Latest / My Experiences as an Executioner / 14 - My Experiences as an Executioner by James Berry

Transcript

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

0:00
Speaker 1: Chapter thirteen of My Experiences as an Executioner by James Berry.
0:05
Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain recording by
0:10
Speaker 1: Ashley Jane, Chapter thirteen, Incidents and Anecdotes. As is always
0:16
Speaker 1: the case when a man attains any prominence or notoriety,
0:20
Speaker 1: a number of utterly groundless stories have got afloat about
0:23
Speaker 1: my doings and adventures. Others which were originally founded on fact,
0:28
Speaker 1: have been so modified and altered that I do not
0:31
Speaker 1: recognize them when they come back to meet me again. Altogether,
0:35
Speaker 1: I have been credited with being the hero of so
0:37
Speaker 1: many surprising adventures that I am afraid the few little
0:41
Speaker 1: incidents which have really occurred to me will seem tamed
0:44
Speaker 1: by the side of the fictions. One of the most
0:47
Speaker 1: striking incidents that ever occurred to me was on the
0:50
Speaker 1: journey from Lincoln to Durham after executing Mary Lefley in
0:54
Speaker 1: eighteen eighty four. At Doncaster we changed from the Great
0:58
Speaker 1: Eastern to the Great Norse Railway. I looked out for
1:02
Speaker 1: a carriage with a vacant corner seat and got into
1:05
Speaker 1: one containing three rough looking men. When the train had started,
1:09
Speaker 1: they began to talk amongst themselves and to look at me,
1:12
Speaker 1: and eventually began to chaff me. Of course, I pretended
1:15
Speaker 1: not to understand their allusions to the execution that morning,
1:19
Speaker 1: and was indignant at their supposing me to be an executioner.
1:23
Speaker 1: But they were confident that they were right, and began
1:26
Speaker 1: offering to bet amongst themselves as to which of them
1:28
Speaker 1: I should get first. I was glad to get to York,
1:31
Speaker 1: where I parted from their company. Two years afterwards, I
1:35
Speaker 1: met the same three men under very different circumstances. They
1:39
Speaker 1: were at Carlisle condemned to be executed for the netherby
1:42
Speaker 1: Hall Burglary, and I carried out the sentence of the law.
1:46
Speaker 1: Their names were Rug, Martin, and Baker. I always tried
1:50
Speaker 1: to remain unknown while traveling, but there is a certain
1:54
Speaker 1: class of people who will always crowd round as if
1:57
Speaker 1: an executioner were a peep show. On the journey above mentioned,
2:01
Speaker 1: after changing at York, I got into a carriage with
2:04
Speaker 1: a benevolent looking old gentleman. A little crowd collected round
2:09
Speaker 1: the door, and just as we were starting, a porter
2:11
Speaker 1: stuck his head into the window, pointed to my fellow passenger,
2:15
Speaker 1: and with a silly attempt at jocularity, said, I hope
2:19
Speaker 1: you'll give him the right tightener. The old gentleman seems
2:23
Speaker 1: much mystified, and of course I was quite unable to
2:26
Speaker 1: imagine what it meant. At Darlington there was another little
2:30
Speaker 1: crowd which collected for a short time about our carriage.
2:34
Speaker 1: Fortunately none of the people knew me, so that when
2:36
Speaker 1: the old gentleman asked them what was the matter, they
2:39
Speaker 1: could only tell him that Berry was traveling by that train,
2:42
Speaker 1: and that they wanted to have a look at him.
