Ruth Ellis smiling
Did she really smile like that before he hung her? It was an odd, beatific sort of smile. As if she were some saintly martyr and she was forgiving him for hanging her.
sharePierrepoint has stated Ruth Ellis was the bravest person he hung. However, according to some pieces I have read, such was his mis-calculation with her slender weight, the drop he gave her was enough to seperate her vertabrae, almost causing decapitation.
I have also read that Ruth Ellis's final moments were exaggerated so the British public could relate to the fact that she was in some way, a heroine on her way to the noose
The whole idea of this type of hanging is indeed to seperate the vertabrae, enough to cause instant death but not enough to decapitate. Ellis would have required a very long drop becuase of her light weight.
Yo can read her official autopsy report here -
http://www.richard.clark32.btinternet.co.uk/pmortem.html
The body of the condemed person was always left hanging for one hour to ensure that the heart had stopped beating fully, then an autopsy was immediately carried out.
"Everbody in the WORLD, is bent"share
Judicial hanging is to cause the dislocation of spinal cord and FRACTURE of C2 and C3 vertabrae causing instant death. Mr Pierrepoint suceeded in DISLOCATING the C2 and C3 vertabrae.
Even so, Ms Ellis wouldn't have known much about it.
You are quite correct about being left to hang for an hour. By all accounts, the body would 'grow' a few inches due to the stretching of the neck
Ruth elliis accepted the sentence. She had no wish to die in prison. She told her arresting officer that all that remained was for her to be hanged.
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I don't agree with the death penalty at all- never have done, but in those days that was what happened and just the way it was- how she could have been seen as any type of martyr i don't know - She killed him and she paid the price. I know that she was very accepting of the verdict and even wrote to her victims parents from jail to say sorry and that she hoped that her death would be seen as some sort of comfort to them.
The Ruth Ellis thing has been in the papers over here recently as they are now saying that it may not have been her who fired the gun.
Would love to hear what anyones thoughts on that are .
Well it's only the beginning baby L.A. in the summer anything could happen right?
There is an interesting, if rather bizarre, book about Ruth Ellis by her sister, Muriel Jakubait, entitled "Ruth Ellis - My Sister's Secret Life" (Robinson, London, 2005).
This advances a somewhat complex conspiracy theory involving the British establishment and the secret service (including a connection with Stephen Ward, the man at the centre of the later Profumo scandal).
It also maintains that according to Ruth Ellis's uncle, Granville Hornby (who had to identify her body after execution), she was horribly disfigured by the hanging. This rings true.
Under the British system were relatives EVER asked to identify the body after execution? I don't believe this. Immediately after post-mortem examination, the executed were buried in a lime pit within the prison, as definitely happened with Ellis.
shareEllis had had a miscarriage only 10 days before shooting Blakely, at whose hands she had suffered repeated beatings - one of which may have been responsible for her miscarriage. She might not have been a martyr but today (when battered women's syndrome is recognised) she would no doubt be convicted of manslaughter rather than murder.
I hadn't heard the theory that she didn't pull the trigger before, but it seems to be the case that Desmond Cussen provided a loaded gun and drove her to the scene so should have been regarded as an accessory at least.
Several people saw Ellis shoot Blakeley, who was a total b8stard - She was a good looking woman, London was full of eligible men just after the war, she had options, she should have walked away, not shot him. She had her daughter to think of after all.
George... don't do that!
Blakely had it coming in my view.
shareNo he didn't say that she was the bravest person he ever HANGED. He said that she was as brave as any man, he said the bravest person he ever hanged was John Amery, who when A.P entered the cell supposedly said "Mr Pierrepoint, I've always wanted to meet you. Though not, of course, under these circumstances!". People who post should really get the facts right first.
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