What was Mr. Pierrepoint's assistant referring to
when he said "Call the mortuary to do this?" Weren't executed prisoners buried in the prison yard without ceremony? if so, what did they need the mortuary for?
shareThe assistant naturally would rather not handle the corpses, and why wouldn't you have whoever normally deals with prisoners' corpses take care of them? The executioner having to wash and wrap the bodies certainly surprised me, though for traditional or ceremonial reasons it might make sense.
share[deleted]
The mortuary would recieve the body after the doctor had declared it dead. The executioners had done their job by this time.
Sometimes, an autopsy would be performed to ascertain the cause of death WAS the snapped vertabrae and not strangulation.
Everyone that was hanged in London had a post mortem examination,not always so around the rest of the country,so that is the reason the body is going to the mortuary.
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