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It takes less than a second, about a quarter second or third of a second, for the length of rope to be fully extended, and the weight of the victims rapidly falling body to exert the massive force which causes death. A brass eyelet is positioned on the noose in a position that causes the body to jerk back-wards; this will dislocate the cervical vertebrae and cause severe damage of the spinal cord.
The rope used is always hemp, which you may be surprised to learn is actually made from the fibres of the cannabis plant. The hemp rope may be woven with other materials; Italian silk is one such material used and produces a smoother finish. A protective cover is put around the noose itself, the State ever concerned that as little marking or evidence of any ugly death was left, this was a remarkable turn around from the days when the State wanted death by execution to be seen as pretty gruesome and often hung up the remains for people to see. This hemp rope is stretched the night before the execution by using a weight of approximately the same weight as the intended victim. This is to prevent slack in the rope from exerting less than the required force. The victim actually dies by suffocation, but if the hanging is carried out correctly, the victim is thought to be deeply unconscious from the moment the 'neck' snaps.
Once dropped, there are no known cases of survival by the long drop with a secure noose. In Islamic Counties, there have been cases were victims have been pulled off the noose alive after several minutes, they use the old fashioned strangulation method there but under Sharia law (Islamic religious law) the murdered victims family can ask that the execution be stopped at any time, there is no such chance once the trap doors open in the old 'long drop' hanging.
Brain death occurs in a matter of minutes, and because UK hangings have doctors and officials in attendance to confirm death, plus a quick autopsy, there is much documented and verifiable evidence which shows 'total death' to occur anywhere between 3 minutes to 25 minutes or so at the extreme. Not 'instant' death really, but the procedure was a lot quicker than the main USA method of State executions today which is now by lethal injection and is a pretty long winded way to actually kill someone. Do you think it is particularly easy to lie strapped on a gurney whilst several needles are inserted and fixed? Reports of the executed just 'slipping away' by this method are not quite the whole truth. Bear in mind that one of the poisons injected actually stops your muscles working; this means that the executed could well be unable to indicate any pain and discomfort. Albert Pierpoint (one of England's better known hangmen) would have got the job done with considerably more speed.
Street killer who was hanged twice
Story, Liverpool Echo,1873
FEW people are unlucky enough to see the hangman’s noose - fewer still see it twice.
But former boxer James O’Connor was one of the unluckiest.
What started out as an evening of Monday music would end in the 29-year-old facing the gallows.
On August 11, 1873, O’Connor, a well-known fighter on the local circuit, left the old Cambridge Music Hall in Mill Street.
He was one of a large group spilling out on the streets at the end of the performance.
But among the crowds, a beautiful woman struck O’Connor as he left.
A young woman named Mary Fortune was the object of his affection and he pursued her through the crowd until they were alone in the Toxteth street.
O’Connor took hold of the young lady’s hand and asked if she would accompany him to a local watering hole for a drink and a chat.
But when Miss Fortune spurned his advances, the boxer’s anger rose. His mood changed and he snapped, accusing the woman of stealing money from him.
He struck out, sending her spinning to the floor and was about to continue his assault when two passers-by intervened.
One, James Gaffney, ran across the road to confront him, but he was floored by a blow to the body.
But it was no punch from the boxer. Mr Gaffney had been sent to the pavement by the unseen blade in O’Connor’s hand.
O’Connor turned on the man’s friend, a man by the name of Mr Metcalf, and stabbed him as well.
Mr Gaffney was fatally injured in the attack.
Both Mr Metcalf and Miss Fortune gave accounts to the police and it was not long before justice caught up with O’Connor.
Before Judge Brett at the Assizes at St George’s Hall, O’Connor was found guilty of murder and attempted murder. As he was sentenced to hang, he showed no emotion.
When he was led to the Kirkdale gallows, his face broke into a smile, and as the rope was lowered around his neck, he seemed content to accept his destiny.
But then fate took a nasty turn.
As the trapdoor opened beneath him, the rope snapped from around O’Connor’s neck. Being blinded by the white hood over his head, he thought for a moment he had died.
And it was only when the priest, Father Bronte, and a local reporter jumped into the pit that the terrible reality sunk in.
With the hood removed and tears in his eyes, O’Connor looked up to the skies. “You’ll let me go now, won’t you?”, he asked to no-one in particular.
Those who stood around, unaware of what was going on inside the pit, could only hear the condemned man hysterically bawling before he broke down sobbing.
The law was specific: “. . . to be hanged by the neck until you are dead” and O’Connor would have to face the noose for a second time.
When calm was restored some minutes later, O’Connor was so resigned to his plight he adjusted the noose himself and pulled the white cap over his own face.
But his second hanging was just as traumatic.
As his body fell through the trapdoor, the rope held. But it was too long.
He swung for a full eight minutes before he died.
The double blunder was of such magnitude that the hangman, an experienced man by the name of Calcraft, never set foot in Kirkdale prison again.
Kirkdale County House of Correction
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