James Barr

“ Death from syncope may be associated with any mode of hanging, but is perhaps most frequently connected with the long drop. It is about the most rapid and least painful, though perhaps the rarest form of death. In a case of syncope, I have seen the heart's action cease in two minutes from the time the bolt was drawn. Fear largely contributes to this mode of death.
It now remains for us to consider death by dislocation or fracture of the cervical vertebræ, with consequent laceration of the spinal cord. ”

“ Loss of consciousness following immediately the compression caused by the rope at the moment when the noose is drawn tight by the weight of the body. The truth of this assertion is proved by the fact that no person who commits suicide by hanging ever attempts to rid himself of the rope which throttles him, although he might do so easily by standing upright, as the body is not always suspended above the surface of the ground. ”

“ The right side of the heart soon becomes incapable of driving the unoxidized blood through the lungs; the left ventricle at first readily propels the blood into the lax arteries, but soon the supply is diminished and the contraction becomes feeble, and at the same time the blood is accumulating in the venous system, and thus tending to equalize the pressure, and so at last the left ventricle is unable to drive its modicum of blood through the systemic capillaries. ”

“ If a half-inch silk rope were used I should think a drop of from four to six feet, according to the weight of the prisoner, would be sufficient. As to deaths from cerebral hyperemia, and its combination with asphyxia, they are merely modifications of the latter form of death, and result from incomplete constriction, the windpipe not being quite occluded, while the venous return is obstructed, but not the arterial supply. They are thus rather slow forms of death, and consequently not desirable. ”

“ The immediate cessation of all respiratory movements deprives the heart of all assistance in carrying on the circulation, and prevents the lungs from becoming surcharged with blood, as in ordinary cases of asphyxia, but the other signs of death from that cause are usually present, such as turgescence of the right side of the heart and general venous system ”

“ AS the subject of the mode of carrying out executions has recently engaged public attention, the present is perhaps an opportune time for discussing the question in its scientific and humane bearings, so that some more definite ideas may prevail as to the best method of hanging, and that the details may not be entirely left to the caprice of the executioner. ”

“ Although loss of consciousness, and it is with this that humanitarians are chiefly concerned, is instantaneous, yet death, as evidenced by the cessation of the heart's action, does not take place so rapidly. ”

“ The rapidity with which death ensues and the beating of the heart stops. The few struggling respirations which generally occur in asphyxia shortly before death have not been observed in persons who have been hung. ”

“ In every case the vertebræ were separated at the point of injury for at least an inch, the spinal cord was severed, and the vertebral arteries and all the ligaments were torn across.
The shock to the nervous system produces an immediate loss of consciousness, with complete paralysis of all the voluntary muscles. It takes a body moving under the influence of gravity three quarters of a second to fall through the space of nine feet ”