Can't be executed - pardoned by the High Court
Let's turn to the creepy stories of the hanged survivors. Indeed, some of the hanged are incredibly lucky - with all the diligence of the executioner, they never manage to be hanged!
“Someone stole a small desk containing a bag of gold and silver coins. It was 1803. The loss from the stolen did not exceed $ 200, but the thief or thieves cruelly treated the constable who turned up in trouble, and he died of his wounds.
The Sydney city police began looking for a gang of criminals, and when a certain Joseph Samuels turned up, a man who had a bad reputation, and who had several missing coins in his pockets, he was immediately sewn a case on the murder of a constable.
It didn't help the guy that he presented several witnesses who confirmed that Samuels won these coins in one of the gaming dens. Moreover, many other eyewitnesses were found who claimed that he was drunk at the time of the theft and was several miles from the scene of the crime. Still, Joseph Samuels was forced to confess to complicity in the crime, and the court immediately accused him of murder on the basis of circumstantial evidence. In short, he put his neck into the noose himself. Samuels was sentenced to death by hanging. The execution was scheduled for September 1803.
The real killer, Isaac Simmonds, was still under investigation because the police were unable to extract any confessions from him. In the face of a bleak prospect, his restraint was understandable. To get him to speak, the chief of police resorted to a ruse, ordering Simmonds to be brought to the place of execution.
On the morning of the execution, Samuels, standing on a cart next to the gallows, made a short speech. He repeated his confession of complicity in the robbery, but denied involvement in the murder of the constable. In reality, Samuels said calmly and without bitterness, the real killer is in the crowd. He was brought here under police protection to watch the execution for a crime that was not committed by him, Samuels, but Isaac Simmonds.
At the mention of his name, Simmonds began to scream, trying to drown out the words of the man in the mortal wagon. But Samuels kept on talking about what had happened, tightening the knot of suspicion around the screaming and flushed Simmonds neck.
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When Samuels began to speak, the guards had already put a noose around his neck. As he spoke, at first a slight noise passed through the crowd, which soon grew into a murmur and finally turned into a roar demanding the release of Samuels and the trial of Simmonds.
The spectators leaned forward, probably trying to free the condemned man, but the guard whipped the horses, and the cart jumped out from under Samuels' feet. He dangled in the loop for a second, but then the rope broke and Samuels fell to the ground face down.
The guards lined up in squares to keep the crowd out, while the executioner prepared a new rope. Samuels, half-fainting after the first terrible ordeal, was again placed in the cart, this time sitting on a barrel, because he could no longer stand. The chief of police gave a signal again, and the cart again escaped from under the feet of the condemned man. The crowd watched with horror: the rope began to unravel strand by strand until Samuels' feet touched the ground and he received sufficient support not to suffocate.
The crowd roared, “Cut the rope! Cut the rope! This is the will of the Lord!"
However, the police chief did not want to confuse poor performance with God's providence. He ordered the soldiers to put a new rope around Samuels' neck, and the unfortunate man flew down for the third time. This time the rope snapped over his head.
The soldier loosened the noose to let Samuels catch his breath, if he was still able to do so. The worried chief of police jumped on his horse and in full spirit rushed to the governor to report on the incredible events that played out during the execution. The governor immediately ordered to pardon Samuels, but it took some more time before he realized what was happening around. According to eyewitnesses, "he was confused and a little mad, because at first he did not understand that he was pardoned."
After the protagonist of this incredible drama was taken off the stage, the suspicious police chief began examining the ropes that played such an amazing role in this case. Did you spoil them in advance? No, the ropes were all right. The last one, which broke off like a string, was completely new and withstood multiple tensile tests with a falling weight of about 180 kg. Even when two strands broke, the latter continued to hold its full weight. And yet the rope broke as soon as Samuels twitched in the noose.
According to the record in this case, Isaac Simmonds was later convicted and hanged for the murder of a constable.
What can you add about Joseph Samuels, who was hanged three times in one morning and still alive? Unfortunately, Samuels again got in touch with cronies who were involved in dubious matters. Theft, drunkenness, stabbing - such is his further "activity". He again found himself in prison, where he was given to understand that a new, stronger rope was already crying for him, since he had long been an inveterate villain.
According to the latest rumors that have come down to us, Samuels managed to outwit his own fate: he knocked a group of prisoners to escape. Having stolen a boat, they all fled from Newcastle together. Samuels survived three trips to the gallows. He too often tested his fate. How he ended is unknown, since no one else has heard anything about him or about his friends.
Joseph Samuels was not the only one to outsmart the rope. When John Lee was charged with the brutal murder of an old woman, the court sentenced him to death by hanging, which was to take place in Exeter, England.
1895, February 23 - on a gloomy, cold, windy morning, Lee was led to the scaffold. About a hundred spectators gathered, some out of service, others out of unhealthy curiosity. The executioner, a professional in his field, carefully checked the serviceability of the units of his sinister mechanism. The rope was straightened and oiled, as were the hinges of the sunroof. The trigger was also carefully examined.
