Newgate.
[CHAPTER V.]
My Method of Execution.
THE PROCEEDINGS.
The hour fixed for executions is 8-0 a.m. in all the prisons, except Wandsworth and Lincoln, where it is 9-0 a.m. Of course, the scaffold and rope are arranged, and the drop decided, beforehand. I calculate for three minutes to be occupied from the time of entering the condemned cell to the finish of life’s great tragedy for the doomed man, so I enter the cell punctually at three minutes to eight. In order that my action in hanging a man may be legal, it is necessary that I should have what is known as an “authority to hang,” which is drawn up and signed by the Sheriff, and handed to me a few minutes before the time for the execution. Its form varies a good deal. In some cases it is a long, wordy document, full of the “wherefores” and “whatsoevers” in which the law delights. But usually it is a simple, official-looking form, engrossed by the gaol clerk, and running somewhat as follows:—
To JAMES BERRY.
I, ——, of ——, in the County of ——, Esquire, Sheriff of the said County of ——, do hereby authorise you to hang A—— B——, who now lies under Sentence of Death in Her Majesty’s Prison at ——.
Dated this —— day of ——, ——.
—— ——, Sheriff.
This is folded in three, and endorsed outside.