The execution of Mitchell and Hollins - two murderers hanged at Newgate.

William Henry Hollins

Hollins was tried at the Old Bailey by the First Middlesex jury, before Mr. Baron Graham on the 14th of September 1814.

William Henry Hollins, alias Henry William Hollins, aged 45, was indicted for the wilful murder of Elizabeth Pilcher in Lower Grosvenor Street in London on the 4th of July 1814. He had called at the home of George Cartwright on several previous occasions asking to speak to Elizabeth who was a servant there.

Around 10 p.m. on Monday the 4th, Mr. Cartwright heard a pistol shot and went into the hallway to find Elizabeth being supported by his other servant, William Martin.

in evidence Martin testified that he had let Hollins in and called Elizabeth downstairs and she went outside with Hollins, leaving the front door open.

Hollins was detained at the scene by watchman Samuel Long and offered no resistance.

Long was close by and heard the shot so immediately ran to assist.

Elizabeth succumbed to her wound on the following Sunday.

The post-mortem carried out by surgeon, John Heaviside revealed that Elizabeth had been shot with a shotgun pistol and he recovered a large number of very small pellets from her liver and bowel.

Evidence was given by several people, including Hollins’ landlord, Richard Stone, of his weird behaviour and probable insanity but this was rebutted by William Martin, who testified that Hollins appeared to him to be perfectly sane at the time of the crime.

James Mitchell

33 year old James Mitchell was indicted for the wilful murder of Mary Ann Welchman, spinster, before Mr. Justice Heath at the same Sessions.

The murder, also by shooting took place at the home of Robert Watkins at no. 27, Mount Street in London on the 4th of August.

Mary Macey ran a dress making business and Mary Ann Welchman had worked for Mary Macey for some three years.

Mitchell was in a relationship with Mary Ann and on this evening, they quarrelled over a pair of scissors that she accused him of taking and he accused her of withholding a letter from him.

Later that evening Robert Watkins heard two pistol shots in quick succession and found Mary at the top of the stairs near death from two pistol ball wounds to the head.

Constable Thomas Moon, with three watchmen, carried out a search of the house, recovering two pistols and a hat that belonged to Mitchell.

The hat was an important piece of evidence because Mitchell was afterwards seen in the vicinity without his and later borrowed one from a friend.

At the end of the Sessions on the Friday both men were sentenced to death. Under the terms of the Murder Act of 1751 the executions were scheduled for the following Monday.

The Act specified that the execution should take place within 48 hours of sentence unless the period included a Sunday which was a “dies non”.

It was normal practice at the Old Bailey to pass sentence on murderers on Fridays thus giving them an extra day.

The Act also specified that they were to be kept fettered (legs shackled and attached to a waist chain) and fed only on bread and water.

After execution the body was to be either sent for dissection of hanged in chains at the court’s discretion.

Execution.

On Sunday the pair were visited by the Ordinary, The Rev. Dr. Horace Cotton and the Rev. Mr. Frere, a non-conformist minister.

In the early hours of Monday the 19th of September 1814 the portable gallows was drawn out by a team of horses and set up by the Debtor’s Door of Newgate. By 7 a.m. a huge crowd of people had turned up to watch this double execution.

Hollins knew that there was only one way out for him but Mitchell was reported as saying “There is no corroborating evidence of him having fired the pistols”.

At 7.30 a.m. the sheriffs and Officers of Justice proceeded from the courts through the tunnel and passageways to the Press Yard. Hollins and Mitchell were brought to the Press Yard at 7.45 a.m. where their fetters were removed by the blacksmith.

The hangman, John Langley, pinioned their arms just above the elbow with a cord running around their body and their wrists in front with another cord, before placing the halter nooses around their necks.

The procession to the gallows formed up and the two appeared on the platform just after 8 a.m. Langley uncoiled the ropes and threw the free ends over the beam and tied them back on themselves, leaving very little slack.

The clergymen continued to pray with them until the signal was given and the bolt drawn by Langley, “launching them into eternity” to use the terminology of the time.

Hollins became still very still after a few moments but Mitchell was “greatly convulsed” for several minutes. The bodies were left hanging for one hour before being taken down and sent for dissection.

It was reported that three women were allowed “the application of the dead man’s hand” to cure them of wems. This was widely believed superstition at this time. A wem was the term for a bodily spot or scar.

Comments

In 1999 a female corpse with black objects on its feet was unearthed in Heilongjiang (China).

