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13 - My Experiences as an Executioner by James Berry · My Experiences as an Executioner

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  Speaker 1: Chapter twelve of My Experiences as an Executioner by James Berry.
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  Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain recording by
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  Speaker 1: Ashley Jane. Chapter twelve, The Press and the Public. I
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  Speaker 1: might almost head this chapter. My critics, for both press
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  Speaker 1: and public are constantly criticizing my doings. The criticism is
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  Speaker 1: generally friendly, though often based on incomplete knowledge of the
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  Speaker 1: facts of the pressmen. I must say that they usually
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  Speaker 1: seem most kindly disposed, and certainly many of them go
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  Speaker 1: to great trouble to extract from me a few statements
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  Speaker 1: which they can spin out into an interview. As a rule,
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  Speaker 1: I dislike these interviews, for I know that my employers
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  Speaker 1: very strongly object to any more sensationalism than is absolutely
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  Speaker 1: necessary being imported into the accounts of executions. Unfortunately, with
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  Speaker 1: many of the papers, sensationalism is the one thing needful,
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  Speaker 1: and when I meet with a really energetic reporter attached
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  Speaker 1: to such a paper, my position is a very difficult one.
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  Speaker 1: If I say little or nothing in answer to his questions,
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  Speaker 1: he may spin a fearful and wonderful yarn out of
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  Speaker 1: his own head and out of the gossip and rumors
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  Speaker 1: which seem to be constantly afloat started, I imagine by needy
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  Speaker 1: penny a Liners. On the other hand, if I submit
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  Speaker 1: to the interview as the best way of keeping it
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  Speaker 1: within bounds, the touches of color which the interviewer generally
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  Speaker 1: thinks it necessary to add, are pretty sure to land
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  Speaker 1: me in bother and misunderstanding. In several instances, statements which
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  Speaker 1: were calculated to seriously injure me professionally have been published,
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  Speaker 1: and though I believe they were inserted with no evil intent,
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  Speaker 1: I have been obliged to employ my solicitors to secure
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  Speaker 1: their contradiction. The instance which annoyed me perhaps more than
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  Speaker 1: any other, was the reporting of a supposed interview in
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  Speaker 1: the Essex County Chronicle. It was said to be from
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  Speaker 1: an occasional contributor. The interviewer in question tackled me in
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  Speaker 1: the hotel where the sheriff pays the execution fee, entering
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  Speaker 1: the room immediately after I had been paid, and just
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  Speaker 1: as the sheriff was driving off, he asked me two
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  Speaker 1: or three questions about private matters, which I answered truthfully
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  Speaker 1: and straightforwardly. Though I was somewhat annoyed by the man
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  Speaker 1: and his manner, the interview, which appeared quite shocked me.
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  Speaker 1: Several of the statements were utterly wrong, But what troubled
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  Speaker 1: me most was the following paragraph, which was quite at
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  Speaker 1: variance with the actual facts and with the statements which
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  Speaker 1: I had made. And what do your friends think of
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  Speaker 1: the profession you have taken up? I asked, It killed
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  Speaker 1: my mother and brother, he mournfully replied. When Marwood died,
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  Speaker 1: I was appointed in his place, and directly my mother
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  Speaker 1: knew of it. She was taken ill. My father's solicitor
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  Speaker 1: then wrote to the Home Office informing the authorities of this.
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  Speaker 1: The result was that I gave up the position and
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  Speaker 1: Binns got the appointment. My mother died soon afterwards, though,
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  Speaker 1: and then when I saw the way in which Binns
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  Speaker 1: was going on, I came to the conclusion that he
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  Speaker 1: would not hold the place long, and I again wrote
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  Speaker 1: to the Home Office, stating that my mother was dead
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  Speaker 1: and that there was now nothing to prevent my accommodating
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  Speaker 1: them if my assistance should be required. Soon after that
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  Speaker 1: I was engaged to hang two men at Edinburgh, and
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  Speaker 1: I have carried out nearly all the execution since then.