2:45
Speaker 1: The old gentleman seemed anxious to see such an awful
2:48
Speaker 1: man as the executioner, and asked me if I should
2:50
Speaker 1: know him if I saw him. I pointed out a
2:53
Speaker 1: low looking character as being possibly the man, and my
2:56
Speaker 1: fellow travelers said, yes, very much like him. I suppose
3:01
Speaker 1: he had seen a so called portrait of me in
3:03
Speaker 1: one of the newspapers. We got quite friendly, and when
3:07
Speaker 1: we reached Durham, where I was getting out, he asked
3:10
Speaker 1: for my card. The reader can imagine his surprise when
3:13
Speaker 1: I handed it to him. This little story has been
3:16
Speaker 1: made warped and magnified, and has even been the subject
3:20
Speaker 1: of a leading article which takes me to task for
3:23
Speaker 1: glorying in my gruesome calling and shocking respectable people by
3:27
Speaker 1: giving them my cards. Another little anecdote, which has been
3:31
Speaker 1: greatly distorted, is what I call the toothache story. It
3:35
Speaker 1: happened in eighteen eighty seven, when crossing from Ireland, that
3:38
Speaker 1: there was one of the passengers who was terribly ill
3:41
Speaker 1: with maldama and toothache combined. He was rather a bother
3:46
Speaker 1: to several travelers who were not sick and who wished
3:49
Speaker 1: to enjoy the voyage, and he must have given a
3:51
Speaker 1: lot of trouble to the stewards. I think that one
3:54
Speaker 1: of the latter must have told him that I could
3:56
Speaker 1: cure him, for he came and begged me to tell
3:59
Speaker 1: him what was the best thing for his complaint. I
4:01
Speaker 1: admitted that I was in the habit of giving drops
4:04
Speaker 1: that would instantaneously cure both the toothache and the sea sickness,
4:08
Speaker 1: but assured him that he would not be willing to
4:10
Speaker 1: take my remedy. Still, he persisted, so I handed him
4:14
Speaker 1: a card, and as he was a sensitive man, it
4:17
Speaker 1: gave his nerves a shock that was quite sufficient to
4:20
Speaker 1: relieve him of the toothache and me of his presence
4:23
Speaker 1: for the rest of the voyage. As the card which
4:26
Speaker 1: I then used has often been mentioned in the newspapers,
4:30
Speaker 1: I gave a facsimile of it. The wording was in black,
4:34
Speaker 1: with the fern in green and the border in gold.
4:38
Speaker 1: I now use a perfectly plain card, as reproduced on
4:41
Speaker 1: page one one seven. A sad little incident in connection
4:45
Speaker 1: with the murder of Warder Web by John Jackson will
4:48
Speaker 1: always remain in my memory. I had been to Strangeways
4:52
Speaker 1: Jail once or twice before on duty, and web had
4:55
Speaker 1: always been my personal attendant during my residence, so that
4:59
Speaker 1: we they were quite friendly. At the execution previous to Jackson's,
5:04
Speaker 1: that of John Alfred Gehl in May eighteen eighty eight,
5:08
Speaker 1: we had two or three long chats, and Webb was
5:11
Speaker 1: most anxious that I should go to Manchester to spend
5:14
Speaker 1: a half day or a day with him in the
5:17
Speaker 1: city when he could get leave of absence. He hoped
5:20
Speaker 1: it would be a long time before they should see
5:22
Speaker 1: me there again professionally, but said that they would always
5:26
Speaker 1: be glad to see me if I were in Manchester
5:28
Speaker 1: on other business and could call. Then, turning to the
5:31
Speaker 1: subject of executions, he began wondering who would be the
5:35
Speaker 1: next that I should have to go there for and
5:38
Speaker 1: who would be the victim? And shaking his head sadly,
5:41
Speaker 1: he said, a body never knows who will be the next.
5:44
Speaker 1: The poor fellow little thought that he would be the
5:46
Speaker 1: next victim, and that the very next time I visited
5:49
Speaker 1: Strange Ways would be no friendly call, but a visit
5:53
Speaker 1: to avenge his own death. Of course, my duties take
5:56
Speaker 1: me about the country a great deal, and I have
5:58
Speaker 1: met a great many interesting people in the course of
6:01
Speaker 1: my travels. As a rule, I do not make myself
6:04
Speaker 1: known unless I have some good reason for doing so,
6:06
Speaker 1: because I have no fancy for making myself into a
6:09
Speaker 1: cheap show. On one occasion I traveled from Coventry to
6:13
Speaker 1: Warwick with the reporter of one of the Coventry papers.
