Scamps and Scoundrels by Bob Kroll

Author:Bob Kroll
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Nimbus
Published: 2013-08-20T16:00:00+00:00

The Curing Qualities of a Hanged Man

In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in the Maritimes, the law was indeed the scourge of the wicked. Many went to the gallows for crimes we would consider insignificant, and they—along with convicted cutthroats and thieves—provided Maritimers with a source of entertainment. Hanging day drew large crowds. Not all came to witness the spectacle of an execution. Some stood at the foot of the gallows hoping to get a good look at the hanged man—or better yet, to touch the corpse.

In Great Britain, it was once believed that seeing or touching the corpse of a hanged man was good luck. That belief travelled across the ocean with the early settlers. Some even believed that the corpse possessed the power to cure most diseases.

In 1815, in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Sancho Byers—a black servant and quite possibly a slave—robbed Matilda Bracken of an undisclosed amount of money. A few days later, his brother Peter stole five pounds from James Gibson. Both men were convicted and sentenced to hang.

On hanging day, a large crowd gathered at Gallows Hill. A woman with a tumour on her neck was led through the crowd to the foot of the gallows, so she could be the first to touch the Byers brothers after they were hanged.

Gallows Hill in Charlottetown was located at the highest part of Euston Street, adjacent to Holland Grove. It was customary to bury the bodies of hanged men under the gallows. In 1844, to accommodate a growing city, Gallows Hill had to be levelled off, or as the locals said, “The hill’s to be cut down.”

Men and women swarmed over Gallows Hill on the day of the excavation, each seeking a souvenir or lucky bone from a hanged man. One boy came home with two bones. His mother was sickly, he said, and he was taking no chances with the cure.

During those early years, Maritimers also believed good luck could be had from watching a man hang. In 1829, Halifax, Nova Scotia, introduced the drop system of execution. This new style of gallows was the trap door type, which allowed the condemned person to drop to a quick death, out of sight of the hundreds of onlookers at the foot of the gallows. It did not go over well with those spectators who hoped to get lucky by seeing a hanged man.

Francis Marvis, a murderer, had the dubious distinction of being the first to try the new system out. He almost seemed pleased to do so. He swaggered to the gallows, and boasted to the crowd that this newfangled hanging machine was nothing without him. Marvis instructed the executioner about adjusting the noose, and even begged to remain unmasked so he could see just how the machine worked.

There was nothing to it. The executioner pounded out the wedge on the trap door, and Marvis dropped out of sight, groaned once, and died.

Spectators disapproved. They booed and hissed, spat on the sheriff, and threw mud and horse dung at the executioner.

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