THE EXECUTION OF TWO GIRLS BY HANGING IS TRUE MODERN TYPES OF THE DEATH PENALTY

The execution of two girls by hanging is true. Modern types of the death penalty

The executioner stood on the victim's bound hands, and on this makeshift stirrup he jumped with all his might. This method of execution was called "brittle withers".

Other executioners, such as those in Lyon and Marseille, preferred to place the slipknot over the back of the head. There was a second deaf knot on the rope, which did not allow her to slip under the chin.

With this method of hanging, the executioner stood not on his hands, but on the head of the convict, pushing it forward so that the deaf knot fell on the larynx or trachea, which often led to their rupture.

Today, in accordance with the "English method", the rope is placed under the left side of the lower jaw. The advantage of this method is the high probability of spinal fracture.

In the US, the loop knot is placed behind the right ear. This method of hanging leads to a strong stretching of the neck, and sometimes to tearing off the head.

Execution in Cairo in 1907.

Engraving by Clement Auguste Andrieu. 19th century Private count

Recall that hanging by the neck was not the only widespread method. Previously, hanging by the limbs was used quite often, but, as a rule, as an additional torture.

By the hands they hung over the fire, by the legs - giving the victim to be eaten by dogs, such an execution lasted for hours and was terrible.

Hanging by the armpits was fatal in itself and guaranteed prolonged agony. The pressure of the belt or rope was so strong that it stopped the blood circulation and led to paralysis of the pectoral muscles and suffocation.

Many convicts, suspended in this way for two or three hours, were removed from the gallows already dead, and if they were alive, then after this terrible torture they did not live long.

 Adult defendants were sentenced to such a "slow hanging", forcing them to confess to a crime or complicity.

Children and teenagers were often hanged for capital crimes as well. For example, in 1722, the younger brother of the robber Kartush, who was not even fifteen years old, was executed in this way.

Some countries have sought to extend the execution procedure. So, in the 19th century in Turkey, the hands of the hanged were not tied so that they could grab the rope above their heads and hold on until their strength left them and after a long agony death came.

According to European custom, the bodies of the hanged were not removed until they began to decompose.

Hence the gallows, nicknamed "gangster", which should not be confused with ordinary gallows. On them hung not only the bodies of the hanged, but also the corpses of convicts who were killed in other ways.

"Gangster gallows" personified royal justice and served as a reminder of the prerogatives of the nobility, and at the same time were used to intimidate criminals. For greater edification, they were placed along crowded roads, mainly on a hillock.

Their design varied depending on the title of the lord who held court: a nobleman without a title - two beams, the owner of the castle - three, the baron - four, the count - six, the duke - eight, the king - as much as he considered necessary.

The royal "bandit gallows" of Paris, introduced by Philip the Handsome, were the most famous in France: they usually "flaunted" fifty to sixty hanged.

They towered in the north of the capital approximately where Buttes-Chaumont is now located - at that time this place was called the "Hills of Montfaucon". Soon the gallows itself began to be called that.