It will not be without historical interest to state that the last execution for attempted murder was Martin Doyle, hanged at Chester, August 27th, 1861. By the Criminal Law Consolidation Act, passed 1861, death was confined to treason and wilful murder. The Act was passed before Doyle was put on trial, but (unfortunately for him) did not take effect until November 1st, 1861. Michael Barrett, author of the Fenian explosion at Clerkenwell, hanged at Newgate, May 26th, 1868, was the last person publicly executed in England. Thomas Wells (murderer of Mr. Walsh, station-master at Dover), hanged at Maidstone, August 13th, 1868, was the first person to be executed within a prison. FOOTNOTES: [1] "St. Botolph, Aldgate: the Story of a City Parish," 1898. [2] "The Nottingham Date Book," 1880. [3] Andrews's "Bygone Leicestershire," 1892. [4] Rogers's "Social Life in Scotland," 1884. [5] McDowall's "History of Dumfries." [6] Stevenson's "Bygone Nottinghamshire," 1893. [7] Markham's "History of Ancient Punishments in Northamptonshire," 1886. Hanging in Chains. The time is not so far distant when the gibbet and gallows were common objects in this country. In old road books, prepared for the guidance of travellers, they are frequently referred to as road marks. Several editions of Ogilby's "Itinirarium Angliae" were published between 1673 and 1717, and a few passages drawn from this work relating to various parts of England show how frequently these gruesome instruments of death occur:-- "By the Gallows and Three Windmills enter the suburbs of York." "Leaving the forementioned suburbs [Durham], a small ascent passing between the gallows and Crokehill." "You pass through Hare Street, etc., and at 13'4 part of Epping Forest, with a gallows to the left." "You pass Pen-meris Hall, and at 250'4 Hilldraught Mill, both on the left, and ascend a small hill with a gibbet on the right." "At the end of the city [Wells] you cross a brook, and pass by the gallows." "You leave Frampton, Wilberton, and Sherbeck, all on the right, and by a gibbet on the left, over a stone bridge." "Leaving Nottingham you ascend a hill, and pass by a gallows." Pictures found a prominent place in Ogilby's pages, and we reproduce one of Nottingham. [Illustration: NOTTINGHAM (_from Ogilby's "Book of Roads."_)] It will be noticed that the gallows is shown a short distance from the town. It is twenty-six miles from London to East Grinstead, and in that short distance were three of these hideous instruments of death on the highway, in addition to gibbets erected in lonely bylanes and secluded spots where crimes had been committed. "Hangman's Lanes" were by no means uncommon. He was a brave man who ventured alone at night on the highways and byways when the country was beset with highwaymen, and the gruesome gibbets were frequently in sight.