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  Speaker 1: My brother had married a girl with plenty of money,
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  Speaker 1: and his pride received a blow on my appointment that
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  Speaker 1: was the cause of his death. He was a liberal
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  Speaker 1: and in favor of abolishing capital punishment. But I am
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  Speaker 1: a concert through and through. Although I have buried my mother,
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  Speaker 1: two brothers, and two aunts within the last three years,
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  Speaker 1: this was a false and cruel paragraph. The actual facts
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  Speaker 1: with regard to the deaths of my relatives begin as follows.
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  Speaker 1: One my aunt died before I took the office or
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  Speaker 1: thought of doing so. Two my mother died from cancer
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  Speaker 1: on the liver, from which he had been suffering for
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  Speaker 1: a long time before I applied for the post. And
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  Speaker 1: she died between the time of my first application and
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  Speaker 1: the time of the second application when I was appointed
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  Speaker 1: for the double execution at Edinburgh. Three my brother died
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  Speaker 1: of low fever, after I had held the office of
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  Speaker 1: Executioner for about four years. I do not wish to
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  Speaker 1: deny that my choice of the calling of executioner was
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  Speaker 1: a disappointment and annoyance to my family, But to say
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  Speaker 1: that it caused or hastened the death of any one
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  Speaker 1: of them is to say that which is not true.
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  Speaker 1: If I thought that it, I had really had any
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  Speaker 1: such disastrous effect I hope I'm not such a callous
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  Speaker 1: and hardened wretch as to make the matter the subject
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  Speaker 1: of discussion with a stranger. One would almost have thought
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  Speaker 1: that such statements as the one extracted above would bear
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  Speaker 1: their refutation on their face, and that there would be
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  Speaker 1: no need to contradict them. But the matter was seriously
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  Speaker 1: taken up by the Daily News, which made it the
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  Speaker 1: subject of a leader, and other papers all over the
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  Speaker 1: country extracted from or commented upon the matter in the
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  Speaker 1: Daily News. Of course, I put the matter into the
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  Speaker 1: hands of my solicitors, who took steps to stop the
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  Speaker 1: original libel, but they were naturally unable to stop its
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  Speaker 1: circulation through the country. Another affair, which caused me much
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  Speaker 1: annoyance at the time, arose in Hereford from the greed
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  Speaker 1: for interesting and sensational copy shown by a member of
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  Speaker 1: staff of the Hereford Times. He got up some sensational
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  Speaker 1: matter to the effect that, after the accution of Hill Williams,
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  Speaker 1: I retired to a neighbouring hotel where a smoking concert
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  Speaker 1: was in progress, and there held at ghastly levy. The
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  Speaker 1: worst of this report was that it was based on
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  Speaker 1: some foundation of fact, and that a mere coloration of
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  Speaker 1: the report made a reasonable and perfectly innocent entertainment appear
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  Speaker 1: as if it were something shameful. The actual facts were
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  Speaker 1: that after the execution, I was in company with Alderman Barnet,
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  Speaker 1: Mayor of Worcester, and a detective sergeant, both of whom
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  Speaker 1: were personal friends of mine. With Alderman Barnet, I was
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  Speaker 1: invited to a social evening held by some of his friends.
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  Speaker 1: It was a perfectly private party and was decorously conducted
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  Speaker 1: in every way. When the Times representative appeared, as he
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  Speaker 1: was known to the gentleman present, he was invited to
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  Speaker 1: join us simply as a friend. The report of the
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  Speaker 1: party was much talked about at the time, and Sir
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  Speaker 1: Edwin Lechmere, MP for Hereford made it the subject of
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  Speaker 1: a question in the House of Commons. From time to time,
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  Speaker 1: a very great number of incorrect and exaggerated statements have
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  Speaker 1: been made in the press with regard to almost every
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  Speaker 1: detail of my work. And I suppose that so long
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  Speaker 1: as the public have a love for the marvelous, and
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  Speaker 1: so long as press men have treacherous memories or vivid imaginations,
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  Speaker 1: it will continue to be so. My enormous income is
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  Speaker 1: one of the subjects on which the papers most frequently
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  Speaker 1: get astray. And it has often been asserted that my
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  Speaker 1: earnings amounted to one thousand a year. I only wish
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  Speaker 1: that it might be so if I could make it
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  Speaker 1: from an increase of fee rather than an increase in
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  Speaker 1: the number of executions. But the reader has in other
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  Speaker 1: places correct statements of what my income really amounts to.