6:17
Speaker 1: He knew nothing of my identity and does not seem
6:20
Speaker 1: to have recognized me at the execution, But while writing
6:23
Speaker 1: out his report, the connection between the gentleman in the
6:26
Speaker 1: train and the executioner in the jail seems to have
6:30
Speaker 1: dawned upon him, and he wrote the following, which amused
6:33
Speaker 1: me greatly when it appeared in his paper. After writing
6:36
Speaker 1: this report and describing the hangman's features, and dress. It
6:40
Speaker 1: dawned upon the writer for the first time that the
6:43
Speaker 1: description was that of a gentleman with whom he had
6:46
Speaker 1: traveled from Coventry to Warwick on the previous afternoon. On
6:50
Speaker 1: reflecting upon all the circumstances of the journey, he felt
6:53
Speaker 1: quite certain of the fact, and although amused at the
6:56
Speaker 1: thought of having traveled and converse with an executioner without
6:59
Speaker 1: noh knowing it, he was a little chagrined that he
7:02
Speaker 1: had not given the conversation a professional turn, which he
7:06
Speaker 1: would have done had he been aware who his fellow
7:08
Speaker 1: traveler was. The incident is sufficient to show that persons
7:12
Speaker 1: traveling by rail occasionally get into singular company without having
7:16
Speaker 1: the slightest knowledge of the fact. In eighteen eighty seven,
7:20
Speaker 1: when I had to go to Dorchester to hang Henry
7:22
Speaker 1: William Young for the Pool murder, I stayed at Bournemouth
7:26
Speaker 1: and took a room in a temperance hotel. During the
7:29
Speaker 1: evening I got into conversation with the landlady, who was
7:32
Speaker 1: much interested in the subject of executions, and who appeared
7:37
Speaker 1: to like to discuss it. She was decidedly down on
7:40
Speaker 1: bury the hangsman, and expressed herself very freely as to
7:44
Speaker 1: his character and disposition, amongst other pleasant things, saying that
7:49
Speaker 1: he was a man without a soul and not fit
7:51
Speaker 1: to have intercourse with respectable people. Of course, I smilingly
7:56
Speaker 1: agreed with everything that she had to say, and chuckled
7:59
Speaker 1: quietly to myself about a little surprise that I had
8:02
Speaker 1: in store for her. The surprise came off at bedtime
8:05
Speaker 1: when she handed me my bedroom candle, and in return
8:08
Speaker 1: I handed her my card. The good lady nearly fainted.
8:12
Speaker 1: It is not often that I feel frightened, for I
8:15
Speaker 1: am pretty well able to take care of myself. But
8:18
Speaker 1: I once had a little adventure in the train coming
8:21
Speaker 1: from Galway to Dublin that gave me one or two
8:24
Speaker 1: cold shivers. It was at a time when island was
8:27
Speaker 1: much disturbed by agrarian outrages, and I knew that amongst
8:31
Speaker 1: some of the lower classes there was a feeling of
8:34
Speaker 1: hatred against myself. On account of my occupation of this,
8:38
Speaker 1: I had an example when going down to Galway, and
8:41
Speaker 1: as it led up to and somewhat prepared me for
8:44
Speaker 1: the other incident, I may as well mention it my
8:47
Speaker 1: journey to Galway was undertaken for the purpose of hanging
8:51
Speaker 1: four men who were condemned to death for moonlighting. It
8:55
Speaker 1: was an exciting journey altogether for four men who were
8:58
Speaker 1: in the same compartment as my sell from Dublin to
9:01
Speaker 1: Mullingar got into an excited discussion upon some political subject,
9:06
Speaker 1: and just as we left Klucan, they began to fight
9:09
Speaker 1: most violently, using their sticks and fists to such an
9:12
Speaker 1: extent that all their faces were soon covered with blood.
9:15
Speaker 1: As the train drew into Mullingar, the fury called as
9:19
Speaker 1: quickly as it had begun. They all began to apologize
9:22
Speaker 1: to each other and wipe the blood from one another's faces.
9:26
Speaker 1: At Mullingar, I got out for a drink to steady
9:29
Speaker 1: my nerves, for the fight at such close quarters had
9:31
Speaker 1: somewhat upset me, although I took no part in it.
