93. Dercum: Phila. Med. Times, 1886-87, xvii., p. 368.—Description of the brain of a man executed by hanging.
94. Kirtikar: Trans. M. and P. Soc., Bombay, 1885, vi., pp. 104-107.—Man, age 25, and woman, age 35. Both hanged. Drop nine feet. Knot tied over cricoid cartilage, a little to left side. In falling, the knots slipped to below the ear. There was fracture of the body of third cervical vertebra and rupture of ligaments. The cord was ruptured in each; in the woman in two places—once at the third cervical, the other at the dorso-lumbar junction.
95. Lamb: Med. News, Philadelphia, 1882, xli., pp. 42-45.—Execution of Guiteau. Drop six feet; knot placed under left ear, but slipped to back of head. Yellowish furrow a few lines wide around the neck, directed downward and forward. Sterno-mastoid muscles torn transversely about midway of their length. Thyro-hyoid ligament ruptured; hyoid bone and thyroid cartilage widely separated. Large blood-vessels not injured. No fracture or dislocation of vertebræ.
96. Thomson and Allen: Catalog. Surg. Sec. Army Med. Mus.; specimens 298 to 302.—Execution of Wirtz. Rope one-half inch diameter; drop five feet; knot under left ear. Several slight shrugs of shoulders, after which body was quiet; let down in fifteen minutes. No involuntary evacuation. Face pale, placid. Eyes partly open; pupils dilated; slight injection of conjunctivæ. Mouth open; tongue not protruding. Just above thyroid cartilage extending on right side from median line in front to spinous process was a dirty brown deep furrow with congested walls; on left side a line of discoloration due to direct action of rope. Soft parts above and below the line much swollen, particularly on right side. Larynx and hyoid bone unnaturally mobile. Right trapezius muscle torn; sterno-mastoid divided transversely, leaving an interval of two inches. Slight ecchymoses between muscle and larynx. Ecchymoses on ligamentum nuchæ. Hyoid bone, both greater cornua fractured and dislocated from body; lesions more marked on right side. Several small ecchymoses in vicinity. Larynx not injured. Brain normal. No bloody or frothy mucus in air-passages. Lungs not congested. One drachm of straw-colored serum in pericardium. Heart empty. Abdominal organs normal. Bladder somewhat distended with urine.
See also Tidy, “Med. Juris.,” Cases 1 to 4 and 60.
Accident.
97. Harvey: Indian Med. Gaz., 1876, xi., p. 3.—Boy, age 1½ years; was swinging by two ropes attached to two posts; the ropes became twisted around his neck. Necroscopy showed mark of very small rope in front of neck from ear to ear; mucous membrane of larynx dark; lungs much congested.
98. Hackel: Op. cit., p. 35.—Man, age 19, sitting on a load of wood, with the lines around his neck, fell and was hung by the lines.
99. Biggs and Jenkins: New York Med. Jour., 1890, lii., p. 30.—Case 16; child, 6 months old, sitting on a high chair, fell between the chair guard and seat and was asphyxiated by compression of neck.
See also Tidy (op. cit.), Cases 53 and 54.