GHEA GRIM ADVENT DEC 11TH Divine justice? Joseph Samuel was an Englishman legendary for the manner in which he survived execution. Convicted for robbery in 1795 he was sentenced in 1801 to transportation to Australia, Britain then maintained a penal settlement at Sydney Cove in the Colony of New South Wales. Security in the early penal settlements was reinforced by the isolation of the colony guards trusted the Australian wilderness to kill any convicts who attempted to escape. Samuel succeeded in escaping and, with a gang, robbed the home of a wealthy woman, and in the process, a policeman named Joseph Luker who was guarding her home, was murdered. The gang was hunted down and quickly captured, and during the trial, the woman recognised Joseph Samuel as one of the culprits. He confessed to robbing her home, but denied having murdered the policeman. The other members of the gang, including the leader, were acquitted due to lack of evidence, but because the woman identified Samuel, he was convicted and sentenced to hang by the neck until dead. On 26 September 1803, Samuel and another criminal, convicted of another crime and not a member of the same gang, were driven in a cart to Parramatta in Australia. where hundreds of people had gathered to watch the execution. Nooses were fastened securely around their necks from the gallows and after they were allowed to pray with a priest, the cart was driven away. This was the common method of hanging of the day, and caused death by slow strangulation. The ropes used were made of five cords of hemp, which enabled one to hold 1,000 lb (~450 kg), for up to five minutes without breaking, more than sufficient for human executions. The other criminal ultimately died by strangulation, but Samuels rope snapped and he dropped to his feet, sprained an ankle and collapsed. The executioner hastily readied another rope, also five-hemp, and placed it around Samuels neck, forced him onto the same cart, and drove the cart away again. The other criminal was still kicking weakly at this point. When the cart drove out from under him, Samuel fell again, and the noose slipped off his neck, whereupon his boots touched the ground. The executioner was sure to have fastened the noose securely around his neck, and as he stood Samuel up to try again, the crowd had become boisterous, calling for Samuel to be freed. The executioner very quickly readied another five-hemp rope, ordered the cart driven back, forced Samuel onto it, fastened the noose around his neck, secured it very carefully and tightly, and then ordered the cart driven away. The rope snapped, and Samuel dropped to the ground and stumbled over, trying to avoid landing on his sprained ankle. Now the crowd stood around in an uproar, and another policeman, watching on horseback, ordered the execution delayed momentarily, while he rode away to find the governor. The governor was summoned to the scene and upon inspection of the ropes, which showed no evidence of having been cut, and the other criminal, who was successfully executed with an identical rope, the governor and the entire crowd agreed that it was a sign from God that Joseph Samuel had not committed any crime deserving of execution and his sentence was commuted to life imprisonment instead. Parramattas town doctor tended to his sprained ankle. Not until the latter half of the 19th century did the British employ the drop method, which breaks the neck. Although one man even escaped this method ... John Babbacombe Lee After three attempts to hang John Lee at Exeter Prison in Devon, England, the hanging was called off. On February 23, 1885 at the coach house of Exeter Prison, Devon, England. Outside the prison, a large crowd has gathered to await the execution by hanging of convicted murderer John Lee, condemned for the brutal murder of his employer, Miss Emma Keyes, the previous year. When the execution has been successfully completed a bell will toll for 15 minutes and the dreaded black flag will be hoisted over the prison. At 7:55 a.m. the execution party, consisting of the prison warden, the chief guard, the prison doctor, the prison chaplain, several guards, the executioner and representatives of the press, assembled outside the condemned man’s cell. At precisely 8 a.m., Britain’s chief public executioner, James Berry, received a signal from the prison governor and entered the condemned cell. He swiftly strapped Lee’s arms by his sides and placed a white hood over his head. Accompanied by the rest of the execution party, Berry lead the pinioned and hooded convict on to the gallows, straped his legs together and tightened the noose around his neck. Berry stepped quickly off the trapdoors and approached the lever. He swiftly pushed the lever over as he had done so many times before And nothing happened. The doors dropped approximately a quarter inch, then jammed solid and drop no further. Berry, seemed slightly flustered by this, but because it has been known to happen before, he continued with his grim duty. He unstraped Lee’s legs, removed the noose and took off the hood. He led Lee into an adjoining room and quickly returned to examine and test the trapdoors. They were reset and the lever thrown. They were found to work perfectly. Berry brought Lee back on to the gallows. Again the hood and noose were applied and Berry threw the lever a second time. The doors jammed solid again. When berry again repeated the checks by the time the doors had puzzlingly failed a third time the execution was called off and john Lee had his charge reduced to life, clearly again it was gods will that john lee was not meant to die. He continued to protest his innocence. He gained a degree of fame and did rather well from his experience. This is because he had uttered these words The reason I am so calm is that I trust in the Lord and he knows I am innocent. John Lee to the judge at his trial
Posted on: Thu, 11 Dec 2014 08:04:41 +0000