One vital executioner’s tool is the execution rope. During the Billington period there were some problems with the functionality of the ropes, specifically cracking to the gutta-percha, causing lacerations to the prisoner’s neck. This was raised in a memo dated 10 December 1901 from the Governor of Durham:
Execution of John George Thompson at Durham carried out satisfactorily but William Billington stated that the gutta-percha provided should be condemned as being too hard.
To note at once as there are further executions pending.
The response from the Prison Commission a week later read:
30th April 1902
To the Governor, Wandsworth Prison
From the Prison Commission
The gutta-percha referred to is round the seam of the execution rope and it has been ascertained that it becomes hardened in cold weather. This can be met by warming and manipulating it the day before the execution and keeping it in a warm place until required for use.
Instructions to this effect have been given to the prisons at which executions will shortly take place, and similar instructions will shortly be given to the rest of the prisons.
In his report on the April 1902 execution of Charles Robert Earl, the Medical Officer makes the following remarks:
3rd, 4th and 5th cervical vertebrae were fractured and ‘displaced’. There was a wound on right side under chin about 2in long and ¼ deep caused by a splinter from gutta-percha covering of rope.
James Knox, Governor of Wandsworth, was asked by the Prison Commission to report fully on the situation, stating how the gutta-percha came to be splintered, and what steps were taken beforehand to prevent such an occurrence. He replied:
This gutta-percha was splintered at the time of execution. When the corpse was taken down I observed the wound. I drew the attention of the Medical Officer to it so that the cause might be brought to your notice.
I was present at the testing on the day before the execution and an hour before on the day. There was no sign of the fracture that I saw. The rope was carefully examined as on previous occasions; on the last of which we checked it for a flaw in a similar position so I am sure we should have detected any evidence of a flaw this time.
I am not asked to give an opinion but with due deference I venture to suggest that the covering is too hard and unyielding.
The Prison Commission accepted Knox’s comments but added that they were relying on Knox to take all precautions necessary to avoid ‘any mishap.’ Knox replied that executions were ‘too full of anxiety to allow any slackness.’
Modifications to the design of execution ropes were given consideration over the following two years. Added importance was given to this when concerns were raised after a double execution at Leeds on 29 December 1903. A new design of rope was shown to the Governor of Leeds who forwarded it to Brixton Prison for assessment:
With reference to your letter of the above date to the Prison Commissioners and relative to reports by your Medical Officer and John Billington respecting ropes used at the execution of Emily Swann and John Gallacher I am desired by the Prison Commissioners to draw your attention to a special new rope which has been made to meet the views expressed by your Medical Officer and to desire that in returning the rope (forwarded to you this day) you will be so good as to forward a report upon its suitability together with any remarks the Medical Officer may desire to make.
On 14 January 1904 the Prison Commission received this comprehensive report from Brixton:
I have the honour to report that in accordance with the Commissioner’s instructions I have carefully read and considered the correspondence on the above subject sent by the Commissioners.
Billington the Executioner complains that in the case of some of the ropes the seam of the covering leather is on the upper or inner side and is liable to tear or scratch the skin of the neck or chin when the strain is put on the rope – I may say that I have never seen any such accident occur at an execution – it would be well however if it can be done to guard against the possibility of such an occurrence.
I do not think it would be practicable to do away with the strong seam as any other method of fixing the edges would probably allow rucking and be liable to give way. On examining several of the ropes I observed that the seam in the leather is not fixed quite in the middle line by the gutta-percha but is a little to one side. If it were fixed quite in the middle line I think it would be more likely to remain on the outer side which is the least objectionable…
…have carefully considered report by Dr Exley the Medical Officer of Leeds Prison in his letter as regards the alleged cutting of tissues on the neck, in the case of the woman by the edge of the covering on the rope, although I have never met with such an accident I have always been alive to the possibility that such injury might be caused either by the flange of the ring or the sharp edge of the gutta-percha if it became separated from the ring.
It is not at all unusual for the gutta-percha to yield and crack and so to permit the flange of the ring to project to some extent. I think this risk would be obviated or at least much diminished if the flange could be turned further over so that those parts of the ring could be rounder and smoother.