9:35
Speaker 1: On the platform, two villainously rough looking characters spoke a
9:39
Speaker 1: few words to the men who had got out of
9:41
Speaker 1: my compartment, and then followed me into the refreshment room,
9:45
Speaker 1: where they seemed anxious to make my acquaintance, and so
9:48
Speaker 1: forcibly insisted that I should have a drink with them.
9:51
Speaker 1: That I had to consent for fear of causing a row.
9:54
Speaker 1: They asked me where I was going, said they were
9:57
Speaker 1: going to Galway, and, in what seemed to me a
9:59
Speaker 1: pecul julilaly significant tone, asked me if I knew whether
10:03
Speaker 1: mister Barry, the hangsman, was really in the train or not.
10:07
Speaker 1: They followed me onto the platform like two shadows, and
10:10
Speaker 1: got into the same compartment of the train. All this
10:13
Speaker 1: made me feel rather uncomfortable, for though I was well armed,
10:17
Speaker 1: there is nothing in life that I dread so much
10:19
Speaker 1: as the possibility of having to kill a man in
10:22
Speaker 1: self defense, and of being tried and possibly convicted for murder.
10:26
Speaker 1: I was therefore very pleased when two plain clothes men,
10:30
Speaker 1: whom I knew belonged to the Royal Irish Constablary, got
10:33
Speaker 1: onto the other half of the carriage, which was one
10:36
Speaker 1: of those in which there are two compartments divided by
10:39
Speaker 1: a low partition. I do not know whether my two
10:42
Speaker 1: rough companions even noticed that there was any one in
10:44
Speaker 1: the other half of the carriage to which their backs
10:47
Speaker 1: were turned. Their conduct indeed seemed to show that they
10:50
Speaker 1: thought they were alone. But I could see that the
10:54
Speaker 1: Riic men were regarding them with interest and taking notes
10:58
Speaker 1: of every word they said. All the way from Mullinger
11:01
Speaker 1: to Athenry, the two fellows plied me with questions and
11:05
Speaker 1: tried by all means in their power to draw me
11:07
Speaker 1: into discussion and the expression of opinion. I answered them
11:11
Speaker 1: as briefly as I could without being uncivil, but took
11:15
Speaker 1: care that they should not gain much solid information from
11:17
Speaker 1: my answers. At Athenry, they shuffled into the far corner
11:22
Speaker 1: of the compartment and, in stage whispers which they evidently
11:25
Speaker 1: thought I could not hear, argued as to whether I
11:28
Speaker 1: was Barry or not. One of them got quite excited,
11:32
Speaker 1: pointed out that I was an Englishman, that I came
11:35
Speaker 1: from the north of England, that there was no one
11:37
Speaker 1: else in the train that looked like an executioner, that
11:40
Speaker 1: my tale about being a poultry buyer was all a
11:43
Speaker 1: loy and finally that I had a scar on my
11:46
Speaker 1: cheek which proved it. In toily be Goora. The other
11:50
Speaker 1: fellows said that sure, the gentleman in the corner was
11:53
Speaker 1: a gentleman and not a Martha in Blood's thirsty blaggard
11:58
Speaker 1: of a hangman, which opinion at last seemed to be
12:01
Speaker 1: shared by both. As we steamed into Galway, I used
12:05
Speaker 1: my handkerchief, and then rested my hand on the window
12:08
Speaker 1: ledge with the handkerchief hanging out. This was a signal
12:12
Speaker 1: arranged by my police escort, who were on the platform
12:16
Speaker 1: and who managed to be just opposite the door when
12:18
Speaker 1: the train stopped. As I marched off amongst those strapping fellows,
12:23
Speaker 1: I looked round to see my two traveling companions gesticulating
12:27
Speaker 1: wildly and abusing each other for having been deceived and
12:30
Speaker 1: for having treated the very blackgyard we went to meet.
12:34
Speaker 1: I never knew whether they had intended me any harm,
12:37
Speaker 1: but the constablary men told me that they were two
12:40
Speaker 1: of the roughest characters in Galway. The four men who
12:43
Speaker 1: were condemned to death were reprieved one after the other
12:46
Speaker 1: as the days fixed for their executions drew near, so
12:49
Speaker 1: that I was not required to carry out my painful
12:52
Speaker 1: duty after all. But I was kept waiting more than
12:55
Speaker 1: a week in Galway jail, with nothing more lively to
12:58
Speaker 1: do than read the newspaper papers and to walk about
13:01
Speaker 1: in the dreary prison yard, because the governor did not
13:04
Speaker 1: consider that it would be safe for me to venture outside.
