A Handbook on Hanging

236 Pages·1999·20.205 MB·English

by  Charles Duff

HANDBOOK
A
ON HANGING
CHARLES DUFF
INTRODUCTION BY
CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS

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REGIONAL LIBRARY
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HANDBOOK
A
HANGING
ON
CHARLES DUFF (1894-1966), who also went by his Gaelic
name Cathal 6 Dubh, was born in Enniskillen, County
Fermanagh, in what is now Northern Ireland. He served in the
British Merchant Navy, fought in World War and subse-
I,
quently entered the British Foreign Service. Duff was a gifted
linguist, fluent in seven languages, and in his later years he
worked as a freelance writer and translator. His own writing
included plays, travel essays, and an introduction to James
Joyce,- among his many translations were works by Quevedo,
Zola, B. Traven, Gorky, and Arnold Zweig.
CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS is a journalist living in Washing-
ton, D.C. He is a columnist for Vanity Fair and The Nation.
His many books include No One Left to Lie To: The Triangulations
of William Jefferson Clinton and The Missionary Position:
Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice.
Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2016 with funding from
Kahle/Austin Foundation
https://archive.org/details/handbookonhanginOOduff
HANDBOOK ON HANGING
A
Being a short Introduction to the fine Art of Execution, containing
much useful Information on Neck-breaking, Throttling, Strangling,
Asphyxiation, Decapitation, and Electrocution; Data and Wrinkles on
Hangmanship; with the late Mr. Hangman Berry's Method and his
pioneering List of Drops; to which is added an Account of the Great
Nuremberg Hangings; a Ready Reckoner for Hangmen; and many
other items of interest including the Anatomy of Murder by
CHARLES DUFF
of Gray's Inn, Barrister-at-Law
FINALLY DEFINITIVE EDITION DILIGENTLY COMPARED AND REVISED IN
ACCORDANCE WITH THE MOST RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN THE ART
AND WITH A NEW INTRODUCTION BY
CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS
All very Proper
to be read and kept
in every Family
NEW YORK REVIEW BOOKS
New York
THIS IS A NEW YORK REVIEW BOOK
PUBLISHED BY THE NEW YORK REVIEW OF BOOKS
Introduction Copyright © 2001 by Christopher Hitchens
All rights reserved.
First published in 1928 and revised and enlarged in 1934, 1938, 1948,
1954, 1955, and 1961.
This edition published in the United States of America by
The New York Review of Books, 1755 Broadway, New York, NY 10019
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Duff, Charles, 1894-
A handbook on hanging being a short introduction to the fine art of
:
execution, containing much useful information on neck-breaking,
throttling, strangling, asphyxiation, decapitation and electrocution,
data and wrinkles on hangmanship with the late Mr. Hangman Berry's
:
method and his pioneering list of drops, to which is added an account of
the great Nuremberg hangings, a ready reckoner for hangmen, and many
other items of interest including the anatomy of murder / by Charles
Duff introduction by Christopher Hitchens,
;
cm.
p.
Originally published: London Putnam, 1961.
:
ISBN 0-940322-67-6 |acid-free paper)
1. Hanging. 2. Capital punishment. I. Title.
HV8694 ,D8 2001
364.66—dc21
00-011088
ISBN 0-940322-67-6
Book design by Lizzie Scott
P1ri0nte9d i8n t7he6Un5it4ed3Sta2tes of America on acid-free paper.
1
January 2001
www.nybooks.com

. . .
DEDICATED RESPECTFULLY
to
THE HANGMEN OF ENGLAND
and to similar
CONSTITUTIONAL BULWARKS
everywhere
"Executions are so much a part of British history that it is al-
most impossible for many excellent people to think of the fu-
ture without them."
—VISCOUNT TEMPLEWOOD,
In the Shadow of the Gallows (1951)
"Dislocation of the Neck is the ideal to be aimed at."
"A hangman is an officer of the law charged with duties of the
highest dignity and utmost gravity.
—
AMBROSE BIERCE
"By practice the art (of hanging] is much improved and there
is no part of the world where villains are hanged in so neat a
manner
.
—
Gentleman’s Magazine
“The awesome shudder is man’s finest attribute:
Even though by it the world makes consciousness cost more
.
—GOETHE,
Faust II