Bartholomew Binns from Dewsbury in Yorkshire (c1839 - 1911). Hangman Period in office – 1883-1884. When William Marwood died an amazing 1400 applications were received to replace him. Two men were seriously considered for the post, Bartholomew Binns and James Berry. Binns had assisted at a small number of executions whereas Berry had not, and thus Binns was appointed at Newgate. His first solo execution was that of Henry Powell on the 6th of November 1883 at Wandsworth Prison. On the 17th of December 1883 Binns officiated at Newgate for the hanging of Patrick ODonnell, an Irish Republican, who murdered the chief witness in the Phoenix Park murder case (see Marwood above). He carried out the double hanging of Catherine Flannagan and Margaret Higgins at Kirkdale Gaol on the 5th of March 1884, assisted by Samuel Heath. The execution of Henry Dutton at Kirkdale on the 3rd of December 1883 was botched by Binns. The twenty two year old was to die for the murder of Hannah Henshaw, his wife’s grandmother at their home in Athol Street Liverpool. Dutton weighed just 128 lbs and was given a drop of 7’ 6” using an over thick rope with the eyelet positioned at the back of his neck. Death resulted from strangulation. Dr. James Barr, the prison doctor, was dissatisfied with the way Binns had conducted the hanging and again their was a strong suspicion that he had been drinking beforehand. His last job was the hanging of 18 year old Michael McLean at the same prison, on the 10th of March 1884. He was seen to be in a drunken state and the execution was not entirely satisfactory – it took 13 minutes for McLean‘s heart to stop. After the formal complaint about this and his drunken behaviour, he was removed from the Home Office list of hangmen. However, he later assisted Tommy Scott on several occasions in 1900/01. Binns was perhaps one of the least successful British hangman, only holding the job as principal for a year, during which he carried out ten executions.
Posted on: Sat, 19 Jul 2014 19:44:10 +0000
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