The hanging of Clarissa and Tamara
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This is NOT my creation. All rights go to the anonymous writer, whose wonderful piece of work I came across on the site ziggyred3.tripod.com
Clarissa began to drift out of her deep sleep and gazed around the room. Her eyes were gummed up and her brain was functioning slowly. Suddenly she started up in the bed with a sharp intake of breath causing the covers to fall from her on to the floor. One of the women sitting at the table on the opposite side of the room got up and came over to her. She sat down on the edge of the bed for a moment putting her arm around Clarissa's shoulder "It's all right dear. Just a nightmare."The woman rose again and went accross the room to the door and tapped on it twice. Just a nightmare thought Clarissa. It is not the things of the night that scare me but those of the day.
She slid to the edge of the bed in her pale blue prison nightdress and looked around the condemned cell. There was a cupboard with her personal possessions in it among them the clothes that she would wear for her last walk. The table with the two guards at it and a small rug by her feet. Otherwise the room was bare, lit by a bulb high up in the ceiling that never went out and a small barred window in one wall. The window was too high to see out of and anyway the glass was frosted and opaque. Clarissa decided that they must have put something in her drink last night to cause her to sleep. She could not otherwise have drifted off with the prospect of todays events looming in her mind.."You may as well get these on dear and I will sort your hair out for you."said the younger guard putting a small pile of clothes on the bed next to her and then steadying her as she stood up and wobbled slightly. Yes they had drugged her she thought and that was why she felt so woosey.
She paused for a minute to get her balance before pulling her nightdress over her head and standing naked before the guards.When she had first come here undressing in front of two of the strangers who were assigned to watch her 24 hours a day had been difficult but now she did it almost without thinking. They had selected her best underwear, a green lacy set but the first item she was given was a pair of thick,padded plastic pants. "You pop these on under your others dear ok."The guard did not explain further the reason but Clarissa shuddered slightly as she pulled them on. As the bra and briefs were handed to her she thought of Tamara her friend in the next cell and wondered if she too was awake already and going through this ritual. Pulling the dark blue cotton skirt up to her waist and buttoning it Clarissa remembered the first morning that she had awoken in this cell. It was the scream from next door that had awakened her and althought the two guards had moved to stop her she had been quick enough to get out of the bed and accross the room to the open spy hatch in the door. Through it she had glimpsed a number of guards half dragging, half carrying a middle aged woman down the corridor.
The woman's wrists were bound behind her back but she was still struggling frantically and alternately begging and cursing.Clarissa was pushed back from the door and the spy hatch was shut but the shrieks went on for some while eventually becoming whimpers and then the whole cell block echoed to a dreadful thud and even the whimpers stopped. She must not think of these things. She must try to stay calm. Would Tamara be having these same thoughts. Would they get to speak before they hanged together. They had been convicted of the same crime and sentenced together but since their arrival although separated by only a few yards they had not spoken or even seen each other. Soon they would meet but only briefly and probably without the chance to speak. Clarissa buttoned the dark blue prison issue shirt up to her neck , slipped on the low heeled black shoes and walked accross to one of the chairs at the table to have her hair brushed and tied up. How long would it be now? She had no way of knowing as there was no clock in the room. Once the guard had brushed and tied her hair she added a final line to the letter to her parents and brother, signed it ,and sealed it. The guards kept standing and remained near her as she moved accross the room and she realised that they did not want her to be too far away when the moment came in case she decided to fight. In her mind she was trying to work out how best to face this as she folded her night dress and began to straighten the bed covers having picked them up from the floor. "It is all right dear. Just leave that. We will take care of it." They were the first words the older guard had spoken to her today.
Clarissa stopped realising that her actions were futile. She had heard that as soon as she left the cell a team of guards would come in and strip everything. Her few remaining personal items would be packed in a box to send to her parents and all the prison issue clothes and bedding would be bagged and taken to the room under the death chamber. This cell would have been cleared of all signs of her presence even before she had dropped through the trap. She had heard that after they had hung for the hour ordered by law she and Tamara would be lowered down, stripped and placed in plain grey prison shrouds before being taken for burial without a coffin in an unmarked grave in the prison grounds. Quicklime would be sprinkled over them before the earth was piled on to hasten the decomposition. The clothes they had worn for execution would be added to the others in the bag and taken to the incinerator to burn. By ten o'clock the only sigh of their ever having been here would be two small cardboard boxes of personal items and two freshly turned patches of earth next to the cell block. The cell door swung inwards with a thud and a male voice ordered "Clarissa Clark come out."
