NOTABLE HANGMEN.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume I, Issue 52, 11 February 1911, Page 3 (Supplement)

NOTABLE HANGMEN.

HOW THEY ARE PAID AND WHAT THEY HAVE DONE. In spite of his gruesome calling, John Ellis, th 5 man who hanged Crippen, has earned tho esteem of a very wide circle of acr|imintances in Rochdale, where he carries on very successfull” a hairdressing and newsagent’s business. Ellis is a quiet, unassuming man, who rarely Itetrays hi« interest in crime. He would much, rather talk to you about football, of which game he is nn enthusiastic follower, or discuss mental entertainments. In his early days he earned his living by singing, while on a tour through Lancashire, and still posse c ses a good baritone voice. And privileged visitors are allowed to make the acquaintance of his dogs, cats, and chickens, the pets of his four children.

Ellis has assisted in over sixty executions and has personally carried out teven, amongst others who met death a.- his hands being -Dougal. the Moat Farm murderer. It was through acting as assistant to Billington that Ellis !>ecame chief executioner, and it is an extraordinary fact that when the post becomes vacant tho ome Office is inundated with applications for the appointment.

Indeed, when Marwood. who succeeded C-lcrpft in 1883, retired, no fewer than 12,C00 }>ersons sought the post, Berry Jicing appointed. HANGMAN’S EARNINGS. Calcraft, who retired in 1874, was paid 1 guinea a week by the Corporation of London ns a retaining fee, and 'm extra 1 guinea for each execution. He had besides, from the county of Surrey. 5 guineas annual retaining fee, 1 guinea for each execution, and 10 guineas for ar. execution in the country Nowadays about £lO is paid to the. h.nrgman for every execution he carries ■'nt. Berry who succeeded Marwood, wav engaged in over 200 executions :n nine vers, and carried 134 sentences n.b> effect. According to his own statement. he carried over £lOO in the first four months of 1890. At one time, it might bo mentioned, the hangman received as perquisites the convict's clothes, which he usually sold for a good price to showmen. These, however, are now burnt.

It was quite bv a/cirb-nt that Marwood became Calcrnft’s .successor. The Story goes that ho mot Calcraft' one noriiing as th*" latter was going to an execution, and. seeing that the old man was ill. undertook to do that par-tu-ular job for him. The offer was accepted. and so Harwood first obt-rfned an .r.trodnclion to his future calling. When Calcraft rotirod Marwood was retailed bv th" London sheriffs at a fof U2O a year, mid on the strength of this engagement ho contracted with provincial sfier'ffs to carry out any executions for which they might, be responsible. Calcraft has bean described sa a mi d-n annered man. devoted to fishing, while Marwond was not without repute as a local preacher.

A JOKE ON THE EXECUTIONER. By the way. Major Griffiths has told a strange story apropos of the rule laid down by the ome Office that- the executioner must sleep in tho prison on the n.-ght preceding the execution. Simie nags in Scotland seized Calcraft the night liefore nn execution and kept hint locked up. Meanwhile the sheriff was in despair, expecting that he would have to do the job himself. At the last moment, however. Calcraft turned up. The most notable hangman of the earlier holders of the office wore Derrick. wh r gave his name to the special kind of crane known as a derrick, and Jack Ketch, who , executed among others Wiliiam I,ord Russell and the Duke of Monmouth, and who bequeathed his name as a nickname to his successors for nearly a couple of centuries. The'i there was Dennis, who was almost hanged himself for taking part in the ‘Ao, Poppery” riots, and Thomas Cheslpre. known as “Old Cheese.” , Perhaps the most extraordinary exeticner of all, however, was the ecelbiated “Lady Betty”—what her real name was no one seems to know—who a- the beginning of last century officiated as bangn-oman for a number of f ears in Ireland.