HANGMAN TO PREACHER.
The death is announced at BradI ford (England) of James Berry, who I was hangman of England from the death'of Marwood in 1883 until 1892. After acting as a "boot salesman and a policeman, Berry carefully qualified, for the new post, and wrote to the Edinburgh magistrates: "I have seen Mr Calcraft execute three convicts at Manchester, thirteen years ago, and should you think fit to give me the appointment I would endeavour to merit,..your approval.!' He executed over two hundred people, and made three vain attempts to hang, John Lee, who was condemned to dcathln 1884 for the murder of a woman ate Babbacome, near Torquay. Lee's sentence was then commuted to penal servitude for life, and he was afterwards released. Berry's appearance in no way suggested the executioner,, and he was spoken of as a kind-heart- ' ed man. He turned evangelist after his retirement, which he said was due to the discovery that two persons hey had executed had been innocent. He ■acted as a lay preacher in his native town and started a'poultry farm. j
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Wairarapa Age, Volume XXV, Issue 10713, 6 December 1913, Page 6
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181HANGMAN TO PREACHER. Wairarapa Age, Volume XXV, Issue 10713, 6 December 1913, Page 6
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