Clarissa jumped slightly at this and the two guards gripped her arms firmly and led her into the corridor standing her facing the opposite wall. Looking to her left she saw Tamara for the first time in months also close to the wall with guards either side of her. A tall man in a dark suit was strapping Tamara's wrists behind her back. When he had finished he came behind Clarissa and gently but firmly the guards pushed her arms back behind her so that he could strap them. The strap was thick but subtle and it was fastened tightly after being wound twice around her wrists. The guards turned her to the left and still gripping her arms firmly they moved her forward down the corridor. The man in the suit was leading, followed by Tamara and her two guards then Clarissa and her escort. From behind her Clarissa could hear the drone of lowly mumbled prayers and she realised that the priest was there too. At the end of the corridor the procession turned to the right and went through an open door and up six steps. As they climbed Clarissa focused on Tamara's legs ascending ahead of her in their low black shoes. On reaching the top of the stairs they were in a high wooden floored room where each footstep echoed as they moved.
There were two male guards standing at either of the side walls and the governor of the prison at the wall facing them. The priest quickly moved from the rear to join the governor facing the two girls. The only other occupant of the room was the man in the suit who had strapped their wrists in the corridor. He motioned to a point on the floor and both prisoners were led forward to stand next to each other under a thick beam. Four planks ran accross the floor parallell to the side wallsand evenly spaced. Each of the guards took up position on one of these planks and Clarissa realised that this would enable them to hold the prisoners still up to the last moment without falling themselves when the trap was opened. She looked up at the beam above and saw with a frisson of fear two ropes each noosed at the end hanging there. They seemed too high and Clarissa wondered how they got them down. Her thoughts were distracted when a second suited man joined the first and they moved swiftly to Tamara. Within seconds they had strapped her legs together at the ankles and the knees and then as the poor girl shivvered and quaked a leather strap was fastened around her elbows and pulled tight,bracing her back and causing her chest to push out and up.
Clarissa watched in horrified facination as a black cloth hood was produced and drawn down over the girls tear stained face. Then a small lever was pulled and the rope with the deadly noose at the end snaked down and was deftly slipped over Tamara's head and tightened with the knot under her left ear. Only an occasional sob from under the hood and the spasmodic movement of the chest in gasping breaths indicated that she was still alive. The tight leather straps went quickly around Clarissa's ankles and then her knees, being fastened tightly at the back. Her elbows were bound as Tamara's had been and her body arched forward slightly. She was still trying to come to terms with the reality of her situation when the black hood blotted out the light. She heard the click of the lever and the hiss of the snaking rope. Over her head it went and then pushed up hard under her left ear."Tamara Forbes,Clarissa Clark." It was the governor's voice."You have been tried,convicted and sentenced to death for the crime of murder. Your appeals having failed and a plea for clemency having been rejected by the Home Secretary I have recieved a warrant instructing me to hand you into the custody of the official executioner so that he may hang you by the neck in the manner prescribed by law until you be dead and may the Lord have mercy on your souls. Executioner do your duty."
Clarissa could hear the blood rushing in her ears under the hood and feel her heart pumping frantically in her thrust out chest.CLICK.The executioner removed the safety pin from the trap lever. And then as the guards braced themselves on the planks and held their charges firmly in position he raised his hand above his head and dropped it ...once ...twice ...three times. As his hand swept down for the third time the guards released their hold on the two girls and stood at attention on the planks. Tamara released from the steadying grip started to fall forward as Clarissa swayed but the sweeping hand threw the trap lever down pushing the bolt free and with a thud that echoed round the room and the cell block the trap opened and both girls hurtled down into the room below. SNAP. The ropes arrested their fall causing their shoes to carry on hitting the death room floor with a clatter. The guards on the planks looked down to see the two girls twisting at the end of the ropes. A moan escaped from beneath one of the hoods, Tamara convulsed and shuddered for a moment and Clarissa brought her knees up towards her chest before thrusting them back down and hanging with just her toes twitching slightly.In the room above the guards,priest and governor moved to the door and down the steps followed by the assistant executioner and finally the executioner who locked the door with a large key. Justice had been done. It was 8.14 am
Clarissa began to drift out of her deep sleep and gazed around the room. Her eyes were gummed up and her brain was functioning slowly. Suddenly she started up in the bed with a sharp intake of breath causing the covers to fall from her on to the floor. One of the women sitting at the table on the opposite side of the room got up and came over to her. She sat down on the edge of the bed for a moment putting her arm around Clarissa's shoulder "It's all right dear. Just a nightmare."The woman rose again and went accross the room to the door and tapped on it twice. Just a nightmare thought Clarissa. It is not the things of the night that scare me but those of the day.
