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

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  Speaker 1: Chapter nine of My Experiences as an Executioner by James Berry.
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  Speaker 1: This LibriVox according is in the public domain recording by
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  Speaker 1: Ashley Jane. Chapter nine, from the murderer's point of view,
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  Speaker 1: Burns sang, and we are fond of repeating his singing,
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  Speaker 1: Oh Watson power the gifty gears to see ourselves as
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  Speaker 1: others see us. But I've never heard anybody utter the
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  Speaker 1: opposite aspiration for the gift to see others as they
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  Speaker 1: see themselves. And yet I'm not quite sure that this
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  Speaker 1: gift is not as desirable as the other. At any rate,
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  Speaker 1: if we are to legislate wisely and well for any
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  Speaker 1: class of people, it is absolutely necessary that we should
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  Speaker 1: be able to see things from their own point of view.
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  Speaker 1: It is with much hesitation that I start this chapter,
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  Speaker 1: for I know that my power to analyze thought and
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  Speaker 1: character is not great enough to enable me to deal
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  Speaker 1: with the subject on broad lines. But if I can
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  Speaker 1: induce a few people to consider the question of murder
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  Speaker 1: and its punishment from the murderer's point of view, the
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  Speaker 1: chapter will do good. On the whole. I think that
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  Speaker 1: our attitude toward murderers is based too much on sentiment
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  Speaker 1: and too little on reason. Many people pity all murderers,
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  Speaker 1: whether they deserve it or not. Many others condemn them body,
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  Speaker 1: soul and spirit, without considering to what extent they are
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  Speaker 1: the result of circumstances. If I can induce my readers
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  Speaker 1: to consider that a murderer has as much right to
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  Speaker 1: judge the state as the state has to judge him,
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  Speaker 1: I think this book will have achieved one good purpose.
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  Speaker 1: I do not wish to work out an argument, but
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  Speaker 1: will just give a few of the expressed ideas of
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  Speaker 1: the murderers, in the hope that they may give rise
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  Speaker 1: to fruitful trains of thought. I would point out, however,
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  Speaker 1: that many of the people who have died on the
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  Speaker 1: scaffold have lived in such deployable circumstances, assailed by every
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  Speaker 1: sort of temptation, surrounded by an atmosphere of gay and
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  Speaker 1: hollow vice, cradled in misery and educated in wretchedness and sin,
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  Speaker 1: with little of the good and the beautiful entertaining into
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  Speaker 1: their lives to raise them, but with the accursed facility
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  Speaker 1: for obtaining drink to lure them down. In such deplorable circumstances,
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  Speaker 1: I say that even an angel could hardly keep himself
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  Speaker 1: unspotted from such a world. When men commit a horrible crime,
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  Speaker 1: it is our duty to exact the penalty, but it
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  Speaker 1: will do us no harm to consider whether we are
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  Speaker 1: in any way responsible for the conditions which may have
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  Speaker 1: driven them to crime, and whether we cannot do even
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  Speaker 1: more than we are doing for the prevention of crime
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  Speaker 1: by the improvement of the conditions. Besides the conditions of life,
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  Speaker 1: the mental status of the wretched culprit should be worthy
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  Speaker 1: of attention, and I think we might ask ourselves whether
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  Speaker 1: it would not have been better for some of the murderers,
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  Speaker 1: as well for society, if they had been placed under
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  Speaker 1: lifelong restraint years before their careers reached the murder stage.
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  Speaker 1: There are many other questions which will naturally occur to
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  Speaker 1: the thoughtful reader, and which I need not indicate. Arthur Shaw.
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  Speaker 1: Amongst my earlier executions was that of Arthur Shaw at Liverpool.
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  Speaker 1: Shaw was a tailor thirty one years of age, who
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  Speaker 1: lived in Manchester. He was married, but his married life
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  Speaker 1: was not happy, for his wife seems to have drunk heavily,
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  Speaker 1: and he himself was not steady. On November third, eighteen
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  Speaker 1: eighty four, they quarreled and fought for some time, and
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  Speaker 1: shortly afterwards the woman was found dead, killed, according to
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  Speaker 1: the doctors, by strangulation. Shaw did not deny the murder,
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  Speaker 1: but pleaded that it was unintentional and that he had
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  Speaker 1: been greatly provoked by his wife's long continued dissipation. Very
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  Speaker 1: strongly recommended him to mercy immediately before meeting his fate.
