battle for her life.
Her pretty face swelled & darkened as her deadly dance continued. Susanna’s consciousness began to fade as she writhed & twisted on the rope. There was only a rustle of cloth & the creak of the rope with an occasional soft gurgle coming from the hanging girl. The thrashing continued, weaker now, but the girl’s struggles continued.
Finally after eight minutes the Sheriff & a deputy stepped forward & grabbed Susanna’s kicking legs & held on while they gently pulled. The effort tightened the noose enough to complete its deadly work. The hanging girl’s body stiffened, gave a last spasm & a convulsive shudder. Finally she hung limp & lifeless on the rope
Beth said to her lover, “Wouldn’t it have been marvellous to have been the Sheriff & the Deputy pulling on her legs feeling her agony & looking up at her dying face”.
Mary Ann Cotton
Both girls faces were flushed & they started to caress each other as they moved onto the second article that interested them. This detailed the trial, conviction & execution of thirty two year old Mary Ann Cotton earlier that year.
Mary Ann had been condemned in Durham in the north east of England for poisoning twenty one people, many of them members of her own family, for the insurance money.
The judge put on the black cap & handed down the death sentence “I have no compunction in sentencing you to death. You will be taken from this place & as soon as may conveniently be arranged, hanged by the neck until you are dead. May God have mercy on your soul. Amen!”. At those dreaded words, Mary Ann collapsed & was half carried out of the court & taken to Durham County Jail to await execution
On the 24th of March 1873 she was taken to the scaffold where William Calcraft the executioner awaited her. With the help of his assistant Calcraft pinioned her arms & legs & then put the hood over her head before stepping off the trap door that was about to open & plunge Mary Ann to her death.
As soon as the signal was given the trap door swung open & she dropped into space, where she began to writhe at the end of the rope which was slowly choking her to death. She hung struggling for five agonising minutes until at last the final twitches ceased & she swung still & dead on the gallows rope
April & Beth retired to bed as soon as they had finished reading the magazine & spent the next two hours making love discussing what they had learned between orgasms. Reliving the descriptions of the executions in the book & the magazine slowly but surely got them both aroused again. That night they both came three times
The following day April & Beth arrived at Doctor Harris’s consulting room for their next meeting with the psychiatrist. They had decided to be totally honest with the Doctor & during their session they described exactly the impact on them of reading “A History of Women & the Death Penalty in Europe” & “True Crime Monthly”.
Harris took copious notes as he listened. He probed them on why they thought they had found the descriptions of Mary Blandy & Susanna Thomas’s hangings especially exciting.
The girls replied saying that it was the way that Mary’s execution had been described & the fact that Susanna had been almost the same age as they now were that had made them stand out. Harris then asked, “When you are fantasising about these executions do you picture yourselves as the victims, the spectators or even the executioners?”.
April & Beth looked at each other & thought for a minute before they replied. As ever it was April who spoke, “Spectators definitely Doctor”. The Doctor responded. “Interesting. Well thank you for being so honest girls. If it is alright with you I would like to see you both next week”. The girls agreed that that would be fine with them.
The final execution recorded that took their fancy was that of 32 year old Martha Brown in 1856 in Dorchester in the south west of England. She had been condemned for stabbing her drunken & allegedly violent husband to death with a kitchen knife.
Martha Brown
The gallows was erected outside the gates of Dorchester Prison the evening before, & was an impressive affair. A crowd of between three & four thousand people had gathered for what was by then quite a rare event, the public hanging of a woman.
To add to the public interest Martha was very attractive & she looked younger than her 32 years. She had chosen a long, tight fitting thin black silk dress for her hanging. At the prison gates she was calm & composed & declined to be taken to the gallows in the prison van, even though it was raining. Instead she chose to walk from the prison to the scaffold.
She mounted the first flight of eleven steps, where the hangman William Calcraft, a forbidding figure in his black suit & bushy white beard, pinioned her arms in front of her before leading her up the next flight of nineteen steps, across a platform & on up the last six steps to the actual trap.
Here Calcraft put a white hood over her head & the noose around her neck. The rain made the hood damp & it clung to Martha’s features. She stood there silent & unmoving waiting stoically for death.
