Slipping into the hangman’s noose
Author unveils grisly tales from the gallows
Dropping from the gallows is not much of a spectator sport these days.
The gruesome spectacle was big box office during the 1800s and deviants were often hung close to where they committed their crimes.
While some were evil to the core, others got a noose around their neck for petty stuff like sheep stealing.
The subject entranced writer John Kellie so much that he’s delved into history to reveal the public hangings, some of which have never been charted before.
The result of countless hours online research and in libraries including the Ayr Carnegie, is “Hanged Until Dead” which follows the stories of men and women executed in 19th century Scotland.
And Prestwick man John, a
58- year- old former English teacher, admits he remains against the death penalty.
He said: “While I think we have become too soft justice today, with more emphasis on the guilty rather than the victims, I would not like to see the death penalty return.
“Some deserved such a grizzly end. But others certainly did not and they were more victims of the oppression and desperation of the times.
“It was definitely harsh and even non- death sentences were.
” A blacksmith was transported to Australia for seven years for stealing a cheese and another poor wretch got the same for ‘ stealing a gentleman’s handkerchief out of his pocket at the theatre.’”
John, a bachelor, launched his book at Waterstones in Ayr on Saturday and he admitted he has been fascinated by the subject matter.
Six years ago he quit the classroom after 29 years, chiefly at Greenwood Academy in Dreghorn and Loudoun Academy in Galston, after becoming disillusioned with teaching.
He said: “But it was mainly because I wanted to write as I was always a keen traveller and had put together travel articles.
“I have been to more than 50 countries and actually won a writing competition and was sent to Patagonia.
“I moved on from travel articles after wanting to produce something more permanent and have also written two local history books Ayrshire Echoes and Ayrshire Folk.
“Old fashioned country life has always been an interest and I became fascinated in historical crime.
“This was mostly because of social history and the dreadful conditions people had to live in.”
About 250 people - five percent women - were hung during the bloody century.
The oldest was 84- year- old Allan Mair in 1801 for killing his wife and the youngest just 17 called John Ritchie for sheep stealing.
And a good proportion were right here in Ayrshire.
They include executions in Ayr of George Watson - the last man in Scotland hanged for horse- theft. He was stealing the cuddies in New Cumnock in 1811.
Margaret Crossan, a young woman, was hanged for arson six years later and another pair who met their end in the town were Samuel Waugh ( for a sectarian riot in Girvan in 1832 and James McWheelan in 1848 for murdering a young farm hand near Kilmarnock.
Another interesting case is the hanging - believed to be at Helenton Hill so as many people could witness it - of highwayman John Worthington of Symington in 1815.
John’s 280- page book focuses on ordinary people’s lives and grim social conditions just as much as on their crimes.
Roughly half of those hanged had been convicted of murder, the rest for rape, piracy and theft.
And the book’s publicity notes: “In each of the cases Kellie considers, the reader is left with a surer understanding of what led an individual to finish up dangling at the end of a rope.”
To witness the execution of the notorious poisoner, Dr Edward Pritchard, as many as 100,000 people crammed on to Glasgow Green.
Public executions were axed in 1868 but went on behind bars until 1964, in John’s lifetime.
He added: “I have found some things that feel medieval, such as being dressed in a shroud before you are dead, and the coffin sitting below the gallows so they could see it.
“There were one or two cases when the hanging didn’t work . . . and the hangman then had to jump up and pull them tight by the legs to complete the execution.”
John is now putting in some diligence on his next book - on the people who narrowly escaped the noose.
“Hanged Until Dead” is from Carn Publishing, Lochnoran House, Auchinleck. Priced £ 12 from Waterstone’s, book shops and Amazon.