FASTIDIOUSNESS ON THE SCAFFOLD

Evening Post, Volume CXXII, Issue 70, 19 September 1936, Page 27

FASTIDIOUSNESS ON THE SCAFFOLD

... Sometimes, when the newspapers report an execution, our thoughts fly to the condemned man; for one brief moment we ; endeavour to .put ourselves in his shoes,. writes Walter G. Hartland, in the "Daily Express.',' What does he feel as he mounts the scaffold? What strange thoughts and emotions, during these final seconds, are born of his tortured soul? He is in excellent health. Yet in a twinkling the floor beneath him gives way, a sharp, fiendish constriction seizes his neck,' and the universe explodes into nothingness. Shame is his 'family's heritage. /'. Many criminals have displayed extraordinary fastidiousness even a few moments before their execution. A striking case was that of ,Dr. William Palmer; who, in the middle of last century, committed some of the most ghastly crimes in the records. He was entirely, unscrupulous. Marrying a wealthy woman in 1847, he gambled away all her money in six years. Then began; a series of mysterious deaths. First, an unwanted child of his died soon* after paying him a .visit. Then Palmer invited his mother-in-law to/come and stay with them. The old lady had money. So she was sum.marily dispatched, and her daughter came, into the fortune. But it soon vanished in 'Palmer's improvident hands.

He owed £BOO in betting debts to a sporting acquaintance named. Bladon. He invited his creditor to stay with him; and when his guest died Palmer arranged for the funeral with an appropriate display of grief. But the indecent haste with which Bladon was buried aroused suspicion, although the

death certificate, in. this . as in, the other cases, was signed by a Dr. Bamford, a kindly, unsuspicious old man. '

Bladon's life had been insured, and this gave Palmer an idea. He insured his wife for £13,000 and within six months she died. Three months 1 after receiving the money he was again reduced to penury. This time he insured his brother ' for the same amount of money. Within six months this brother died, but the insurance company was not satisfied and held up payment while inquiries were instituted.

In the meantime, Palmer, was arrested and put on trial for the murder of John Parsons Cook, a racing associate who had ;betted heavily on his own horse, Polestar, at Shrewsbury. The horse won, and Cook drew £7OO or £BOO on the course. ■

He and Palmer put up at the Raven Hotel, Shrewsbury, where a guest noticed the doctor examining some liquid in a tumbler that he was holding to the light. Shortly afterwards Cook diedo At his trial, Palmer was also charged with the murder of his wife and brother. Sentenced to death, he was executed at "8 o'clock on Saturday morning, June 14, 1856. The path from the condemned cell to the gallows was muddy, as rain had fallen the previous night. Palmer minced along like a dainty schoolgirl, picking out the dry patches and avoiding the puddles. ■He took his trousers between his fingers, lifting them slightly as he went, and pe,emed most anxious not to get wet or muddied!