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  Speaker 1: In a last conversation with the chaplain, the man admitted
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  Speaker 1: his guilt, but earnestly insisted that he had never intended
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  Speaker 1: to cause his wife's death. He stated that he was
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  Speaker 1: not drunk at the time of the murder, but that
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  Speaker 1: he had been driven to drink by his wife's drunkenness
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  Speaker 1: and neglect of the home, which was always miserable, and
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  Speaker 1: that her drunkenness and neglect exasperated him until he was
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  Speaker 1: perfectly wild. He concluded by saying, when we were having
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  Speaker 1: the scuffle, I had no idea I was killing the
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  Speaker 1: poor woman. Thomas Parry, hanged in Galway on January twentieth,
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  Speaker 1: eighteen eighty five for the murder of Miss Burns, wrote
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  Speaker 1: a long statement which he handed to the governor to
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  Speaker 1: be read after his death. The gist of it was
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  Speaker 1: given in the following paragraph. I wished to assure the
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  Speaker 1: public and my family and friends that I was of
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  Speaker 1: unsound mind for a week previous to the murder, and
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  Speaker 1: for some time after afterwards. I am happy to suffer
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  Speaker 1: for the crime which I committed, and confident that I
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  Speaker 1: shall enter upon an eternity of bliss. I die at
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  Speaker 1: peace with all men, and hope that anyone that I
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  Speaker 1: have ever injured will forgive me. George Houghton of Swanwick
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  Speaker 1: poisoned his little daughter for the purpose it is supposed
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  Speaker 1: of obtaining the sum of seven pounds for which her
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  Speaker 1: life was insured, and was executed at Derby on February first,
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  Speaker 1: eighteen eighty six. It is difficult or impossible for an
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  Speaker 1: ordinary person to understand such a man's frame of mind.
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  Speaker 1: One would think him absolutely callous. Yet he wept over
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  Speaker 1: the body of his child when he found that she
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  Speaker 1: was dead, and wrote a most affectionate letter to his
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  Speaker 1: other children when he was in prison. A portion of
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  Speaker 1: his last letter to his eldest daughter was as follows.
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  Speaker 1: You must be sure to pray to God to guide
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  Speaker 1: you all your life through, and you must pray for
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  Speaker 1: your brothers and sisters. I do pray to God to
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  Speaker 1: guard you all your life through. So, my dear daughter,
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  Speaker 1: you must think of what I have told you. You
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  Speaker 1: must always tell the truth, and when you are tempted
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  Speaker 1: to do wrong, you must pray to God for his help,
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  Speaker 1: and he will hear you. Always remember that, my dear children,
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  Speaker 1: and you must tell the others the same you. That is,
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  Speaker 1: your brothers and sisters. God has promised to be a
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  Speaker 1: father to you. Always remember that He sees all you
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  Speaker 1: do and all you think. Then if you do his
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  Speaker 1: will while here on earth, he will receive you to
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  Speaker 1: His throne in glory, where all is peace and rest. So,
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  Speaker 1: my dear children, you will be able to meet all
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  Speaker 1: your brothers and sisters and your poor dear mother in heaven,
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  Speaker 1: and by the help of God, I shall meet you
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  Speaker 1: there too. May God help you all and bless you
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  Speaker 1: and keep you all your lives through. He will do
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  Speaker 1: it if you pray to Him and ask him. You
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  Speaker 1: know you must take everythink to God in prayer, for
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  Speaker 1: you know you will have no one else to help you,
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  Speaker 1: so no more from your loving father. George Houghton, May
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  Speaker 1: God bless you all. Kisses for you all. Edward Prichard
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  Speaker 1: was an instance of how evil communications corrupt good manners,
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  Speaker 1: and a striking example of the unfortunate uselessness of our
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  Speaker 1: reformatory system. At twelve years of age, he was convicted
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  Speaker 1: for being an associate of thieves and sentenced to two
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  Speaker 1: years in a reformatory. For three years after leaving the reformatory,
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  Speaker 1: he managed to keep out of prison, but when seventeen,
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  Speaker 1: he was sentenced to four months imprisonment for shop breaking,
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  Speaker 1: and after this he was frequently in jail. About a
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  Speaker 1: year before the murder, he appeared to have reformed, attended
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  Speaker 1: Sunday School and chapel, and took an active part in
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  Speaker 1: religious work right up to the time of committing the murder.
