TYBURN TREE

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 148, 19 December 1929, Page 36

TYBURN TREE

THE LAST EXECUTION " On 7th November, 17.53, the last execution took place at the'•Tyburn Tree in London, near where the. Marble Arch now stands. A: growing feeling that hanging had become' too popular, and ostentatious a -proceeding led to the' decision to hang criminals in the comparative seclusion' of Newgate prison. From 1196 until 1783, a procession of conspirators, highwaymen, heretics, and lesser offenders had been carted/ along Holborn to the gallows at Tyburn; In later - years, says the- Melbourne '.'Argus," the gruesome ceremony had become a, popularJentertairiment accompanied by a gay. ritual of its'■ own. Aristocratic victims were carried from Newgate, not on- the "rude caH' which would be used at their execution, but in coaches. At'S't; Sepulchre's Ghurch they would stop "tor receive'a nosegay provided with money bequeathed for the purpose. If the condemned "man was a/gentleman the procession would stop at tho George 4nd ' Bluo:- Boar, where.he would receive a bumper of sherry and bow to the ladies iof "-"fashion who had paid handsomely ■' for their window seats at the'tavern; More humble malefactors, sitting ; on their coffins in the cart, would pass the George and Blue Boar,, and would receive a bowl of ale at tho Bowl Inu. Swift has described the ".progress to Tyburn of "clever Tom Clinch" who— . . . Stopt at tho George for a bottle of sack. And promised to pay for'it wßeii he came back; Like a beau in a bos lio bowed low on each. side. On great occasions galleries would bo erected at Tyburn to accommodate the spectators. While the bell at St. Sopulchre's tolled, the.noose would be fixed round the neck of the condemned man as he stood in the cart. Then, the cart would be drawn away. Among the distinguished persons who were executed at Tyburn were Perkin Warbeck (1499), Claude Duval <l«70), Jack Sheppard (1724), Jonathan Wild, who picked the chaplain's pocket of his corkscrew a moment before his execution, and was hanged with it in his hand; Earl Forrers, who.- sho.fr. his steward in a fit of rage; and the Bey. Dr. Dodd, who forged a bond for £4200.