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  Speaker 1: I never bear malice against my friends of the press
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  Speaker 1: for these little distortions of fact, for I know that
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  Speaker 1: they mean no harm. And on the whole they have
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  Speaker 1: always used me very well. With regard to the public.
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  Speaker 1: Their curiosity to see me is much greater than my
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  Speaker 1: desire to satisfy it. I had no wish to be
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  Speaker 1: followed about and stared at by a crowd as if
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  Speaker 1: I were a monstrosity, and in many cases I've had
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  Speaker 1: to go to some trouble to balk them. This I
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  Speaker 1: can do to a certain extent by traveling by other
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  Speaker 1: trains than the one I am expected by. In some cases,
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  Speaker 1: where there are two or three railways into a town,
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  Speaker 1: one of which is a direct line from Bradford, I
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  Speaker 1: take the direct line to some local station, and there
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  Speaker 1: change into a train of another line. Or into some
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  Speaker 1: train running on some local branch line and so arrive
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  Speaker 1: unobserved at Newcastle after the execution of Judge. There was
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  Speaker 1: a big and enthusiastic crowd waiting to see me and
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  Speaker 1: my assistant depart. There were one or two men in
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  Speaker 1: the crowd who knew me by sight, and they knew
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  Speaker 1: the train by which we were to travel, so they
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  Speaker 1: made a raid on the station, and in spite of
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  Speaker 1: the efforts of the railway officials and police to keep
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  Speaker 1: the place clear, they burst through the barriers with a
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  Speaker 1: howl of exultation and filled the platform. The plan by
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  Speaker 1: which we evaded them was very simple. We walked over
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  Speaker 1: the river to Gateshead and booked from there to Newcastle,
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  Speaker 1: arriving by train in the midst of the people who
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  Speaker 1: were looking for us. We attracted no attention whatever, because
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  Speaker 1: the folks who knew me were near the entrance gates,
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  Speaker 1: expecting us to come into the station in the ordinary way,
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  Speaker 1: as we had our tickets for Bradford with us. We
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  Speaker 1: simply crossed the platform to our own train and in
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  Speaker 1: due time steamed southward, leaving the disappointed crowd under the
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  Speaker 1: firm impression that we had not entered the station. The
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  Speaker 1: first time that I went to Swansea, there was a
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  Speaker 1: large crowd of people waiting to see me, but they
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  Speaker 1: were disappointed for I had made a little arrangement which
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  Speaker 1: completely upset their calculations. It happened that I traveled from
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  Speaker 1: Shrewsbury to Swansea with a gentleman who was well known
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  Speaker 1: in the latter town. In the train, we entered into
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  Speaker 1: conversation and I found that his carriage was to meet
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  Speaker 1: him at the station. I therefore asked him if he
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  Speaker 1: could recommend me to a good hotel, and was delighted
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  Speaker 1: when he said that he would drive me to one,
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  Speaker 1: which was just what I wanted. He did not know
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  Speaker 1: who I was, and a little crowd that was watching
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  Speaker 1: never imagined that the executioner would be riding in their
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  Speaker 1: townsmen's carriage. Of course, I did not want to stay
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  Speaker 1: at the hotel because I was to lodge in the jail,
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  Speaker 1: but I thanked my friend for the lift, walked into
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  Speaker 1: the hotel for a glass of beer while he was
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  Speaker 1: driving away, and then walked up to the prison without
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  Speaker 1: anyone suspecting my Errand whenever I have been in actual
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  Speaker 1: contact with crowds in England, their attitude has been friendly.
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  Speaker 1: In Ireland, such knots of people as may gather are
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  Speaker 1: usually the reverse in England. If there is any sort
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  Speaker 1: of demonstration, it is a cheer. In Ireland it is
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  Speaker 1: hooting and groaning. But it is seldom in England that
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  Speaker 1: I meet with any personal demonstrany. The crowds that assemble
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  Speaker 1: outside the jails when executions are in progress are interesting studies.
