HAS EXECUTION BY HANGING BEEN SURVIVED?
(Vol. ix., p. 174.)
Two instances of criminals being restored to life after having been hanged are recorded, on good authority, to have occurred in this town. Henry of Knighton (who was a Canon of Leicester Abbey) relates in his Chronicle (col. 2627), under the year 1363, that—
"One Walter Wynkeburn having been hanged at Leicester, on the prosecution of Brother John Dingley, Master of Dalby, of the order of Knights Hospitallers, after having been taken down from the gallows as a dead man, was being carried to the cemetery of the Holy Sepulchre of Leicester, to be buried, began to revive in the cart, and was taken into the church of the Holy Sepulchre by an ecclesiastic, and there diligently guarded by this Leicester ecclesiastic to prevent his being seized for the purpose of being hanged a second time. To this man King Edward granted pardon in Leicester Abbey, and gave him a charter of pardon, thus saying in my hearing, 'Deus tibi dedit vitam, et nos dabimus tibi Cartam?"
We learn, on the authority of a cotemporary record, preserved in the archives of this borough, and quoted in Thompson's History of Leicester, p. 110., that in June, 1313, Matthew of Enderby, a thief, was apprehended and imprisoned in the king's gaol at Leicester; and that being afterwards convicted, he was sentenced by Sir John Digby and Sir John Daungervill, the king's justices, to be hanged; that he was led to the gallows by the frankpledges of Birstall and Belgrave, and by them suspended; but on his body being taken down, and carried to the cemetery of St. John's Hospital for interment, he revived and was subsequently exiled. Three instances are narrated in Wanley's Wonders of Man, vol. i. pp. 125, 126., and another will be found in Seward's Spirit of Anecdote and Wit, vol. iii. p. 88., quoted from Gamble's Views of Society, &c. in the North of Ireland; whilst in vol. ii. p. 220. of the same work, another restoration to life is stated to have taken place in the dissecting-room of Professor Junker, of Halle: but I know not how far these last-mentioned anecdotes are susceptible of proof.
William Kelly.
Leicester.
There appears to be no reason to doubt the truth of individuals having survived execution by hanging.
Margaret Dickson was tried, convicted, and executed in Edinburgh, in the year 1728. After
the sentence had been accomplished, her body was cut down and delivered to her friends, who placed it in a coffin, and conveyed the same in a cart towards her native place for the purpose of interment. On her journey the dead came to life again, sat up in her coffin, and alarmed her attendants. She was, however, promptly bled, and by the next morning had perfectly recovered. She lived for twenty-five years afterwards, and had several children.
In 1705 one John Smith was executed at Tyburn; after he had hung fifteen minutes a reprieve arrived. He was cut down and bled, and is said to have recovered. (Paris and Fonblanque, Med. Jur., vol. ii. p. 92.)
When it is considered that death takes place after hanging, in most cases by asphyxia, in very rare instances by dislocation of the spine, we can understand the possibility of recovery within certain limits.
That artificial means have been adopted to ensure recovery, the case of Gordon, which occurred in the early part of the seventeenth century, satisfactorily establishes.
This evil-doer had been condemned for highway robbery, and with a view to escape from his penalty, succeeded in obtaining the following friendly assistance.
A young surgeon named Chovell (concerning whose motives we will not inquire too curiously) introduced a small tube through an opening which he made in the windpipe. The hangman, having accomplished his part of the tragedy, Gordon's body was handed over to his friends. Chovell bled him, and the highwayman sighed deeply, but subsequently fainted and died. The want of success was attributed to the great weight of the culprit, who consequently dropped with unusual violence. (Memoirs of the Royal Academy of Surgery in France, Sydenham Society Publications, p. 227.)
How far the mechanical contrivance by which Bouthron, in Scott's Fair Maid of Perth, was kept alive after hanging, was founded on successful experience, I know not. Nor do I know whether Hook, in his Maxwell, had any farther authority than his imagination for his story of resuscitation, though I have heard it said to be founded on the supposed recovery of a distinguished forger, who had paid the last penalty for his offences, and who was said to have really died only a short time since.
Oliver Pemberton.
Birmingham.
The Cork Remembrancer, a chronicle of local events, which I recollect seeing among my late father's (a Cork man) books, relates the fact of a men who was hanged in that city, and on the evening of the same day appeared, not in the spirit, but in body, in the theatre. I regret I have not the book, but it is to be had somewhere. Undoubtedly your late venerable correspondent, James Roche, Esq., could have authenticated my statement, and with fuller particulars, as I only relate the record of it from memory, after a lapse of many years. I think the occurrence, of which there is no doubt, took place somewhere about the year 1782 or 1784; and after all there is nothing very extraordinary about it, for the mode of execution by hanging at that time presented many chances to the culprit of escaping death; he ascended a ladder, upon which he stood until all the arrangements were completed, and then was quietly turned off, commonly in such a manner as not to break the neck or hurt the spinal marrow. It was most likely so in the case I relate and the man having been suspended the usual time, and not having been a murderer, was handed over to his friends, who took prompt measures, and successfully, to restore animation, and so effectually, that the man, upon whom such little impression by the frightful ordeal he had passed was made, mixed in the world again, and was at the theatre that evening.