She slid to the edge of the bed in her pale blue prison nightdress and looked around the condemned cell. There was a cupboard with her personal possessions in it among them the clothes that she would wear for her last walk. The table with the two guards at it and a small rug by her feet. Otherwise the room was bare, lit by a bulb high up in the ceiling that never went out and a small barred window in one wall. The window was too high to see out of and anyway the glass was frosted and opaque. Clarissa decided that they must have put something in her drink last night to cause her to sleep. She could not otherwise have drifted off with the prospect of todays events looming in her mind.."You may as well get these on dear and I will sort your hair out for you."said the younger guard putting a small pile of clothes on the bed next to her and then steadying her as she stood up and wobbled slightly. Yes they had drugged her she thought and that was why she felt so woosey.
She paused for a minute to get her balance before pulling her nightdress over her head and standing naked before the guards.When she had first come here undressing in front of two of the strangers who were assigned to watch her 24 hours a day had been difficult but now she did it almost without thinking. They had selected her best underwear, a green lacy set but the first item she was given was a pair of thick,padded plastic pants. "You pop these on under your others dear ok."The guard did not explain further the reason but Clarissa shuddered slightly as she pulled them on. As the bra and briefs were handed to her she thought of Tamara her friend in the next cell and wondered if she too was awake already and going through this ritual. Pulling the dark blue cotton skirt up to her waist and buttoning it Clarissa remembered the first morning that she had awoken in this cell. It was the scream from next door that had awakened her and althought the two guards had moved to stop her she had been quick enough to get out of the bed and accross the room to the open spy hatch in the door. Through it she had glimpsed a number of guards half dragging, half carrying a middle aged woman down the corridor.
The woman's wrists were bound behind her back but she was still struggling frantically and alternately begging and cursing.Clarissa was pushed back from the door and the spy hatch was shut but the shrieks went on for some while eventually becoming whimpers and then the whole cell block echoed to a dreadful thud and even the whimpers stopped. She must not think of these things. She must try to stay calm. Would Tamara be having these same thoughts. Would they get to speak before they hanged together. They had been convicted of the same crime and sentenced together but since their arrival although separated by only a few yards they had not spoken or even seen each other. Soon they would meet but only briefly and probably without the chance to speak. Clarissa buttoned the dark blue prison issue shirt up to her neck , slipped on the low heeled black shoes and walked accross to one of the chairs at the table to have her hair brushed and tied up. How long would it be now? She had no way of knowing as there was no clock in the room. Once the guard had brushed and tied her hair she added a final line to the letter to her parents and brother, signed it ,and sealed it. The guards kept standing and remained near her as she moved accross the room and she realised that they did not want her to be too far away when the moment came in case she decided to fight. In her mind she was trying to work out how best to face this as she folded her night dress and began to straighten the bed covers having picked them up from the floor. "It is all right dear. Just leave that. We will take care of it." They were the first words the older guard had spoken to her today.
Clarissa stopped realising that her actions were futile. She had heard that as soon as she left the cell a team of guards would come in and strip everything. Her few remaining personal items would be packed in a box to send to her parents and all the prison issue clothes and bedding would be bagged and taken to the room under the death chamber. This cell would have been cleared of all signs of her presence even before she had dropped through the trap. She had heard that after they had hung for the hour ordered by law she and Tamara would be lowered down, stripped and placed in plain grey prison shrouds before being taken for burial without a coffin in an unmarked grave in the prison grounds. Quicklime would be sprinkled over them before the earth was piled on to hasten the decomposition. The clothes they had worn for execution would be added to the others in the bag and taken to the incinerator to burn. By ten o'clock the only sigh of their ever having been here would be two small cardboard boxes of personal items and two freshly turned patches of earth next to the cell block. The cell door swung inwards with a thud and a male voice ordered "Clarissa Clark come out."