A witness recorded, “The crowd was silent as the culprit mounted the gallows. The rustle of the thin black gown the woman was wearing as she was led forth by the prison warders could clearly be heard. A penetrating rain was falling; the white cap was no soon over the prisoner’s head than it clung to her features, & the noose was put round the neck of what looked like a marble statue”
Calcraft was noted for his “Short drops” causing most of his victims to die a slow & agonising death. Poor Martha was to be no exception. The hangman went below & pulled the bolts releasing the trap. Martha dropped about a foot with a resounding thud & her body wheeled half round & back her dress billowing up exposing her black stockings as she kicked & struggled.
The crowd could see her mouth gaping open under the rain soaked hood as she desperately tried to breathe. Her body convulsed under the tight black dress her chest heaving as she fought for air. Martha danced on the rope for about five minutes before her agony was over. Her body was left to hang for the regulation hour before being taken down & buried within the prison.
April & Beth wriggled on the bed, closed the book & opened their first copy of “True Crime Monthly”. They were very pleased to see that two articles in the magazine should be of special interest to them
Susanna Cox
The first recounted the case of Susanna Cox in 1807 who was tried & convicted of killing her new born baby & hiding the body. Susanna was a 24 year old woman working off an “Indenture” as a hose servant to the Jacob Martin family. The Martin farm was near the settlement of Friedensburg in the Pennsylvania county of Berks.
The Sheriff had no experience with executions so the county prosecutor hired a man from nearby Lancaster to oversee preparations & to perform the actual hanging. The hired executioner immediately set about building a gallows for his victim.
The gallows he built was a very simple affair. It consisted of two uprights about fifteen feet high topped by a stout crossbeam. It was said to look a large inverted “U”. It stood in what was called Penn’s Common which was a large grassy area about one hundred yards from the courthouse, in the basement of which Susanna languished .
On Tuesday June 9th Susanna had a visit from the Sheriff’s wife, Mrs Zahn, who had taken a liking to the girl. She had gotten some of her friends to make her a new dress. Susanna was grateful to the point of tears. The dress was in white cotton with little black bows sewn on the bodice & skirt. Along with the dress, the ladies had provided a muslin chemise & a new pair of dainty kidskin slippers.
The morning of June 11, 1807 broke crisp & clear. At 7am. Susanna was given a bucket of water to wash in & was able to make herself presentable. She carefully washed her hands & feet & put on her new dress.
She was visited by the local minister & Mrs Zahn with whom she talked & prayed, breaking down & sobbing continuously Finally the Sheriff’s wife fastened Susanna’s braid up on her head & covered her hair with a white muslin “Mobcap”. The girl’s curls framed her pretty face below the ruffles of the cap. She looked as pretty as a picture in her new dress. Mrs Zahn hugged Susanna as she took her leave.
At nine thirty the Sheriff, two deputies & the executioner came for her. The deputies took the trembling girl’s arms & led her out of the cell. They went out of the door of the courthouse in front of a crowd of three thousand who had turned up to watch the hanging.
The spectators saw a small figure in white being led by two large men. She looked so small & helpless. The procession from the courthouse walked slowly along the hundred yard path to the gallows. As they neared the scaffold Susanna began to breathe rapidly, her eyes opened wide with terror.
The gallows stood as it had for the past week however today there was a thick rope ending in a large noose dangling from the centre of the high crosspiece. Under the noose was a small four wheeled horse driven cart & on the cart was a coffin.
The girl would be made to stand on her own coffin & the cart would then be driven from beneath her feet. There was a stool to help the prisoner mount the cart
At the gallows Susanna fell to her knees & prayed for forgiveness. The minister joined her & helped her to her feet when she had finished. It was almost ten o’clock in the morning as thee deputies helped the girl onto the cart & then onto the lid of the coffin.
The hangman bound Susanna’s hands behind her back. She was turned to face the courthouse. The crowd was silent, the only sound was the soft scuffling of the girl’s slippers on the smooth wood of the coffin.
