Noose vs. Shooting
Why was Garth ok with Dunson shooting the "deserters" but absolutely appalled at the notion of him hanging them? I mean, they're dead either way. And it's not as if he wanted to torture them for days first.
shareI'm not sure but I got the impression that hanging was seen as dying with dishonour, like a common criminal instead of like a man.
shareIf the hanging is done right, your neck gets snapped and you die instantly.
If not done right, you slowly strangle at the end of the rope. See the beginning of "Hang Em High" where Clint Eastwood gets hung by a lynch mob at the start of the movie and slowly strangles for several minutes til a passing lawman cuts him down just in time. Even after the rescue, it took Clint a while to recover. It was a hard scene to watch.
In a professional execution by hanging, the hangman tests the gallows, factors in the weight of the condemned vs the length of the drop.