Chronicles of Newgate, Vol. 2: From the eighteenth century to its demolitionGriffiths, Arthur
History
Chronicles of Newgate, Vol. 2: From the eighteenth century to its demolition
Griffiths, Arthur
Criminals -- Great Britain; Newgate (Prison : London, England); Prisons -- England; Punishment -- Great Britain
The sentences inflicted in front of Newgate were not limited to
hanging. In the few years which elapsed between the establishment of
the gallows at Newgate and the abolition of the practice of burning
females for petty treason, more than one woman suffered this penalty
at the Old Bailey. One case is preserved by Catnach, that of Phœbe
Harris, who in 1788 was "barbariously" executed and afterward burned
before Newgate for coining. She is described as a well-made little
woman, something more than thirty years of age, of a pale complexion
and not disagreeable features. "When she came out of prison she
appeared languid and terrified, and trembled greatly as she advanced
to the stake, where the apparatus for the punishment she was about to
experience seemed to strike her mind with horror and consternation,
to the exclusion of all power of recollectedness in preparation for
the approaching awful moment." She walked from the debtors' door to
a stake fixed in the ground about halfway between the scaffold and
Newgate Street. She was immediately tied by the neck to an iron bolt
fixed near the top of the stake, and after praying fervently for a few
minutes, the steps on which she stood were drawn away, and she was left
suspended. A chain fastened by nails to the stake was then put round
her body by the executioner with his assistants. Two cart-loads of
faggots were piled about her, and after she had hung for half-an-hour
the fire was kindled. The flames presently burned the halter, the body
fell a few inches, and hung then by the iron chain. The fire had not
quite burned out at twelve, in nearly four hours, that is to say. A
great concourse of people attended on this melancholy occasion.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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