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Hanging was always an unpredictable business, misjudging a felon's weight would leave the victim half throttled and members of his (or her) family yanking on the unfortunate's legs to speed dispatch.
Pictured above is one of a pair of aptly named mercy weights. They were attached to the victim's legs to make sure of an efficient despatch without the recourse to mum and dad.
The last public execution took place in Dorchester 1863 and was witnessed by Thomas Hardy.
A contemporary account tells
"...of the thousands that used to gather below the gaol at the 'Hang Fairs.' By day-break the best places were taken, and the waiting time was spent in drinking, fiddling, and dancing.
The time, it is said, of the executions in early days determined by the arrival of the coach from London, which might possibly bear a reprieve at the last moment.
The story is told of a poor fellow who declined to halt at the Bell Inn for a parting glass with the constables; listening to his ernest request, they hastened their business, and turned him off just as the postmaster came shouting up the hill bearing a delayed reprieve. They cut the rope in a moment and fetched a surgeon. He could only shake his head and announce 'Too late.'
...'Sarved him right,' cried the indignant beer swillers standing around, 'he should have stopped for his drink.'
'Quite the contrary,' retorted the surgeon, with ill-timed levity, ' I will stake my reputation on the fact—the poor fellow has taken a drop too much.' "