In the case of the male prisoner I cannot agree with all the conclusions to which Dr Exley has come – when the vertical strain is put on the rope the friction against the ring will be on the upper and lower surfaces of the rope. If the seam is at the outer side as spoken of above there would be little if any friction exercised by the seam against the ring to prevent free running. Dr Exley suggests that if the noose does not tighten fully the desired result, fracture of the vertebrae and pressure on the spinal cord leading to immediate death would not be attained, but that death would take place in a slower form, from asphyxia by strangulation caused by the pressure of the rope ion the windpipe. I think the chief, if not the only factor leading to one of these results is the length of the drop. At the same time it is desirable that the rope should run freely through the ring and the noose tightens. I think the condition most likely to prevent this is not friction on the ring from the seam of the leather but the rigidity of that part of the rope which is coated with gutta-percha. This part does not adapt itself well to the shape of the neck and prevents the noose from assuming the circular form. This objection along with the cracking of the gutta-percha already spoken of makes one wish that some other method could be devised for covering the rope at its junction with the ring. I do not know if it would be practicable to do away with the use of gutta-percha altogether and to have the strands of the rope which surround the ring coated with tar. The end of the leather casing might be fixed in position by this cord put through the rope – the rough surface where the interweaving takes place might be covered by some soft material such as wash leather closely and smoothly applied and fixed in position by stitching.
In February 1904 ‘HHC’ of the Prison Commission issued this internal minute paper:
An execution rope, made in accordance with such of the Medical Officer’s suggestions as are practicable, is submitted for your inspection, together with a rope of the old pattern, obtained from Holloway Prison. The seams of the covering leather on the new rope, is so placed as to reduce to a minimum any chance of contact with the neck of the culprit, and I do not think it is at all likely to twist or turn sufficiently to cause laceration of the flesh. The gutta-percha covering of the rope has been considerably reduced in length, which should go far to dispose of the objection that it prevents the noose assuming a circular shape. It adapts itself much more readily to the neck than the pattern. The brass flange is let in quite flush with the gutta-percha, and the risk of any injury in that direction is very small. The suggestion that the strands of the rope surrounding the area should be covered with tar is impracticable and it is thought that the leather would ruck, and easily get out of position. The contractors Messrs Edgington and Co whom I consulted upon this matter are of opinion that further improvement is impossible, unless the existing pattern is discarded altogether. I concur in Dr Scott’s suggestion that this rope should be tested before being taken in to use.
This was followed on 3 May 1904 with a letter to Edgington’s and the modifications to the execution rope were implemented:
The new pattern execution rope has been tested at Leeds Prison having been used at the execution of James Henry Clarkson.
Both Governor and Medical Officer report favourably upon it. I have procured a counterpart of this rope, which I submit with the original for your inspection. If you approve I propose adopting the unused rope as a sealed pattern, the original being returned to Holloway Prison to be there retained for comparison with future supplies.
Here, in part of an article reproduced from the October 1946 edition of Lilliput Magazine, is an insight into the history of the making of the ropes:
In the tarry scented homeliness of an old-established tent-making works in the Old Kent Road, an elderly Londoner, Harry Moakes by name, sits spreading molten gutta-percha over the operative end of a hangman’s rope. This firm John Edgington’s, are the only producers of this grisly specialty. Mr Moakes, now 61, has been working for them since he was 19.
A hangman’s rope by Edgington’s is a nice piece of English craftsmanship. (The raw material comes from Italy.) It is not just cut off the coil and spliced, but specially woven round the ‘thimble’ – as the rigid brass ring is called which ensures a swift and easy run-through and tightening of the noose. There are no knots. The noose itself, where it encircles the neck, is covered neatly in soft calf – the kind known in the trade as white russet hide. The gutta-percha, too, is another enmity. It is a smooth coating for the only possibly abrasive part of the noose, where it joins the thimble: ‘mustn’t ever draw blood,’ is a maxim of every self-respecting hangman; ‘mustn’t break the skin.’ At the other end of the rope is another brass fitment, which is attached to a bolt in the beam overhead.
Once, in a much earlier generation, one of Edgington’s ropes did go wrong. Historians of the rope dispute the exact details of what happened, but it is clear that, although the hanged man died, he died more clumsily than was proper; possibly blood was drawn.
At any rate, Edgington’s were sent for. A member of the firm hurried to the prison. A door was opened to him – and there, before his appalled gaze, still swung the unhandily dispatched corpse. The poor man went back to work; but it is on record that he himself died suddenly two days later, of shock or of shame.
A rope for hanging is made to measure. It may be 9½ft or 11ft long; the height and weight of the man who is to be hanged decide the drop.
The drop is invariably sharp enough to crack the gutta-percha. So the same rope comes back again and again to Harry Moakes to be re-done.