I was always under the (mistaken perhaps?) belief that a condemned person was offered a small measure of spirits to "calm the nerves" just prior to going to the gallows?
I am sure that was shown in a scene in the 1991 film "Let Him Have It" about Derek Bentley prior to him hanging which was in 1953.
Is this just a fallacy on my behalf?
You are correct, although it was usually brandy that was offered. I've been trying to see this film for about a year now, but I'd be interested if they miss that out. Ruth Ellis's autopsy report specifically mentions the odour of brandy in the stomach...
Mr Maestro - The Friendly Face of Classical Music
*Spoiler* (?)
I don't recall seeing anyone being given a brandy, however, I'd guess this would happen sometime in advance of the actual execution hour. The film shows from the moment Pierrepoint enters the condemned cell.
I don't know how true this is, but I have a dim memory from Richard Gordon's Private life of Dr Crippen of the latter being so heavily drugged that he was effectively dying when he was carried to the gallows.
In WW1, if a soldier was condemned to be shot he usually spent the night before the execution getting tanked up, which is why so many of them were shot sitting down. They were usually too drunk to stand.
I always thought that it was myth that they were given anything at all before they went to the gallows?
Well it's only the beginning baby L.A. in the summer anything could happen right?
The surviving Hangman's Box in the HM Prison Service collection has a whiskey bottle in it, so there must be some truth in it...
shareIn the Charlie Chaplin film Monsieur Verdoux, the title character is being taken to the guilotine, and one of the guards offers him a glass of something. He asks the guard what it is, and the guard says it's rum. He says no, but then says "Wait, I have never tasted rum.". So he drinks the rum, nods his head as if to say "Not bad.", and then goes to be executed.
In America they have the tradition of the condemned man's last meal. The condemned prisoners can order anything the want to eat or drink for their last meal apart from alcohol.
clive-ihd said:
"In America they have the tradition of the condemned man's last meal. The condemned prisoners can order anything the want to eat or drink for their last meal apart from alcohol."
To me as a Brit, how is it that the Americans always seem to so spectacularly miss the point, about anything?
(I bolded the important part, just in case any passing Americans might, er, you know...)
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I read in a book actually, food is more a social thing to americans and for the british it is drink
so I understand why american's on death row are offered a last meal rather than alcohol
if britain was still insane enough to have capital punishment, we'd offer alcohol rather than a choice of last meal
if 2 british friends meet they go "for a pint"
2 american friends meet they will probably "grab a bite to eat"
There's another, more practical reason why British condemned prisoners were not offered a last meal. Upon hanging, all the body's muscles automatically relax,including the sphincter, so if the prisoner has a full bowel, its contents would have flowed downwards, i.e. the hanged prisoner's last involuntary act would be to empty the bowel. Hence, it was as much to do with hygiene and the interests of those who would otherwise have to clean up the mess.
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