13:07
Speaker 1: I was heartily glad when the last reprieve arrived and
13:10
Speaker 1: I was free to return home. To avoid observation as
13:14
Speaker 1: much as possible, I took the midnight train, and as
13:17
Speaker 1: there were very few passengers, I secured a compartment to
13:21
Speaker 1: myself and made all snug for a sleep. I was
13:24
Speaker 1: not disturbed until we reached Mullinger, when I noticed a
13:27
Speaker 1: man who looked into my compartment, then walked the whole
13:31
Speaker 1: length of the train and finally came into my compartment,
13:34
Speaker 1: although there were others in the train quite empty. He
13:37
Speaker 1: at once began to talk to me in a friendly
13:39
Speaker 1: sort of style, with a strong American twang. But I
13:43
Speaker 1: did not like his looks at all, so pretended to
13:45
Speaker 1: want to go to sleep. As I sized him up
13:48
Speaker 1: from my half shut lids, I set him down as
13:51
Speaker 1: a heavy, swell Yankee. He wore a big slouch hat
13:55
Speaker 1: and cape coat, carried an elaborately silver mounted handbag, and
13:59
Speaker 1: his coat pocket it showed it the unmistakable outline of
14:02
Speaker 1: a revolver. He plied me with all sorts of questions
14:05
Speaker 1: on Irish politics, asked me where I lived, what was
14:08
Speaker 1: my business, where I was going to stay in Dublin,
14:12
Speaker 1: and a host of other questions which I evaded as
14:14
Speaker 1: far as I decently could. I did tell him, amongst
14:17
Speaker 1: other things, that my name was Ackroyd, and that I
14:21
Speaker 1: lived in the north of England, but not very much
14:24
Speaker 1: beyond this. After a while, he poured out his revolver
14:27
Speaker 1: and commenced examining it in a careless sort of fashion.
14:31
Speaker 1: As I did not like this turn of affairs, I
14:33
Speaker 1: poured out my own weapon, which was built for business
14:36
Speaker 1: and twice the size of the one carried by the stranger,
14:39
Speaker 1: and made a pretense of looking it over very carefully.
14:42
Speaker 1: The stranger asked me to let him examine my gun,
14:45
Speaker 1: but I told him that it was a weapon that
14:47
Speaker 1: I did not like to hand about for fear of accidence,
14:50
Speaker 1: And after a final look at the charges, I put
14:53
Speaker 1: it back in my coat pocket in such a position
14:56
Speaker 1: that it covered the stranger, and kept my finger on
14:58
Speaker 1: the trigger until we reached Dublin. The American tried to
15:02
Speaker 1: keep up a conversation all the way, but I was
15:04
Speaker 1: not very encouraging, and I thought that by the time
15:07
Speaker 1: we reached Dublin he would be heartily sick of my company.
15:11
Speaker 1: But when I got out of the station and was
15:13
Speaker 1: driving off to my hotel, I was surprised to find
15:16
Speaker 1: that he jumped onto the same car and said he
15:18
Speaker 1: would go to the same hotel as I did. After
15:21
Speaker 1: having a wash, I came down into the breakfast room
15:24
Speaker 1: and heard the American asking the waitress if she knew
15:27
Speaker 1: mister Berry, to which she replied that she did, and
15:30
Speaker 1: then if mister Berry was there that morning, to which
15:33
Speaker 1: she replied that she had not seen him. As a
15:35
Speaker 1: matter of fact, she had not, and I slipped along
15:38
Speaker 1: the passage to tell her as she went to the
15:40
Speaker 1: kitchen that my name pro tem was Ackroyd. I found
15:45
Speaker 1: in the coffee room that there was a letter addressed
15:47
Speaker 1: to me on the mantelpiece. The stranger was examining this
15:51
Speaker 1: and asked me if I knew the hangman by sight.