Clarissa jumped slightly at this and the two guards gripped her arms firmly and led her into the corridor standing her facing the opposite wall. Looking to her left she saw Tamara for the first time in months also close to the wall with guards either side of her. A tall man in a dark suit was strapping Tamara's wrists behind her back. When he had finished he came behind Clarissa and gently but firmly the guards pushed her arms back behind her so that he could strap them. The strap was thick but subtle and it was fastened tightly after being wound twice around her wrists. The guards turned her to the left and still gripping her arms firmly they moved her forward down the corridor. The man in the suit was leading, followed by Tamara and her two guards then Clarissa and her escort. From behind her Clarissa could hear the drone of lowly mumbled prayers and she realised that the priest was there too. At the end of the corridor the procession turned to the right and went through an open door and up six steps. As they climbed Clarissa focused on Tamara's legs ascending ahead of her in their low black shoes. On reaching the top of the stairs they were in a high wooden floored room where each footstep echoed as they moved.
There were two male guards standing at either of the side walls and the governor of the prison at the wall facing them. The priest quickly moved from the rear to join the governor facing the two girls. The only other occupant of the room was the man in the suit who had strapped their wrists in the corridor. He motioned to a point on the floor and both prisoners were led forward to stand next to each other under a thick beam. Four planks ran accross the floor parallell to the side wallsand evenly spaced. Each of the guards took up position on one of these planks and Clarissa realised that this would enable them to hold the prisoners still up to the last moment without falling themselves when the trap was opened. She looked up at the beam above and saw with a frisson of fear two ropes each noosed at the end hanging there. They seemed too high and Clarissa wondered how they got them down. Her thoughts were distracted when a second suited man joined the first and they moved swiftly to Tamara. Within seconds they had strapped her legs together at the ankles and the knees and then as the poor girl shivvered and quaked a leather strap was fastened around her elbows and pulled tight,bracing her back and causing her chest to push out and up.
Clarissa watched in horrified facination as a black cloth hood was produced and drawn down over the girls tear stained face. Then a small lever was pulled and the rope with the deadly noose at the end snaked down and was deftly slipped over Tamara's head and tightened with the knot under her left ear. Only an occasional sob from under the hood and the spasmodic movement of the chest in gasping breaths indicated that she was still alive. The tight leather straps went quickly around Clarissa's ankles and then her knees, being fastened tightly at the back. Her elbows were bound as Tamara's had been and her body arched forward slightly. She was still trying to come to terms with the reality of her situation when the black hood blotted out the light. She heard the click of the lever and the hiss of the snaking rope. Over her head it went and then pushed up hard under her left ear."Tamara Forbes,Clarissa Clark." It was the governor's voice."You have been tried,convicted and sentenced to death for the crime of murder. Your appeals having failed and a plea for clemency having been rejected by the Home Secretary I have recieved a warrant instructing me to hand you into the custody of the official executioner so that he may hang you by the neck in the manner prescribed by law until you be dead and may the Lord have mercy on your souls. Executioner do your duty."
Clarissa could hear the blood rushing in her ears under the hood and feel her heart pumping frantically in her thrust out chest.CLICK.The executioner removed the safety pin from the trap lever. And then as the guards braced themselves on the planks and held their charges firmly in position he raised his hand above his head and dropped it ...once ...twice ...three times. As his hand swept down for the third time the guards released their hold on the two girls and stood at attention on the planks. Tamara released from the steadying grip started to fall forward as Clarissa swayed but the sweeping hand threw the trap lever down pushing the bolt free and with a thud that echoed round the room and the cell block the trap opened and both girls hurtled down into the room below. SNAP. The ropes arrested their fall causing their shoes to carry on hitting the death room floor with a clatter. The guards on the planks looked down to see the two girls twisting at the end of the ropes. A moan escaped from beneath one of the hoods, Tamara convulsed and shuddered for a moment and Clarissa brought her knees up towards her chest before thrusting them back down and hanging with just her toes twitching slightly.In the room above the guards,priest and governor moved to the door and down the steps followed by the assistant executioner and finally the executioner who locked the door with a large key. Justice had been done. It was 8.14 am
@SilviaString: Glad you love it. I love execution stories that include the panic, anxious feelins of the condemned to show their full awareness of their impending and inevitable execution as well as their helpless situation. There are more stories like this in the wonderful archieve on ziggyred3.tripod.com. However that site has been dead for years and the only way to get access to it is by using the wayback machine website. Just go there, type "ziggyred3.tripod.com" in the search box, then go through the calendar to the date of Feb 4 2005, the last day that website's data was archieved. You will find a treasure of exciting female execution stories there.
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