In 1999 a female corpse with black objects on its feet was unearthed in Heilongjiang (China). Experts revealed her tragic experience: was she buried alive? For more than 200 years, a woman's skin, muscles, and joints remained intact. This female body was in the coffin, with a distorted posture and open mouth. Although it has become a mummy, it is not difficult to see that its expression is in great pain. The mummy was about 164 cm, the whole body was black as coal, and the placenta was not removed from the mummy before dying. The placenta was attached to the buttocks. Looking closer, the left hand and foot are mutilated. According to the archaeological team, it was a young woman in her 25s from the mummy's face and bones. According to Chinese tradition, the person who dies before being buried is cleaned and straightened by the limbs. The Mystery of the Cause of Death: Did you die of chronic poisoning or difficult childbirth? When the female mummy was found, her skin was still y...

The Painful Murder Of Czeslawa Kwoka In Auschwitz Extermination Camp, By Phenol Injection In The Heart.

Her name was Czeslawa Kwoka, and her crime was being Polish, Catholic, and 14 years old. Her red triangle was for political prisoners, because of where she was born in Poland. After this photo was taken, she was killed in Auschwitz extermination camp on March 12, 1943 with a phenol injection in the heart. Just before the execution, she was photographed by prisoner Wilhelm Brasse, who would later testify against the executioner of Czeslawa, a woman. Just before the photo, the executioner punched Czeslawa in the face, as the hematoma on her lip shows. This is the face of a terrified little girl, who didn't even speak the language of her executioner. She had lost her mother a few days before. But she dried her tears to look presentable for the photo. They took her hair and her life, but they couldn’t take her dignity. She was only one of about 250,000 children and minors who were executed in Auschwitz-Birkenau. T...

Worst Deaths In History

Worst Deaths In History-Balthasar Gerard- balthasar gerard(alternative spellings gerards or gerardts. c. 1557 – 14 July 1584) was the assassin of the Dutch revolt's leader, William the Silent of the House of Orange (William the Silent, and later known as the "Father of the Fatherland"). He killed William the Silent in Delft on 10 July 1584, by shooting him twice with a pair of pistols, and was afterwards tried, convicted, tortured, and executed. Gérard was born in Franche-Comté (then belonging to Holy Roman Empire, afterwards to France). He came from a Roman Catholic family with 11 children and was a great admirer of Philip II, king of Spain and the Netherlands. He studied law at the University of Dole. On 15 March 1580, King Philip had offered a reward of 25,000 crowns, peerage and an inheritable estate to anyone who killed or captured William the Silent, to whom he referred in his decree as a "pest on the whole of Christianity and the enemy of the human race...

THE HORRIBLE EXECUTION OF TERESA LEWIS FOR THE MURDER OF HER HUSBAND.

Teresa Wilson Bean Lewis who became only the second woman executed by Virginia, when she was put to death in 2010, at the age of 41. Teresa had first met Julian, a widower, in the Spring of 2000 at the Dan River Inc. fabric factory where they both worked. By June of that year, they were married and Teresa moved into Julian’s trailer on five acres of land in Keeling, in rural Pittsylvania County, Virginia.Julian’s son, Jason, had died in an accident in December 2001 and his father had received his life insurance payout, a sum in excess of $200,000, which he placed in an account that was only accessible by him. In August 2002, Julian's son Charles was required to report for National Guard duty so Julian made a will and took out a $250,000 life insurance policy on him. Both only named Teresa as the secondary beneficiary. In other words, she would get nothing if Julian died and was survived by Charles. Sometime in the Fall of 2002 Teresa met Matthew Shallenberger in Walmart. She and Sh...

Col. Anthony Joseph Drexel Biddle

Col. Anthony Joseph Drexel Biddle, born on December 17, 1874, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was a prominent figure in the United States Marine Corps during the early 20th century. Known for his extraordinary skills in hand-to-hand combat, Biddle left a lasting legacy as a tough and fearless military officer. During his service in World War II, Col. Biddle was assigned to the Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island in South Carolina. It was there that he became famous for his unique training methods. Biddle would challenge his trainee Marines to engage in hand-to-hand combat with him using their bayonets, demonstrating his exceptional expertise in close-quarters combat. The incident where Col. Biddle was surrounded by bayonets occurred in 1943. This event showcased his extraordinary confidence and skill as a combat instructor. He fearlessly ordered the trainee Marines to attempt to kill him with their bayonets, challenging them to disarm him. Despite the potential dan...

This lion, named Sikio Kali, is one of the Mara’s famous four Musketeers.