15:54
Speaker 1: When it was nearly time to catch my boat, the
15:56
Speaker 1: stranger still stuck to me, and at the last moment
15:58
Speaker 1: he suggested that we should have a drink together. We
16:02
Speaker 1: went to moon Is, where I was known to the bartender,
16:04
Speaker 1: to whom I tipped a vigorous wink as we went in,
16:07
Speaker 1: which showed him there was something in the wind. After
16:10
Speaker 1: ordering our drinks, the American asked him if he knew Berry.
16:14
Speaker 1: The hangman, to which he truthfully replied that he did.
16:17
Speaker 1: The American then asked if he knew whether Berry had
16:20
Speaker 1: come from Galway by the night Mail, adding he was
16:23
Speaker 1: expected to travel by that train, But mister Ackroyd and
16:27
Speaker 1: myself came by it and we saw nobody like him,
16:31
Speaker 1: though I carefully looked along the whole train. The bartender,
16:35
Speaker 1: of course, knew nothing. So we drank up and I
16:37
Speaker 1: went out to my car, the American shaking hands with
16:41
Speaker 1: me and wishing me a pleasant voyage. I had run
16:44
Speaker 1: it rather close and quick, driving only just brought us
16:47
Speaker 1: to the Key in time for me to get aboard.
16:50
Speaker 1: As the ship swung out from the keyside, a car
16:53
Speaker 1: driven at red hot speed came dashing along, and the passenger,
16:57
Speaker 1: whom I recognized as my American, just toulated wildly as
17:01
Speaker 1: if he wanted the vessel to stop. But we swung
17:04
Speaker 1: out with steam and tide, and he drove some distance
17:07
Speaker 1: along the key sides, wildly but faintly, waving his hands.
17:11
Speaker 1: The next time, when I was at Mooni's, I heard
17:14
Speaker 1: some further particulars. The stranger had gone back for another drink,
17:18
Speaker 1: and after chatting for a few minutes, the bartender told
17:21
Speaker 1: him that his friend mister Ackroyd was the very Bury
17:25
Speaker 1: for whom he had been inquiring. On hearing that, he
17:28
Speaker 1: wrapped out half a dozen oaths, rushed for a car,
17:31
Speaker 1: and drove off in mad haste. I have never seen
17:34
Speaker 1: him since, nor has the bartender, and I never knew
17:37
Speaker 1: what were the motives for his peculiar conduct. Appendix the
17:42
Speaker 1: trouble with Answers Limited. Early last year eighteen ninety, I
17:47
Speaker 1: felt compelled to bring an action for libel against the
17:50
Speaker 1: Answers Newspaper Co. Limited. As the case was fully reported
17:55
Speaker 1: at the time. I think that her report, condensed from
17:59
Speaker 1: the columns of the Bradford Observer of March seventeenth, eighteen ninety,
18:04
Speaker 1: may be more satisfactory than my own statement of the case.
18:08
Speaker 1: I therefore give it in the form of an appendix,
18:10
Speaker 1: rather than in the chapter the Press and the Public
18:13
Speaker 1: to which it belongs. In this case, mister Waddy qc
18:18
Speaker 1: MP and mister Waugh, instructed by mister J. J. Wright,
18:23
Speaker 1: appeared for the plaintiff. Mister James Berry, the public executioner
18:28
Speaker 1: of one Built in Place, Bradford, and mister Cyril Dodd
18:31
Speaker 1: q C appeared for the defendants the Answers Newspaper Company Limited.
18:37
Speaker 1: The plaintiff claimed five hundred pounds for libel, which was
18:41
Speaker 1: printed and published in the periodical called Answers. The defendants
18:46
Speaker 1: admitted the printing and publication of the libel, and by
18:49
Speaker 1: way of mitigation of damages, they withdrew all moral imputations
18:53
Speaker 1: against Berry's character, and paid a sum of forty shillings
18:57
Speaker 1: into court and apologized for the words used. Mister Waddy
19:01
Speaker 1: said in behalf of the plaintiff, and he thought the
19:03
Speaker 1: observation would commend itself to their judgment that no man
19:07
Speaker 1: in the Kingdom, whatever he might be, and whatever calling
19:11
Speaker 1: he might follow, as long as he followed the duties
19:13
Speaker 1: of his calling in honesty and integrity, ought to be
19:16
Speaker 1: deliberately insulted and flouted for any reason whatever. And he
19:21
Speaker 1: believed that when they heard what kinds of forseholds were
19:24
Speaker 1: printed concerning Berry, they would agree with him that mister Berry,
19:28
Speaker 1: although he was the common executioner, being a sober and
19:31
Speaker 1: respectable man, was entitled at their hands to be protected
19:35
Speaker 1: from wanton insult. He would tell them what the facts were.
