EXECUTIONS IN IRELAND.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume XI, Issue 1298, 17 March 1883, Page 4

EXECUTIONS IN IRELAND.

Sons oa ttie SsaffoM.. I When Winiata was executed in Auckland ‘ 1 about six months ago the Auckland “ Herald i J indulged in some rather severe criticism of 1 1 the manner in which the amateur hangman I employed on the occasion performed his disagreeable duties, In the course M its ye- I mark the “ Herald ” held up for admiration 1 the professional and polished style in; which ] Marwood “ executed ’ his duties, arid generally it posed as' a connoisseur of I tanging • methods. But it would seem that ex’cn the able and efficient Marwood is not unms veuiate as a •• hangist,” as is evident from an aiicount just to hand of the execution of P . stuck Joyce, Patrick Casey, and Mlles JoyeV, for the Maantrasna murder at Galway, Ireland. It appears that the three men Were hung on one soaSeld. Pat Joyce, the tallest of the three men, was placed in the centre, whilst Miles Joyce was on the side nearest I o the entrance. Their faces were tu’hed towards the wall, and after Marwood had’put c n the tong straps, he at onee proceeded to draw over the faces the white crapes. He next proceeded to adjust the fatal nocse, ano as he tightened the rope around Miks Joyces neck he momentarily interrupted the protestations of the dying man; but Joyce at onoe renewed his declaration of innocence. Immediately afterwards Marwood pulled the lever, and the three bodies were dangling m the air. It was soon observable, however, that there was something wrOdg s with the rope from which Miles Joyce was suspended. ’ It was not so straight as the others, and it < swung to and |fro. The moment Marwood looked into the enclosed pit into which the three men had dropped, he sat down upon the scaffold, and with one foot and one arm tugged several times, evidently adjusting something that had gone wrong. Subsequently it transpired that when Miles J tyws fell the rope had become entangled under his left arm. While the hitch was being seft right the hangman was heard to mutter between his teeth “ Bother the fellow !” Thad expression caused a cold shudder to pass over many of the spectators of the sickening sight. , All that was alleged against the Auckland 1 hangman, and which made our contemporary J go into humanitarian fits, was that he hung !- on the legs of the hanging criminal to expe- I dite the work of suffocation ; but such was I a mild procedure compared with the reaching down of a foot and an arm, “ tugging ” and kicking at the suspended wretch in order to undo the tanglement resulting from a prior bungle in the work of pinioning. The exclamation, “ Bother the fellow !” leaves room for the horrible suggestion that, Joyce’s arm I being free, he had clutched desperately at I Mar wood’s leg or arm, and that the latter had to make a strong “ tug ” to effect his liberation.