The Chronicles of Newgate, vol. 2/2Griffiths, Arthur
History
The Chronicles of Newgate, vol. 2/2
Griffiths, Arthur
Criminals -- Great Britain; Newgate (Prison : London, England); Prisons -- England; Punishment -- Great Britain
Hanging in chains upon the gibbet which had served for the execution, or
on another specially erected on some commanding spot, had fallen into
disuse by 1832. But there was an attempt to revive it at that date, when
the act for dispensing with the dissection of criminals was passed. A
clause was inserted to the effect that "the bodies of all prisoners
convicted of murder should either be hung in chains, or buried under the
gallows on which they had been executed, ... according to the discretion
of the court before whom the prisoners might be tried." The revival of
this barbarous practice caused much indignation in certain quarters, but
it was actually tried in two provincial towns, Leicester and Durham. At
the first-named the exhibition nearly created a tumult, and the body was
taken down and buried, but not before the greatest scandal had been
caused by the unseemly proceedings of the crowd that flocked to see the
sight. A sort of fair was held, gaming-tables were set up, cards were
played under the gibbet, to the disturbance of the public peace and the
annoyance of all decent people.[103] At Jarrow Stake, where the Durham
murderer's body was exposed, there were similar scenes, mingled with
compassion for the culprit's family, and a subscription was set on foot
for them then and there at the foot of the gibbet. Later on, after dark,
some friends of the deceased stole the body and buried it in the sand,
and this was the end of hanging in chains. After this a law was passed
which prescribed that the bodies of all executed murderers should be
buried within the walls of the gaol.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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