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  Speaker 1: He murdered a small boy of fourteen who was in
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  Speaker 1: the habit of regularly fetching money from the bank to
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  Speaker 1: pay the wages at a large factory, and stole from
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  Speaker 1: the wages money amounting to over two hundred pounds. The
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  Speaker 1: evidence of the deed was absolutely conclusive and overwhelming, and
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  Speaker 1: Richard had no hope of a reprieve. A day or
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  Speaker 1: two after his conviction, he wrote a letter to one
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  Speaker 1: of his Sunday school teachers in which he professed to
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  Speaker 1: have seen the error of his ways, urged all his
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  Speaker 1: companions to shun bad company, drinking and smoking, spoke of
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  Speaker 1: the delight with which he remembered some of the Sunday
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  Speaker 1: Score hymns, and anticipated the pleasure of soon singing them
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  Speaker 1: up there or Through his life there seems to have
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  Speaker 1: been a struggle between good and evil, with an unfortunate
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  Speaker 1: balance of power on the side of evil. It is
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  Speaker 1: difficult to believe that he would have devoted his spare
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  Speaker 1: time for a year to religious work if he had
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  Speaker 1: not felt strong aspirations for the higher life. After conviction,
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  Speaker 1: he said but little about himself and made no formal
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  Speaker 1: statement or confession. But a letter which he wrote to
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  Speaker 1: the father of the murdered boy will throw some light
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  Speaker 1: upon his mental state. In this letter, Pritchard distinctly affirms
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  Speaker 1: that he was led to commit the crime by the
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  Speaker 1: instigation of a companion. And though the statements of a
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  Speaker 1: convicted murderer must always be received with caution, it is
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  Speaker 1: possible that there was some ground for this assertion. If
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  Speaker 1: the crime was really suggested, and the criminal encouraged by
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  Speaker 1: the influence of another, and probably a stronger mind, we
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  Speaker 1: may well ask ourselves how much of the moral blame
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  Speaker 1: attaches to the instigator and how much to the weak tool.
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  Speaker 1: The letter was as follows, Her Majesty's prison, Monday, February fourteenth, Sir,
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  Speaker 1: I write these lines to you to express my deep
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  Speaker 1: sorrow for the dreadful crime I have done to you
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  Speaker 1: and to your master. I write to ask you, with
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  Speaker 1: you and your wife, will forgive me for killing your boy?
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  Speaker 1: And please ask the Master if he will forgive me
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  Speaker 1: for taking his money from him. It would not have
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  Speaker 1: happened if I had not been incited to do it,
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  Speaker 1: and it was by no other person than Blank Blank,
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  Speaker 1: who was a witness against me. He persuaded me to
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  Speaker 1: do it, and said he might do it himself if
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  Speaker 1: I did not. So I did the unhappy affair. I
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  Speaker 1: am very sorry I ever met with Blank at all,
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  Speaker 1: but it cannot be called back. Now. I have cried
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  Speaker 1: to God for mercy. I must still cry, and I
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  Speaker 1: hope I shall gain a better home. I have asked
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  Speaker 1: him to forgive me and blot out all my sins
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  Speaker 1: and wash me in my Savior's precious blood, and I
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  Speaker 1: think and feel he will do it. I am going
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  Speaker 1: to receive the Holy communion on Wednesday, and I should
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  Speaker 1: like to hear from you by Wednesday before I go
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  Speaker 1: to the partaker of that holy feast. If you will
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  Speaker 1: forgive me, I shall be more at peace. I am
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  Speaker 1: very very sorry, indeed for what I have done. There
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  Speaker 1: is there's nothing that can save me from my doom,
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  Speaker 1: which will be on Thursday. But I can ask God
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  Speaker 1: to have mercy on my poor soul. I have no
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  Speaker 1: more to say at present, only that I was a
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  Speaker 1: great friend of poor Harry, and I went nearly mad
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  Speaker 1: about it the first few nights and could not sleep,
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  Speaker 1: But now I find comfort in Jesus. Goodbye, sir. Please
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  Speaker 1: send me an answer by return of post, and I
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  Speaker 1: hope we shall meet in heaven. From Edward Prichard, Gloucester
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  Speaker 1: County Jail, Gloucestershire. A few particulars of Pritchard's last moments
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  Speaker 1: are given in How Murderers Die. Alfred Scandret, another young
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  Speaker 1: man only just twenty years old, was another example of
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  Speaker 1: the result of bad influences. His father deserted the home
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  Speaker 1: when Alfred was about ten years old. His mother was
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  Speaker 1: a hard working woman who contrived to support her family
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  Speaker 1: by mangling and by selling papers in the street, in
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  Speaker 1: which latter work she was assisted by Alfred and several
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  Speaker 1: other children. The lad was fond of hanging round street
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  Speaker 1: corners and public houses, and his mother found it impossible
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  Speaker 1: to keep him at home like the other children. He
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  Speaker 1: continually made resolutions, but again and again he was led
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  Speaker 1: away by his companions, and at twelve years of age,
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  Speaker 1: he was convicted for stealing cigars from a shop, but
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  Speaker 1: discharged with a caution. A month later he was charged
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  Speaker 1: with another offense and sentenced to twenty one days. Other
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  Speaker 1: imprisonments followed, then five years inner reformatory, but punishment was
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  Speaker 1: no cure. His love for his mother was his one
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  Speaker 1: redeeming feature, and if she had not been forced by
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  Speaker 1: grinding poverty to work almost day and night at her
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  Speaker 1: mangling and paper hawking, she might have succeeded in saving
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  Speaker 1: him from himself. He tried to break away from his
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  Speaker 1: evil associations, and at one time begged his mother to
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  Speaker 1: find money to take him to Canada, but she was
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  Speaker 1: utterly unable to secret together enough to pay the passage.