A king of the Mara meets his match This lion, named Sikio Kali, is one of the Mara’s famous four Musketeers. He recently got on the wrong side of a warthog’s tusks during a predation attempt, leaving him with a deep wound to his forehead. Taking down prey is not without risk for lions, as warthogs can inflict nasty gashes with their tusks (as can buffalo and wildebeest with their horns). In this case, Masai Mara Reserve rangers spotted Sikio's plight just in time, as his wounds were septic and covered in maggots. After receiving the call for help and rushing to the scene, the SWT/KWS Mara Mobile Vet Unit found the lion lying in the shade, trying to shield his face from flies. The intervention came not a moment too soon for Sikio, as vets manually cleaned and disinfected his wounds, before administering drugs to aid healing. Subsequent sightings have shown him recovering well, although this battle-worn fellow – who is already missing most of his left ear – will lo...

Firing Squad to Gas Chamber: How Long Do Executions Take?

Utah brought back the firing squad this week as a backup execution method, with some proponents saying it’s the fastest and most humane way of killing condemned inmates in an era when lethal injections have dragged on as long as two hours. “It’s the only method we have in this country for which people are trained to kill,” said Fordham Law Professor Deborah Denno, an expert on capital punishment. “It appears the death is the quickest.” Last summer, a federal judge wrote in an opinion that firing squad should probably replace the needle as the U.S. execution method — even though he thought another was more foolproof. “The guillotine is probably best, but seems inconsistent with our national ethos,” Judge Alex Kozinski of the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals wrote. With states considering alternatives from the electric chair to the gas chamber, here’s a look at how long it takes to kill a condemned inmate with each method: Popularized during the French Revolution as a humane alternati...

THE WORST AND HORRIBLE CRUCITIXION ANCIENT METHOD OF EXECUTION..

The Crucifixion was an ancient execution method, in which the criminal's hands and feet were bound or nailed to a wooden, cross-like structure. It wasa capital punishment reserved for slaves, traitors, "heretics", and usually the worst of criminals. It became widespread during the reign of Alexander the Great, but it still remains in occasional use in some countries. There were various methods of performing the crucifixion. Usually, the prisoner had to drag the crossbeam of his cross, weighing around 100 pounds, to the place of execution. Subsequently, his outstretched arms were bound to the crossbeam, or sometimes nailed through the wrists, and the crossbeam was raised and fixed to the already standing upright post. Death was usually caused by overall exhaustion or by heart failure. Sometimes, to shorten the victim's suffering, his legs were shattered using an iron club, so that subsequent asphyxiation soon ended his life.

A PAINFUL STORY OF HOW DRUG CARTEL KIDNAPPED A WOMAN FROM HER HOUSE AND HUNG HER HALF NAKED AS A WARNING TO THEIR ENEMIES.

the dominant organized crime group in this part of Mexico, The note said some Gulf Cartel members were responsible for the kidnapping and killings and apologized for their actions. Half-naked woman hanged on a bridge Members of a drug cartel kidnapped a woman from her house and hung her half-naked on a road bridge as a warning to their enemies. It is likely that the incident happened in Mexico... ,5 alleged Mexican cartel members charged in kidnapping of 4 Americans Five alleged members of a powerful Mexican cartel were charged with aggravated kidnapping and murder on Friday in connection to the kidnapping of four Americans, and the killing of two of them, in the border city of Matamoros. The Attorney General's Office of Tamaulipas announced the charges a day after the Gulf Cartel allegedly took responsibility for the kidnapping. The five men were found tied up near a pickup truck on Thursday morning and a handwritten note was found placed on the windshield of the truck, who...

in 1981 Ken McElroy was an adult man and bully in Skidmore, Missouri.

in 1981 Ken McElroy was an adult man and bully in Skidmore, Missouri. He had been accused of assault, child molestation, statutory rape, burglary, and hog and cattle rustling. He avoided conviction for all of these crimes and was released each time. Speaking of statutory rape, he met his future (and 4th) wife Trena McCloud when she was 12 years old. He statutorily raped McCloud repeatedly, also burned her house down and shot the family dog to force her parents to agree to their marriage. She became pregnant when she was 14. After Trena gave birth to their child, she fled to her mother's house, but McElroy brought her back and burned down her parents house again and shot their dog again. As was common for McElroy, one day he got into an arguement with a town resident and shot him. Luckily the man didn't die. McElroy was arrested then released again. Eventually he also shot a 70 year old grocer who was sitting outside on a smoke break because the grocer had earlier accused McElr...

KNOW YOUR WORLD (past and present)

Search This Blog