329
GAOLS Continuation
"The whole of the preparations connected with the execution, we are told, were of a satisfactory character, and it took place punctually and without any mishap. The gallows was guarded by about 150 police under the command of Captain Quin and the spectators, numbering 2,000, witnessed the spectacle without any manifestation of feeling.
1866:
"The following is a notice published on 23rd August,
"The prisoners at the Stonecutters Island will shortly be lodged in Victoria Gaol. The Island Gaol will then be disposed of."
"In September, 1866, intimation was given that another improvement was to be introduced concerning the management of the chain gang convicts. For the future, they were to break their stones in public roads instead of in the Gaol compound. Each convict wore a badge upon which was inscribed his name and address as well as the nature of the crime for which he was convicted."
These notes from "Dramaticus" might be amplified on the subject of executions, which were carried out in public in the Colony until as late as 1895. In that year the first private execution took place, within the precincts of Victoria Gaol, the only persons present, besides the Superintendent of the Gaol, being the Captain Superintendent of Police (who afterwards became the Governor, Sir Henry May), and representatives of the Press. The case was one in which two Chinese were hanged for the murder of a Sikh police constable.
In looking up the old records we find that regular executioners were not necessarily employed, and occasionally the services of an "outsider" were obtained temporarily. An American once acted in this capacity, in the year 1849, when six pirates who had been captured by H.M.S. Inflexible were found guilty of murder on the high seas and sentenced to death. The duty of executioner was entrusted to an American whose brother had been killed by pirates some years previously.
In 1852, six Portuguese seamen who had committed piracy and murder on the British barque Herald, and were brought to justice and convicted, were sentenced to death, and were hanged there, the executioner being actually selected from among the prisoners at the gaol. The man chosen was a coloured American, whose further term of imprisonment was remitted in return for his services.
329
GAOLS Continuation
"The whole of the preparations connected with the
execution, we are told, were of a satisfactory character, and it took place punctually and without any mishap. The gallows was guarded by about 150 police under the command of Captain Quin and the spectators, numbering 2,000, witnessed the spectacle without any manifestation of feeling.
1866:
"The following is a notice published on 23rd August,
"The prisoners at the Stonecutters Island will shortly
be lodged in Victoria Gaol. The Island Gaol will then be disposed of."
"In September, 1866, intimation was given that another improvement was to be introduced concerning the management of the chain gang convicts. For the future, they were to break their stones in public roads instead of in the Gaol compound. Each convict wore a badge upon which was inscribed his name and address as well as the nature of the crime for which he was convicted."
These notes from "Dramaticus" might be amplified on the subject of executions, which were carried out in public in the Colony until as late as 1895. In that year the first private execution took place, within the precincts of Victoria Gaol. the only persons present, besides the Superintendent of the Gaol, being the Captain Superintendent of Police (who afterwards became the Governor, Sir Henry May), and representat- ives of the Press. The case was one in which two Chinese were hanged for the murder of a Sikh police constable.
*
In looking up the old records we find that regular executioners were not necessarily employed, and occasionally the services of an "outsider" were obtained temporarily. An American once acted in this capacity, in the year 1849, when six pirates who had been captured by H.M.S. Inflexible were found guilty of murder on the high seas and sentenced to death. The duty of executioner was entrusted to an American whose brother had been killed by pirates some years previously.
In 1852, six Portuguese seamen who had committed piracy and murder on the British barque Herald, and were brought to justice and convicted, were sentenced to death, and were hanged there, the executioner being actually selected from among the prisoners at the gaol. The man chosen was a coloured American, whose further term of imprisonment was remitted in return for his services.
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