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  Speaker 1: A youth called Jones, who was hanged with scandret, was
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  Speaker 1: his companion in his final crime, a burglary ending in murder.
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  Speaker 1: Although attached to his mother, who said he had always
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  Speaker 1: been a good lad to her, scandrec could not bear
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  Speaker 1: the idea of living at home when he was engaged
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  Speaker 1: in crime, so that almost the whole of the last
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  Speaker 1: years of his life was spent when out of jail
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  Speaker 1: in common lodging houses. After his conviction for murder and
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  Speaker 1: sentenced to death, his great anxiety was for his mother,
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  Speaker 1: and well might he be anxious for the poor woman
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  Speaker 1: suffered sadly for his sin. As soon as it was
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  Speaker 1: known that she was the mother of a murderer, her customers,
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  Speaker 1: to their eternal disgrace be it said, withdrew their patronage
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  Speaker 1: to such an extent that her mangling earnings dropped from
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  Speaker 1: twelve or fourteen shillings to two shillings a week, and
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  Speaker 1: her newspaper trade fell away to nothing. She was even
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  Speaker 1: hunted and insulted in the streets when she went to
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  Speaker 1: her accustomed corner to sell the papers. To get from
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  Speaker 1: her home in Birmingham to Hereford Jail for a last
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  Speaker 1: interview with her son, she was obliged to pawn her dress,
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  Speaker 1: and even that only raised enough money to pay the
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  Speaker 1: fair one way, so that she had to trust to
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  Speaker 1: chance for the means of getting back again. Some of
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  Speaker 1: the prison officials, more humane than her friends at home,
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  Speaker 1: subscribed enough money to pay the return fair. The last
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  Speaker 1: meeting was a very affecting one. Scandret comforted his mother
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  Speaker 1: by assuring her that they would meet in heaven, and said,
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  Speaker 1: pray daily and hourly, mother, as I have done, and
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  Speaker 1: then we shall meet in heaven. Arthur Delaney, the number
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  Speaker 1: of men who were driven to crime through drink is
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  Speaker 1: something terrible, and I should think that no temperance worker
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  Speaker 1: could read the real histories of the murderers who have
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  Speaker 1: come under my hands without redoubling his efforts to save
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  Speaker 1: men from the curse of drink. A case in point
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  Speaker 1: was Arthur Delaney, executed at Chesterfield on All tenth, eighteen
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  Speaker 1: eighty eight. It may be said that he was naturally
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  Speaker 1: a bad, violent man, but surely he would never have
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  Speaker 1: become a murderer if he had not consistently made himself
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  Speaker 1: worse and worse by hard drinking. His victim was his wife,
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  Speaker 1: to whom he had been married four years, and who
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  Speaker 1: was spoken of as a respectable, hard working woman. Not
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  Speaker 1: very long after the marriage, in a drunken fit, he
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  Speaker 1: violently assaulted her, for which action the magistrates imposed a
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  Speaker 1: fine and granted a separation order. His wife, however, forgave him,
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  Speaker 1: and in spite of his bad behavior, continued to live
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  Speaker 1: with him. A few days before the murder, he was
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  Speaker 1: unusually violent and treated his wife so brutally that she
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  Speaker 1: was obliged to again appeal to the magistrates, who again
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  Speaker 1: imposed a fine. This raised Delane his anger to such
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  Speaker 1: an extent that the next time he got drunk, he
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  Speaker 1: batted his wife so violently that she had to be
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  Speaker 1: removed to the hospital, where she died. Like many other culporates,
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  Speaker 1: the lady saw the cause of the mischief when it
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  Speaker 1: was done, and a letter written after his sentence has
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  Speaker 1: a ring of simple earnestness about it that makes it
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  Speaker 1: worth preserving. It was written to some good templars who
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  Speaker 1: had tried to reform him her Majesty's prison, Derby, August eighth,
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  Speaker 1: eighteen eighty eight. My dear friends, I write you farewell
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  Speaker 1: on this earth, but hope, with God's great mercy to
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  Speaker 1: meet you all there where there will be no more
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  Speaker 1: sorrow or temptation. I do sincerely thank you for your
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  Speaker 1: kindness to me, and hope that my fall will be
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  Speaker 1: the means of, with God's help, of lifting others up
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  Speaker 1: from a drunkard's grave. Had I followed your advice, my
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  Speaker 1: poor wife would been alive now, and we should have
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  Speaker 1: been happy, for she was a faithful and good wife
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  Speaker 1: to me. God knows that I should not have done
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  Speaker 1: such a dreadful crime if I had kept my pledge.
