THE BUNGLED EXECUTION.

Marlborough Express, Volume XXIX, Issue 182, 25 July 1893, Page 4

THE BUNGLED EXECUTION.

ABOHsa was hanged m the Darlinghurst gaol on July 11, for the murder of Emma Harrison- Directly the bolt was drawn it was noticed that the knot had slipped, and that Archer was hanging with it nearly under bis ear. For nearly a minute he groaned as if trying to speak, and then, at intervals during the next ten minutes, sounds of choking came from the suspended body, while a spasmodic motion of the cheat was observed, similar to the breathing of a man man apoplectic fit. This bungling is said to have been due to the haste with which the hangman slipped on the noose, owing to Archer's collapse directly he had bidden farewell to; hia Bpiiitual adviser. Neither the windpipe nor the neck had been broken, but a slow and gradual suffocation had been caused by the pressure of the rope at the junction of the windpipe and the tongue. Up to the last few days Archer had been confident of a ooramutatioa of the sentence, and to the last he made no admission of his guilt. At his own request Aroher'a solicitor was present, and walked with his hand m hia to the scaffold. Then, as he stood over the drop, he, m a clear and dißtinct voice, with only a faint tremor, declared his innocence, and said that he could go before his Maker with a clear conscience. The doomed man expressed his sorrow at having to part with his wife and chrildren. A large number of people assembled outside the gaol, some of them even climbing to the roofs of the adjoining four-story houses to get a view.