The wind fluttered Lee's thin prison dress as he stumbled up the steps. Lee muttered that he was cold, but the guards did not pay any attention to it - he did not have long to freeze. With his hands tightly tied behind his back, Lee stepped onto the sunroof and stood in the center. Does he want to say anything? Lee shook his head. And from the way he chattered his teeth from the cold, it was evident that he would not be able to say a word. It seemed that all those present, together with the gallows, wanted one thing - to end this dirty business as soon as possible.
On a signal, the executioner pulled the pin holding the hatch shutters. Nothing happened. Lee stood helplessly with his bag-covered head tilted forward, waiting to fall. The executioner hastily crawled under the structure of the gallows to find out what was the matter. The check, as it was supposed to, entered the corresponding recess, but the hatch doors, on which Lee stood, did not even flinch.
One guard took Lee by the arm and pulled him aside, while the executioner again prepared the mechanism for action and began to check the hatch. When he pulled the pin, the doors immediately fell down. The convict was put back in place. The pin was pulled again, and again the hatch did not move.
A talk ran through the shivering crowd. The audience began to worry. The authorities became worried, realizing that something must be done and immediately. The head of the prison himself wanted to check the hatch. He stepped on it, supported on both sides by the guards who stood on the platform. The hatch worked instantly, and the head of the prison hung in the arms of the guards.
And John Lee was taken back to the cell, where he stayed for some time in bewilderment, not knowing the reasons for the postponement of the execution, because he saw nothing. At the signal of the warden, he was again taken to the gallows platform. For the third and fourth time, the pin was pulled, but the hatch doors never moved.
The warden broke out in a cold sweat. However, the executioner and the guard as well. They later confessed that they felt terribly uncomfortable, challenging the force they felt, but could not figure out. When John Lee was not there, the doors of the hatch worked perfectly, but as soon as he fell into place, the hatch seemed to refute the law of gravity. Why?
The sheriff decided to suspend the execution and send a report to his superiors. Reported to the Minister of Internal Affairs. There was a debate in parliament on this issue. In the end, John Lee's death sentence was commuted to life in prison. But this sentence was also commuted by several years in prison. Soon John Lee was released.
Although the instrument of death was subjected to a lengthy detailed check after this incident, no explanation has been found for why the hatch did not work when John Lee stood on it with a noose around his neck.
Perhaps Lee himself knew the answer, who after many years told reporters: "I always had the feeling that I was receiving help from some force more powerful than gravity!"
And finally, the third of the failed hanging stories.
1893 - On a hot August day, the Mississippi jury left the courtroom and retired to decide the fate of 21-year-old Will Purvis, who was accused of killing a young farmer in an altercation. Will admitted that there was a fight, but denied his guilt in the murder. Unfortunately, not a single witness was found to corroborate his testimony. In the conference room, only the buzzing of flies and the shuffling of feet on the floor were heard. Will Purvis sat motionless with his head in his hands. Everyone had the feeling that the trial would not last long.
“Guilty as charged,” the chairman announced.
"… To death by hanging!" - the judge passed the verdict.
1894, February 7 - Will Purvis stands before the gallows to answer for a serious crime, as legally required in a murder case. Several hundred spectators gathered, ready to witness the grim spectacle. Many of them did not believe in Purvis's guilt, they knew him well and believed that Purvis simply could not be the killer, but they could not do anything. A black hoodie has already been thrown over the guy's head, and a noose around his neck. At a signal from the sheriff near Purvis, the doors of the hatch fell sharply.
Will fell through a hole on the gallows platform, but instead of breaking his neck, he staggered to his feet: the most amazing thing happened - a thick rope untied in a loop. Purvis was taken to the platform for the second time, the executioner tied the noose. But the crowd was agitated: a miracle happened before her eyes, Will was pardoned by the High Court! People sang prayers. The prayers soon turned into an outraged cry. The Sheriff realized that if he lost control of the situation, the unexpected could happen. He himself pulled off the hoodie from Purvis's head and took him back to the cell.
The convict's lawyers filed three appeals to the State Supreme Court, but they were rejected: miracle or not, and Will Purvis was found guilty and convicted. The verdict remains in effect. He is to be hanged on December 12, 1895.
But only the court thought so. Will's friends and neighbors thought differently. One dark stormy night, they broke into the prison and stole the "criminal" from there. Will was hidden with well-wishers, where he stayed for a whole year. And just then the governor changed. His successor commuted the death sentence to life imprisonment as soon as Will surrendered to the authorities.
By that time, the case had received widespread publicity, and thousands of letters were poured into the state government demanding the release of a person who had survived in such a strange way. The governor had to yield under pressure from the public. Will Purvis was released.
Was he really innocent of the murder he nearly paid with his life for? Will still denied guilt, but the case remained unclear for 22 years, until in 1920 the last hour of one Joe Byrd came. Byrd, as he put it, wanted to relieve his soul before he died, so he called witnesses, and they recorded from his words how he killed the man for whom Will Purvis was convicted and sentenced to death.
Of course, the above three cases are a happy exception, because as a rule, the hanging procedure ends as it was conceived - the lucky ones are rare here. But sometimes fate marks them …
N. Nepomniachtchi