persons near him, and then like a man walking in his sleep, when he reached the foot of the ladder, stumbled, and was helpless to go further. T w o policemen lent him a hand, and the hangman from above assisted; but even then he fell twice, stupefied with terror. AVhen the executioner and the two criminals were on the platform any movement on the part of either of the three might pitch one of them overboard, and the yvonder was that when the drop fell the hangman did not go doyvn unhanged with the others. O n being placed beside his companion, " B o b " yvas seized with afitof shivering, and the executioner losing no time in giving thefinishingtouch to his arrangements, at last the ropes yvere secured, and the yvhite caps pulled doyvn over the black faces. T h e chaplain underneath had been reading the burial service, and when he pronounced the well-known words, " In the midst of life w e are in death," the hangman signalled to the puller below, and the drop fell, but a horrible scene of strangulation folloyved. T h e ligature round the brick and timber support when tugged at, so worked that whilst the bricks were displaced the piece of wood settled obliquely, causing the " drop " to descend only half-way, and thus the tyvo poor wretches got jambed, and twisted and yvrithed convulsively in a manner that horrified even the most hardened, until a bystander had the presence of mind to knock away the quartering, the removal ofthe obstruction clearing the fall. " Jack " died instantaneously, but " B o b " kept on struggling for some minutes longer. Loud and long were the execrations vented upon the botching hangman (though he was not so m u c h to blame), w h o only "grinned horribly a ghastly smile " in reply, and m a n y of the w o m e n , w h o were as loquacious as chattering monkeys before, noyv changed their tune and got up a cry, which, for loudness at all events, would do no discredit to a full chorus of demented Banshees. T h e dead bodies remained suspended for an hour, the period prescribed by law, when they were cut down, placed in shells, and sent off to be interred close by, but outside the cemetery, in a corner of the now Victoria Market. For a whole hour, as an after-piece to the tragedy, most of the large croyvd remained, and then dispersed, the m e n to have a "nip" and the w o m e n to "beer" or gossip over the morning's performance. For the disgusting clumsiness of the execution the Clerk of AVorks yvas responsible, and deserved more severe treatment than a mere reprimand. It would, in fact, have been better if he had simply introduced the m o d e adopted at Tyburn in the era of Jack Sheppard—slung the halters from the bough of a tree, beneath which the cart could be drawn up, and then, when the noosing was completed, the vehicle to quickly m o v e off, and all would soon be over. The executioner, w h o had had no previous experience in the "turning-off" way, was also most inefficient and awkward with his work. This official was a prisoner of the Crown, named Davies, serving a sentence for life, and was chosen from half-a-dozen "applicants." T h e appointment was restricted to the convicts in the gaol, and the remuneration was a ticket-of-leave and a £ 1 0 note. That the two malefactors well deserved hanging there could be no doubt, for during the six weeks preceding the murder, they had committed a dozen daring robberies, and dangerously wounded two or three white m e n in the AVestern Port district.
THE BUSHRANGERS JEPPS, ELLIS, AND FOGARTY.—28TH JUNE, 1842.
During the interval betyveen the condemnation and execution of these three bushranging desperadoes, Melbourne ran almost literally hero-mad; and the air, so to speak, rang with the praises of thefivegallant volunteers w h o so bravely brought them to justice. O n e of them was then entangled in the Insolvency Jurisdiction of the Supreme Court, and if it had been possible to take a plebiscitum, his universal " whitewashing would have been voted nem. con. Gourlay, another, was out on bail to stand his trial for obstructing the police in the discharge of their duty at the recently held races; but the Crown Prosecutor declared in open Court that he could not find it in his heart to file an information against so brave a traverser; and the Judge approved ofthe nolle prosequi! A public meeting was held to express the sense of the community regarding the event, at which it was decided to present the volunteers with an address, and a case of pistols each, as well as to entertain them at a public dinner. T o all this no grateful or reasonable person could offer any objection. But the thing was carried too far; for, whilst the condemned criminals yvere alive and waiting their doomsday, what appeared to be an outrage on decency and humanity, was committed by the convivial gathering in question, of yvhich a detailed notice appears elsewhere in this chapter.