Little chance is there of escaping death by the present mode of executing.
Umbra.
Dublin.
The Gentleman's Magazine, vol. x. p. 570., after giving the names of those executed on Nov. 24, says:
"And William Duell, for ravishing, robbing, and murdering Sarah Griffin at Acton. The body of this last was brought to Surgeons' Hall to be anatomised; but after it was stripped and laid on the board, and one of the servants was washing him in order to be cut, he perceived life in him, and found his breath to come quicker and quicker; on which a surgeon took some ounces of blood from him: in two hours he was able to sit up in his chair, and in the evening was again committed to Newgate."
And at p. 621. of the same volume,—
"Dec. 9th. Wm. Duell (p. 570.) ordered to be transported for life."
Other instances will be found in the Gentleman's Magazine, vol. i. p. 172., and vol. xxxvii. p. 90; and in vol. lxx. pt. i. p. 107. is the very curious case of Anne Green of Oxford, quoted from Dr. Plot's Natural History of Oxfordshire, p. 197., which is well worth reading. Also, in vol. lvii. pt. i. p. 33., is a letter, containing the two following quotations from Cardan, in explanation of the phenomenon of surviving death by hanging:
"Is qui diu suspensus Bononiæ jacuit, vivus inventus est, quod asperam arteriam non cartilagineam sed osseam habuit."—Cardanus, lib. ii. tr. 2. contr. 7.
"Constat quendam bis suspensum servatum miraculi specie; inde cum tertio Judicis solertiâ periisset, inventam osseam asperam arteriam."—Cardanus, lib. xiv., De rerum variet., cap. 76.
In the Newgate Calendar, or Malefactors' Bloody Register, vol. ii. p. 233., is the account of Margaret Dickson, who was executed for child-murder at Edinburgh, June 19, 1728, with an engraving of her "rising from her coffin near Edinburgh, as she was carrying from the place of execution in order for interment."
"By the Scottish law," says the author, "every person on whom the judgment of the court has been executed has no more to suffer, but must be for ever discharged; and the executed person is dead at law, so that the marriage is dissolved. This was exactly the case with Margaret Dickson, for the king's advocate could not pursue her any farther, but filed a bill in the High Court of Justiciary against the sheriff for not seeing the judgment executed. And her husband being a good-natured man, was publicly married to her within a few days after the affair happened."
Zeus.
For the information of your correspondent I send an extract from the Gentleman's Magazine for February, 1767:
"Saturday 24th (Jan.).—One Patrick Redmond having been condemned at Cork, in Ireland, to be hanged for a street robbery, he was accordingly executed, and hung upwards of twenty-eight minutes, when the mob carried off the body to a place appointed, where he was, after five or six hours, actually recovered by a surgeon, and who made the incision in his windpipe called bronchotomy, which produced the desired effect. The poor fellow has since received his pardon, and a genteel collection has been made for him."
C. R.
I would refer your correspondent Σ., who has put a Query whether persons who have suffered execution by hanging have outlived the infliction, to a case of a woman named Anne Green, which appears to be authenticated upon the most unequivocal testimony of two very estimable authors. The event to which I allude is described in Dr. Robert Plot's History of Oxfordshire, folio, Oxford, 1705, p. 201.; and also in the Physico-Theology of Rev. W. Derham, F.R.S., 3rd edit., 8vo., London, 1714, p. 157. The above-mentioned Anne Green was executed at Oxford, December 14, 1650.
I will not trespass upon your space, which appears pretty well occupied, with a lengthened detail from the authors pointed out, as their works are to be found in most libraries; and thinking Polonius's observation that "brevity is the soul of wit" may be more extensively applied than to what relates to fancy and imagination. I would, however, crave one word, which is, that you would suggest to your correspondents generally that in referring to works they would give, as distinctly as possible, the heads of the title, the name of the author, the edition, if more than one, the place of publication, date, and page. I have experienced much loss of time from incorrect and imperfect references, not to mention complete disappointment in many instances, which I trust may plead my apology for this remark.[[4]]
Γ.
Footnote 4:[(return)]
As our pages are frequently consulted for literary purposes, the suggestion of Γ is extremely valuable, and we trust his hints will be adopted by our numerous correspondents.—Ed.