“What is he threatening you for?”
“Mr. Hawes, I told these men that I should hold them responsible if any harm came to the prisoner for their cruelty. I now tell you that he has just fainted from bodily distress caused by this infernal engine, and I hold you, Mr. Hawes, responsible for this man's life and well-being, which are here attacked contrary to the custom of all her majesty's prisons, and contrary to the intention of all punishment, which is for the culprit's good, not for his injury either in soul or body.
“And what will you do?” said Hawes, glaring contemptuously at the turnkeys, who wore rather a blank look.
“Mr. Hawes,” replied the other gravely, “I have spoken to warn you, not to threaten you.”
“What I do is done with the consent of the visiting justices. They are my masters, and no one else.”
“They have not seen a prisoner crucified.”
“Crucified! What d'ye mean by crucified?”
“Don't you see that the torture before our eyes is crucifixion?”
“No! I don't. No nails!”
“Nails were not always used in crucifixion; sometimes cords. Don't deceive yourself with a name; nothing misleads like a false name. This punishment is falsely called the jacket—it is jacket, collar, straps, applied with cruelty. It is crucifixion minus nails but plus a collar.”