The Sheriff approached & looked up at the condemned girl, “Susanna Cox, you are ordered to be put to death by hanging. Do you have any last words?”. The girl slowly shook her head & whispered, “No”, in a cracked voice. She was weeping.
The executioner removed the white frill mobcap from Susanna’s head. He pulled the large noose over her head & adjusted it around her neck & then climbed down from the cart leaving the shaking girl alone & picked up a whip. The executioner then looked at the Sheriff waiting for the signal. The law officer nodded & the hangman cracked the whip which drove the carthorse forward
The cart & coffin lurched from beneath Susanna’s feet & she fought to keep her balance but very soon there was just air beneath her. The girl opened her mouth to scream, but the tightening rope reduced it to a gagging choking sound. She dropped just a short distance, making a soft thud as the rope arrested her fall.
The doomed girl began to thrash, buck & kick. A moaning sound came from the crowd as they watched Susanna start to hang. One of her slippers flew off, she pointed her toes in a futile effort to reach solid ground but there was none within reach. Her eyes were half closed & her tongue protruded from swollen lips. The unfortunate girl was fighting a losing battle for her life.
Her pretty face swelled & darkened as her deadly dance continued. Susanna’s consciousness began to fade as she writhed & twisted on the rope. There was only a rustle of cloth & the creak of the rope with an occasional soft gurgle coming from the hanging girl. The thrashing continued, weaker now, but the girl’s struggles continued.
Finally after eight minutes the Sheriff & a deputy stepped forward & grabbed Susanna’s kicking legs & held on while they gently pulled. The effort tightened the noose enough to complete its deadly work. The hanging girl’s body stiffened, gave a last spasm & a convulsive shudder. Finally she hung limp & lifeless on the rope
Beth said to her lover, “Wouldn’t it have been marvellous to have been the Sheriff & the Deputy pulling on her legs feeling her agony & looking up at her dying face”.
Mary Ann Cotton
Both girls faces were flushed & they started to caress each other as they moved onto the second article that interested them. This detailed the trial, conviction & execution of thirty two year old Mary Ann Cotton earlier that year.
Mary Ann had been condemned in Durham in the north east of England for poisoning twenty one people, many of them members of her own family, for the insurance money.
The judge put on the black cap & handed down the death sentence “I have no compunction in sentencing you to death. You will be taken from this place & as soon as may conveniently be arranged, hanged by the neck until you are dead. May God have mercy on your soul. Amen!”. At those dreaded words, Mary Ann collapsed & was half carried out of the court & taken to Durham County Jail to await execution
On the 24th of March 1873 she was taken to the scaffold where William Calcraft the executioner awaited her. With the help of his assistant Calcraft pinioned her arms & legs & then put the hood over her head before stepping off the trap door that was about to open & plunge Mary Ann to her death.
As soon as the signal was given the trap door swung open & she dropped into space, where she began to writhe at the end of the rope which was slowly choking her to death. She hung struggling for five agonising minutes until at last the final twitches ceased & she swung still & dead on the gallows rope
April & Beth retired to bed as soon as they had finished reading the magazine & spent the next two hours making love discussing what they had learned between orgasms. Reliving the descriptions of the executions in the book & the magazine slowly but surely got them both aroused again. That night they both came three times
The following day April & Beth arrived at Doctor Harris’s consulting room for their next meeting with the psychiatrist. They had decided to be totally honest with the Doctor & during their session they described exactly the impact on them of reading “A History of Women & the Death Penalty in Europe” & “True Crime Monthly”.
Harris took copious notes as he listened. He probed them on why they thought they had found the descriptions of Mary Blandy & Susanna Thomas’s hangings especially exciting.
The girls replied saying that it was the way that Mary’s execution had been described & the fact that Susanna had been almost the same age as they now were that had made them stand out. Harris then asked, “When you are fantasising about these executions do you picture yourselves as the victims, the spectators or even the executioners?”.
April & Beth looked at each other & thought for a minute before they replied. As ever it was April who spoke, “Spectators definitely Doctor”. The Doctor responded. “Interesting. Well thank you for being so honest girls. If it is alright with you I would like to see you both next week”. The girls agreed that that would be fine with them.
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