19:39
Speaker 1: It appeared that some time in September or October, of
19:42
Speaker 1: eighteen eighty nine, a man named White came to him,
19:46
Speaker 1: representing himself to be a correspondent of an American newspaper,
19:50
Speaker 1: and told mister Berry that he was anxious to hear
19:53
Speaker 1: his views upon the very interesting subject of executions by
19:57
Speaker 1: means of electricity, and at his opinion, in view of
20:00
Speaker 1: his experience at executions, was of very great importance. He
20:05
Speaker 1: offered mister Barry a fee of three pounds if he
20:08
Speaker 1: would give him the interview which he desired, and that
20:11
Speaker 1: fee was paid, and mister Barry did discuss the question
20:14
Speaker 1: with him. He did that on the promise, both by
20:17
Speaker 1: word of mouth and in writing, that whatever he said
20:20
Speaker 1: should not be published in this country. Mister Waddy then
20:24
Speaker 1: read the article which had appeared in Answers, from which
20:27
Speaker 1: I need only give extracts. He is a powerful, thick
20:30
Speaker 1: set man of about medium stature, and his countenance is
20:34
Speaker 1: not an unpleasant one at first glance, though upon closer
20:38
Speaker 1: study one discovers that the face reveals the lack of
20:41
Speaker 1: several moral elements in the man's composition, which seems to
20:46
Speaker 1: indicate that the creator designed him especially for the ends
20:50
Speaker 1: he serves. A critical observer would probably say that his
20:54
Speaker 1: eyes are too close together, and that their brilliancy is
20:57
Speaker 1: that of the codfish rather than the evil. While though
21:01
Speaker 1: the mouth and chin indicate termination, the forehead gives the
21:04
Speaker 1: impression of lack of balance. A phrenologist would perhaps find
21:09
Speaker 1: that the cranial bumps that indicate sense and shame, pity
21:12
Speaker 1: and sympathy are not particularly well developed upon the head
21:16
Speaker 1: of mister Berry. Have you ever been threatened by the
21:19
Speaker 1: friends of criminals whom you have hanged, often replied mister Berry.
21:23
Speaker 1: But I don't pay no attention to them. I'm a
21:26
Speaker 1: doing on my duty and unprotected by government. It was
21:30
Speaker 1: said that if missus Maybrick had not been reprieved, a
21:33
Speaker 1: mob would have been formed in Liverpool to prevent you
21:36
Speaker 1: hanging her. They'd never have seen me, said mister Berry.
21:40
Speaker 1: I'd a been in the jail an anger before the
21:43
Speaker 1: mob knew I was about, and I'd been on the
21:45
Speaker 1: train and on my way back home before they knew
21:48
Speaker 1: she was dead. Why when I anged paul In Dublin
21:51
Speaker 1: who murdered informer Kenny O'Donnell, who murdered the informer Carey
21:55
Speaker 1: having been anged at Newgate the day before, there was
21:58
Speaker 1: a great mob in Dublin's to prevent my getting into
22:01
Speaker 1: the prison, and nobody outside knew Paul was hanged until
22:05
Speaker 1: I was on the boat to steam in a way
22:07
Speaker 1: for Holy Head. How do you manage that? I asked again.
22:10
Speaker 1: I'll tell you, said mister Berry, in a burst of confidence.
22:14
Speaker 1: I shaves off my whiskers and I puts on women's clothes.
