The BRAIN is rarely much congested. In 101 cases Remer found hemorrhage but once; and in 106 cases Casper failed to find it. Tardieu[872] says the brain is oftenest anæmic. If, however, the body is cut down and placed horizontally, the blood-vessels of the brain may fill up. Evidence may be found in the brain suggesting insanity and therefore an explanation of a probable suicide. Harvey says that hemorrhages in or about the brain are found in a much larger proportion of cases in India than in Europe in cases of hanging. “No common condition likely to cause extravasation is apparent, only one man being noted as plethoric, but in many the rope seems to have been very tight.” Champouillon[873] reports a case of suicide in a man, age fifty-two; the rope broke and the body fell. The physician who made the necroscopy reported a rupture of the pons Varolii. Champouillon believed that the rupture must have been made in removing the brain from the skull. Wilkie[874] reports a judicial hanging in which a man age about twenty-five, fell about three and one-half feet. A recent clot was found in the brain. The experiments of Brouardel of hanging rabbits showed the brain anæmic.
The conjunction of the following appearances would suggest that the hanging had been of some duration: lividity of face, congestion and prominence of eyes, dryness of skin under the ligature, deep furrow, congestion of sexual organs, swelling and lividity of lower limbs, hypostatic congestion of lungs.
Page experimented on a young cat and young dog; both were hung in the same way. Examination of the cat showed the veins generally engorged; sublingual veins much engorged; tongue protruded slightly and much swollen; no frothy mucus in bronchi. In the dog the tongue did not protrude and was not swollen; right cavities of heart contained blood, left empty; brain and other organs normal. In the cat, the lungs were uniformly congested, dark red; no ecchymoses. In the dog, the lungs were much distended, posterior borders mottled violet; emphysematous patches on surface; no apoplectic effusions; subpleural ecchymoses bright red, irregular, clearly defined in outer surface, most numerous toward the roots and on the lower lobes.
Pellereau[875] gives an account of hanging as seen by him in warm climates. He had not seen the elongation of the neck described nor the erection of the penis, nor subconjunctival ecchymoses, nor fracture of larynx, nor rupture of walls of carotid artery, nor subpleural ecchymoses, nor fracture of vertebra. He always found a mark on the neck; the left cavities of the heart always empty, the right always full of black blood. Mackenzie says that in 130 cases of suicidal hanging, the protrusion of the tongue between the teeth, the open and protruding eyes, clinched hands, and blue nails were very frequent, the tongue was found bitten many times, there were urethral and rectal discharges and rupture of carotid artery. The penis was found erect several times. The hyoid bone fractured 24 times in 93 cases. In no case was the larynx or vertebra fractured. In 73 cases ropes were used; in 30, portions of clothing. The marks of ropes were always well defined, indented, and parchment-like; the marks of soft ligatures faint and reddish. In no case were the muscles of the neck, the larynx, trachea, or large bronchi injured, and in none was there subcutaneous hemorrhage or blister.
Proof of Death by Hanging.
As in strangulation, no single sign in any given case is sufficient of itself to prove that death was caused by hanging. But the sum total of the lesions found, viewed in the light of the surroundings of the body, will suffice to lead to a definite conclusion.
The fact that a body has been found suspended does not of itself prove that hanging caused the death, because the victim may have been killed in some other way, and the body afterward hung up to avert suspicion. Chevers records many cases of this kind.
The value of the presence or absence of marks on the neck and the characters of the marks has been questioned. Orfila, Casper, and Vrolik have shown by experiment that if a body is hanged within one or two hours after death the furrow, parchment skin, lividity, and the density of the connective tissue will appear just as is seen when suspension has occurred during life; but ecchymoses and infiltration, clotted blood in the skin, connective tissue, and muscles of the neck suggest suspension during life.
If a cord is removed immediately after death, there may be scarcely any mark at all.
Tardieu collected 261 cases of suicide by hanging where the subject was not entirely off the ground. In 168 the feet rested on the ground; in 42 the subject was kneeling; in 29 lying down; in 19 sitting, and 3 were huddled up or squatting. Fatal hanging may, therefore, occur in almost any position of body. He shows incomplete hangings by thirteen plates. Taylor also collected reports of 11 cases in a few years; in 3 the subjects were nearly recumbent; in 4, in a kneeling position; in 4, sitting. Remer in 101 cases of suicidal hanging found in 14 that the body was either standing or kneeling; in 1, sitting. Duchesne published 58 cases of partial suspension, 26 of which were new. Some of these failures of complete suspension were due to soft and elastic cords.[876]