| Show LEARNING TO BE A HANGMAN the following from the london post sounds strange in this day cf f advancement van vau cement it seems to us to bo be clearly out of harmony with the spirit of the age that ni men n should be schooling themselves in the art of jerlane mortals to glory at the end of 0 a rope yet it is true the alost ost says See several raf executions took place yesterday at prison on the scaffold which lias hai been tile scene of at the final exit of numerous notorious criminals the was alex aiex taylor the newly appointed common hangman and tho subjects hanged in set form were lay figures of cloth and sand it is of course essential that t the e official who lids lias to carry out the last dread sentence of the law should first thoroughly learn leam the technique of his gruesome profession to insure that when tile the time comes all the operations will happen decently and in order therefore each new hangman immediately after his appointment goes through a realistic course of training lu in pursuance of this policy taylor under the guidance of experienced prison officials who have assisted at many executions Is now serving lilis bis apprenticeship several sandbags sandbars sand bags shaped to represent men ot of dif different ferenC weights were yesterday supplied for taylors practice lie he was instructed that men of varying aiding builds should be alv given ea certain prescribed drops to effect instantaneous death then a sandbag made to the rough semblance and weight of a man was placed on the scaffold flap taylor was told the weight the noose was properly pio perly adjusted the requisite drop arranged for and the lever pulled this experiment was performed again and again with differently weighted bags the other part of tho the hang mans training the pinioning pinio ning of a condemn ed prisoner was even more realistic for the time being stalwart warders posed as condemned murderers taylor practicing on oil them was shown the quickest and most effective way of securing the hands and feet the expert experiments I 1 ments will be repeated dally daily until saturday when the new hangman will bo be regarded as efficient and ready to respond to the sherll sheriffs ts call to officiate at a real execution in appearance taylor Is a typical seaman brodd broad shouldered muscular of 0 medium height and endowed with much geniality |
