Dates with death: hangman's diary for sale
Henry Pierrepoint measured out death in feet and inches. He started a dynasty of hangmen who together executed more than 800 people. His diaries, which came to light yesterday, reveal the undemonstrative efficiency that made his son, Albert, the most prolific of all British executioners.
Pierrepoint senior’s executions, 105 in all, are recorded in an unemotional log by name, age, height and drop. His only remarks describe prisoners’ necks in chillingly stark terms – “long”, “weak”, “thin” or “ordinary”.
His more famous cases, such as the “Finchley Baby Farmers”, appear in more detail. Amelia Sach and Annie Walters were paid by women who had given birth illegitimately to have the children adopted – but instead killed them by poisoning. Pierrepoint hanged the pair after baby clothes were found in Sach’s house.
He did not record his feelings about such cases but the procession of death gradually seems to have taken its toll. The handwriting in the diary becomes increasingly erratic and smudged, as Pierrepoint took to drinking heavily.
“This is a fascinating insight into British criminal history,” Simon Nuttall, of Marshall’s auctioneers, said. “While Henry’s logs are very meticulous to start off with, they seem to get increasingly untidy towards the end, perhaps illustrating how his career was heading.”
The diary is in private hands and will be sold at auction in Cheshire next week, along with a “well-used” tape measure with which Pierrepoint measured out the drops.
Read entire article at Times (UK)
Pierrepoint senior’s executions, 105 in all, are recorded in an unemotional log by name, age, height and drop. His only remarks describe prisoners’ necks in chillingly stark terms – “long”, “weak”, “thin” or “ordinary”.
His more famous cases, such as the “Finchley Baby Farmers”, appear in more detail. Amelia Sach and Annie Walters were paid by women who had given birth illegitimately to have the children adopted – but instead killed them by poisoning. Pierrepoint hanged the pair after baby clothes were found in Sach’s house.
He did not record his feelings about such cases but the procession of death gradually seems to have taken its toll. The handwriting in the diary becomes increasingly erratic and smudged, as Pierrepoint took to drinking heavily.
“This is a fascinating insight into British criminal history,” Simon Nuttall, of Marshall’s auctioneers, said. “While Henry’s logs are very meticulous to start off with, they seem to get increasingly untidy towards the end, perhaps illustrating how his career was heading.”
The diary is in private hands and will be sold at auction in Cheshire next week, along with a “well-used” tape measure with which Pierrepoint measured out the drops.