Thanks, Steve, for posting those interesting articles from the Liverpool Mercury. I'm going to post some articles from the same newspaper found by Howard Brown at JtR Forums.
Liverpool Mercury
July 1, 1890
**********
div>
Liverpool Mercury
August 14, 1891
*************
John Conway was found guilty of the murder of a nine-year-old boy, Nicholas Martin.
"John Conway was a marine fireman convicted of the murder of nine year old Nicholas Martin. On 16th May, the boy's mutilated body was found floating inside a sailor's kitbag in Liverpool docks. The bag also contained a knife and a saw which police proved to be the murder weapons. The bag was traced to Conway, and witnesses came forward to say they had seen him and the boy together shortly before the body was found. Conway later confessed to the crime which he blamed on drink."
http://www.britishexecutions.co.uk/e...t.php?key=1401
At his execution at Kirkdale Gaol, Liverpool, on August 20, 1891, by James Berry, "the murderer's head was almost torn from his body by the force of the drop."
W. Scott, The Monthly Chronicle of North-Country lore and legend: v.1-5; Mar. 1887-Dec. 1891, Vol. 5 (Google eBook), p. 480.
Berry blamed the prison doctor, Dr. Barr, for interfering with his calculations, but in another execution a man actually was decapitated, and another nearly so. As a result of government criticism over these botched executions, Berry resigned: "James Berry was not popular with the Home Office because of his holding 'court' in local pubs after executions, which had led to questions being asked in Parliament, and his behaviour at the hanging of John Conway within Liverpool’s Kirkdale prison on the 20th of August 1891. To everyone’s relief Berry resigned in early 1892. James Berry died on the 21st of October 1913."
English hangmen 1850 to 1964
Liverpool Mercury
March 3, 1891
***********
Liverpool Mercury
April 14, 1892
***********
Bookmarks