22:18
Speaker 1: That's the way I got into Dublin jail with my
22:21
Speaker 1: robes and straps under my clothes, and that's the way
22:23
Speaker 1: I've done many a job. Berry never did such a
22:26
Speaker 1: thing in his life as put on women's clothes. He
22:29
Speaker 1: never had occasion to put them on. And there was
22:32
Speaker 1: not the slightest shadow of foundation for the statement. The
22:35
Speaker 1: people mentioned in the article as having been hanged by
22:38
Speaker 1: Berry were not hanged by him at all. This libel
22:41
Speaker 1: was printed upon November twenty third, eighteen eighty nine, and
22:45
Speaker 1: an action was commenced at once. The defendants now stated,
22:49
Speaker 1: in mitigation of damages that they denied that the words
22:52
Speaker 1: bore the construction which the plaintiff had put upon them,
22:55
Speaker 1: withdrew all imputations, and admitted that any such were unfounded,
23:00
Speaker 1: and apologized for the matter. Complained of. But the apology
23:04
Speaker 1: and the withdrawal appeared upon the pleadings only. From that
23:08
Speaker 1: day to this with one hundred and fifty eight thousand
23:11
Speaker 1: of their papers going out every week, there had not
23:14
Speaker 1: been one single word in the paper apologizing for their action.
23:18
Speaker 1: It was open to them, with a view to mitigation
23:20
Speaker 1: of damages, to have taken this course. But they had
23:23
Speaker 1: done nothing but put their apology upon the record and
23:26
Speaker 1: paid into court the majestic sum of forty shillings, as
23:30
Speaker 1: in their opinion, sufficient to atone for the wrong. Mister
23:34
Speaker 1: Berry was then put into the box and supported mister
23:36
Speaker 1: Waddy's statements. Mister Waddy then spoke upon the whole case
23:41
Speaker 1: for the defendants. Mister Dodds said that the owners of
23:44
Speaker 1: the newspaper which he represented, were as anxious as anybody
23:47
Speaker 1: could be that reasonable justice should be done. Of course,
23:51
Speaker 1: Berry did not suggest that there was any actual money
23:53
Speaker 1: out of pocket loss. Then another feature of such a
23:57
Speaker 1: case was the question of whether the paper was one
23:59
Speaker 1: of that which feeds on personal attacks. He submitted that
24:03
Speaker 1: the general character of the paper, a point to which
24:06
Speaker 1: jewelries were apt to pay some attention, was good. The
24:09
Speaker 1: articles in question were copied from an American paper, and
24:13
Speaker 1: the proprietors of answers were in the position of having
24:16
Speaker 1: been misled, just as the proprietors of the New York
24:20
Speaker 1: Sun had been misled by the large imagination of mister
24:23
Speaker 1: white berrys seemed to be very quick in his methods,
24:26
Speaker 1: for his writ was served within a very few days
24:29
Speaker 1: of the appearance of the article, and without any opportunity
24:32
Speaker 1: being given to his clients to try and make some
24:35
Speaker 1: kind of apology to suit him. His clients had endeavored
24:38
Speaker 1: to meet the case in a perfectly reasonable way. They
24:42
Speaker 1: did not for a moment express any doubt that they
24:44
Speaker 1: were dealing with an honest and decent and an experienced man.
24:48
Speaker 1: They withdrew all supposed imputations, and had had no intention
24:51
Speaker 1: of making any. And he contended that the highest testimonial
24:55
Speaker 1: possible was one from a person who had said something
24:58
Speaker 1: derogatory to him. Berry had suffered no monetary damage whatever
25:02
Speaker 1: beyond the actual costs of the action. He suggested, therefore,
25:06
Speaker 1: that the jury should give such a verdict as would
25:09
Speaker 1: show that the plaintiff was quite right in bringing the
25:11
Speaker 1: matter into court, but that they were of opinion that
25:15
Speaker 1: the defendants had done everything that they could to mitigate
25:18
Speaker 1: the mischief and annoyance occasioned by the publication of the libel.
25:22
Speaker 1: His lordship then summed up, and the jury found for
25:25
Speaker 1: the plaintiff with one hundred pounds damages. End of Chapter
25:29
Speaker 1: thirteen recording by Ashley Jane. End of My Experiences as
25:34
Speaker 1: an Executioner by James Berry.