He received a free pardon a few weeks afterwards, and one would have imagined would have altered his ways, after so narrow an escape; but he was apprehended for a similar offence, tried at the Old Bailey, and was acquitted on a point of law. Yet once more was he caught, and this time was acquitted by the death of the prosecutor. His ultimate fate is not known.
But this was nothing to the marvellous resuscitation of Anne Greene, who was hanged at Oxford, Dec. 14, 1651, and was afterwards revived—and got quite well. She was condemned for the murder of her child, which was afterwards discovered to have been stillborn; and that there was no deception in her execution her history[641] assures us, for she was hanging by the neck for the space of almost half an hour, some of her friends in the meantime thumping her on the breast, others hanging with all their weight upon her legges; 'sometimes lifting her up, and then pulling her down againe with a suddaine jerke, thereby the sooner to despatch her out of her paine; insomuch that the Under-Sheriff, fearing lest thereby they should breake the rope, forbad them to do so any longer.'
And not only so, but when she was taken in her coffin to Dr. Petty, the professor of anatomy, 'she was observed to breathe, and obscurely to ruttle; which being perceived by a lusty fellow that stood by, he (thinking to do an act of Charity in ridding her of the small reliques of a painful life) stamped several times on her breast and Stomack with all the force he could.' This considerate treatment could not overcome the girl's vitality, for by dint of bleeding and good nursing she entirely recovered, and went to her own home, taking with her her coffin, and a goodly sum of money, which had been subscribed for her benefit, and which remained after defraying all charges necessary to her recovery.
The scaffold still lingered on Tower Hill, but this was reserved for political offenders.
A remnant of the barbarous use of torture still remained (indeed it was not abolished until the year 1772) in the peine forte et dure. This punishment was inflicted when a prisoner refused to plead 'guilty' or 'not guilty,' which was then necessary before the trial could be gone on with. Now, if a prisoner refuses to plead, he is regarded as pleading 'not guilty,' and the trial goes on. People have died under this torture rather than plead, because by that means they preserved their property to their friends, which would have been confiscated had they pleaded and been found guilty of felony.
'PEINE FORTE ET DURE.'
Misson gives the following description of the 'Peine forte et dure, or pressing to death. When a Felon, punishable with Death, stakes a Resolution not to make any Answer to his Judges, after the Second Calling upon, he is carry'd back to his Dungeon, and is put to a Sort of Rack called Peine forte et dure. If he speaks, his Indictment goes on in the usual Forms; if he continues dumb they leave him to die under that Punishment. He is stretched out naked upon his Back, and his Arms and Legs drawn out by cords, and fasten'd to the four Comers of the Dungeon: A Board or Plate of Iron is laid upon his Stomach, and this is heap'd up with Stones to a certain Weight.
'The next day they give him, at three different times, three little Morsels of Barly Bread, and nothing to Drink: the next Day, three little Glasses of Water, and nothing to Eat: And if he continues in his Obstinacy, they leave him in that Condition 'till he dies. This is practis'd only upon Felons, or Persons guilty of Petty Treason. Criminals of High Treason, in the like Case, would be condemn'd to the usual Punishment; their Silence would Condemn them.'
Hanging in chains was a distinction to which highwaymen and pirates were entitled, after having combined murder with theft. It consisted of fastening the body into a sort of cage, made of iron hoops, and then hanging it upon the gibbet—which was bound to be on the very road where the crime was committed.