EXECUTION, MURDER, OR TORTURE?

Patea Mail, 13 October 1882, Page 2

EXECUTION , MURDER, OR TORTURE ?

We blush to think that such a scene as that recorded by a South African paper could happen in any part of the British Dominions. The Diamond News sa} T s : Ibrahin Shaib, a coolie, who was sentenced to death at the last Circuit Court at Verulam for the murder of his wife, suffered the extreme penalty of the law in the Central Gaol, Durban. At six o’clock the bell tolled, and shortly afterwards the convict, who had been previously pinioned, was led forth from his cell and delivered to the executioner. The gallows was substantially built and fixed by carpenters in the employ of Mr Nichol ; there being no alteration in the mode of construction on this occasion, and the whole structure may be said to have been thoroughly strong and secure The distance from the top cross-beam, from which the hanging apparatus was suspended, was about 20 feet. The condemned man was of spare build, about five feet one inch in height, and about eight , stone in weight. The condemned cell is close by the gallows, which abutted from the wall. The Sheriff had brought with him from Maritzburg a reim of camel-leopard skin or hide of the length of about seven feet. The hangman placed Shaib on the trap door, and adjusted the noose round the neck of the wretched criminal. Having affixed a black cap, which covered the man’s head and face, lie descended and withdrew the bolt. The culprit disappeared below, the reim gave a jerk and instantly snapped asunder, and the convict fell on the flagstones below with a dull thud. He was immediately picked up, brought into the building again, and assisted upstairs to the level of the scaffold, He lay down in his pinioned, helpless condition while the hanging apparatus was being readjusted. He asked for some weter, with which he was supplied. He was also given some brandy, in -which, we belieVe, there'was a, little laudanum. He was then a second , time led to the trap door. The reim had been fastened to the cross beam, and tied in a knot at the place where it was broken. The noose was once more placed round the neck of the miserable coolie, who, as has been said, was again placed on the trap door. In a few moments the bolt was a second time withdrawn, and the culprit disappeared from the view of ,the spectators overhead. It is horrible to have to state it, but exactly the .same deplorable accident again occurred. The reim snapped once more, and the poor wretch again fell to the ground, this time dislocating his hip bone. Blood was seen to flow from his nose also. His sufferings now made him shriek as loudly as his fastfailing strength would allow. The miserable man, who could no longer stand, was allowed to rest upon the ground. The Sheriff now discarded the reim, with the remark that it would have to be sent to the proper authorities for them to judge as to its fitness for hanging any person. A common hemp rope about six feet long was then brought into requisition. It was doubled to give security against a third breakage ; but it left little or no “drop” for the criminal. The convict was lifted in a semi-senseless, condition and placed in a sitting posture on the trap-door of the scaffold. A noose in the end of the rope was placed round his neck, and the bolt was withdrawn for the third time, the trap-door flew open with a noisy sound, and the victim was left suspended. The drop, however, was very short the third time, and the hangman was observed to occupy himself in tightening the rope at the, back of the neck. The body was left banging an hour, when it was cut down, and life pronounced extinct by the doctor. Mr Finnemore held an inquest on the body. It was stated that the neck was not broken, nor were there an}' bones fractured ; the deceased died from strangulation or suffocation. A verdict to that effect was returned. Mr Finnemore has,: we believe, reported the whole affair to the proper authorities.