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  Speaker 1: They hail the hoisting of the black flag with a
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  Speaker 1: cheer or a groan that indicates their opinion of the
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  Speaker 1: merits of the case. It is curious to notice how
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  Speaker 1: the sympathies of this section of the public lean one
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  Speaker 1: way or the other, often without any apparent reason. This
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  Speaker 1: thought occurred to me very forcibly at the executions of
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  Speaker 1: Israel Lipsky and William Hunter, who were hanged within a
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  Speaker 1: few months of each other. At Lipsky's execution, the crowd
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  Speaker 1: was the largest I have ever seen. Many of the
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  Speaker 1: people remained hanging about for hours. The excitement was intense,
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  Speaker 1: but there was no sympathy for the prisoner. There were
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  Speaker 1: many Jews in the crowd, and wherever they were noticed,
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  Speaker 1: they were hustled and kicked about. And insulted in every
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  Speaker 1: imaginable manner. For the hatred displayed by the mob was
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  Speaker 1: extended from Lipsky to his race. When the black flag
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  Speaker 1: was hoisted, it was received with three ringing cheers. Altogether,
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  Speaker 1: the crowd showed the utmost detestation of the murderer. And
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  Speaker 1: yet his crime was no worse than the majority of murders.
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  Speaker 1: And there were many things connected with it, and with
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  Speaker 1: the circumstances of the miserable man's life, both before and after,
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  Speaker 1: which I should have expected to excite some little sympathy
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  Speaker 1: at any rate amongst people in a similar station of life.
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  Speaker 1: Hunter's execution was the next but one to Lipskis, and
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  Speaker 1: his crime was one which has always seemed to me
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  Speaker 1: about the most heartless I ever heard of. Hunter was
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  Speaker 1: a striker in a foundry by trade, but a tramp
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  Speaker 1: by choice. He left his wife and two children and
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  Speaker 1: went on tramp, eventually striking up a sort of partnership
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  Speaker 1: with a scotchwoman who had six illegitimate children. One of these,
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  Speaker 1: a little girl between three and four years of age,
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  Speaker 1: went tramping with them, And of course the poor we
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  Speaker 1: might was utterly unfit with the exposed and the many
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  Speaker 1: miles of walking, which they made her accomplish daily. Hunter
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  Speaker 1: and the woman were both cruel to the child, and
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  Speaker 1: carried their cruelty to such an extent that on one occasion,
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  Speaker 1: at any rate, they were remonstrated with and eventually turned
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  Speaker 1: out of a common lodging house on account of their conduct.
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  Speaker 1: At last, one day, after a long tramp, the little
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  Speaker 1: mike began to cry from wariness, and Hunt her, to
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  Speaker 1: stop her crying, beat her with a switch. Later, for
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  Speaker 1: the same purpose he thrashed her with a stick that
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  Speaker 1: he picked up in the road. Still later in the
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  Speaker 1: day he continued his ill treatment until he had beaten
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  Speaker 1: the life out of the poor little creature. In justice
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  Speaker 1: to the man or brute, it should be said that
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  Speaker 1: when he found that the child was insensible it was
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  Speaker 1: really dead, he fetched water to bathe its poor battered head,
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  Speaker 1: And then when he realized that it was dead, he
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  Speaker 1: cut his own throat and very nearly killed himself. But
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  Speaker 1: these considerations seemed very little extenuation for the harsh brutality
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  Speaker 1: of his conduct. One would have thought that the man
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  Speaker 1: who would thus heartlessly torture to death a helpless child
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  Speaker 1: would have been execrated by all men. Yet the crowd
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  Speaker 1: that assembled at Hunter's execution wore quite a holiday ere.
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  Speaker 1: There were some fifteen hundred people, most of whom laughed
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  Speaker 1: and jested. When the flag was run up, there was
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  Speaker 1: no demonstration. Perhaps the Carlyle people are not demonstrative. However,
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  Speaker 1: that may be the contrasted conduct of the crowds that
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  Speaker 1: the two executioners stuck me forcibly. And though it is
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  Speaker 1: sad that men should rejoice at the death of a
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  Speaker 1: fellow man, if the cheers had been given at Hunter's death,
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  Speaker 1: which greeted the death of Lipsky, I think they would
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  Speaker 1: have been more natural and more English than light jests
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  Speaker 1: and laughter. End of Chapter twelve. Recording by Ashley Jane