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  Speaker 1: But hope it will be a warning to those that
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  Speaker 1: play with the devil of solution. Will you tell Blank
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  Speaker 1: to give his heart to God and you will be
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  Speaker 1: safe from his great curse the drink. Bid him and
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  Speaker 1: his wife farewell for me, and tell him to put
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  Speaker 1: all his powers to work to help the noble work
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  Speaker 1: of temperance onward, for it is God's work. Oh, do
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  Speaker 1: implore them that it is playing with the drink to
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  Speaker 1: abstain from it, for it is a national curse. Now
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  Speaker 1: farewell to you all, and may God prosper your noble work.
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  Speaker 1: From your unfortunate friend, Arthur T. Delaney, what proportion of
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  Speaker 1: murders is directly traceable to drink? It would be very
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  Speaker 1: difficult to say, but time after time we find that
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  Speaker 1: murderers who write to their friends state that drink and
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  Speaker 1: drink only has caused their ruin. Elizabeth Barry, Although I
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  Speaker 1: am endeavoring in this chapter to give a few ideas
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  Speaker 1: of the motives for murder as seen by the murderers themselves,
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  Speaker 1: I am not, by any means condoning their crimes. My
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  Speaker 1: main object is to induce people to look more into
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  Speaker 1: the predisposing causes of crime. I want them to con
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  Speaker 1: whether in many cases prevention is not better than cure,
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  Speaker 1: and whether more cannot be done to remove the causes. Undoubtedly,
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  Speaker 1: drink has to answer for the largest number of such crimes.
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  Speaker 1: After drink comes lust and jealousy, though these almost invariably
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  Speaker 1: reach the murder climax through drink. The other main motive
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  Speaker 1: is the love of money, which has led to many
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  Speaker 1: of the most heartless inhuman deeds that it has been
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  Speaker 1: my lot to avenge. I have given one or two
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  Speaker 1: instances of parents who have murdered their own children for
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  Speaker 1: the sake of a few pounds of insurance money, and
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  Speaker 1: much instances could be multiplied. In fact, so apparent did
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  Speaker 1: the motive become a year or two back that the
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  Speaker 1: government was obliged to pass a law regulating the insurance
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  Speaker 1: of the lives of infants. If such an act, or
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  Speaker 1: even a further reaching one, had been in existence earlier,
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  Speaker 1: Elizabeth Berry might have been alive now instead of lying
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  Speaker 1: in a felon's grave. Missus Barry poisoned her daughter, aged eleven.
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  Speaker 1: At the time of the murder. The child's life was
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  Speaker 1: insured for ten pounds, for which missus Barry was paying
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  Speaker 1: a premium of one pence per week. The murderers had
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  Speaker 1: also made a proposal for a mutual insurance on her
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  Speaker 1: own life and the childs, by which one hundred pounds
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: should be paid on the death of either to the survivor.
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: She was under the impression that the policy was completed,
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: but as a matter of fact, it was not. It
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: seems almost impossible that a woman should murder a child
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: for the sake of gaining even the full sum of
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: one hundred and ten pounds, and we might be justified
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: in believing that there must be some other motive if
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: it were not for the fact that infanticide has been
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: committed again and again for much smaller sums. From the
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: point of view of the murderers of children, it would
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: seem that a few pounds in money appears a sufficient
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: inducement to soil their hands with the blood of a
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: fellow creature. It is well, therefore, for the sake of child,
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: that the temptation should be removed. End of Chapter nine.
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: Recording by Ashley Jane