Execution: A Guide to the Ultimate Penalty (18 page)

The regiment was then conducted to a spacious valley and divided into two wings, which were stationed on each side of the place of execution. On the rising ground above the valley, three thousand cavalry were posted, and were followed by all the Horse Artillery, their guns pointed and matches lit, to quell any possible outbreak of disorder or disobedience.

From the disposition of the ground and from the arrangement of the troops, a more magnificent and a more awful spectacle were never exhibited in this country. After corporal punishment on two offenders of lesser blame, Cooke and Parish, who were flogged by torchlight, the two unfortunate men who had been condemned to die were brought forward with a very strong escort. They walked along the valley in slow and solemn procession, accompanied by the clergyman, who had devoted his time so conscientiously to them from the moment the sentence had been made known, and they were fully prepared to meet their fate.

They approached the fateful spot with resignation, and expressed much concern and penitence for the crime. They then kneeled down upon their coffins with cool and deliberate firmness, and when the man who was to give the signal asked whether they were ready, they nodded. Upon that he dropped a prayer book, and the firing party did their duty from about six yards’ distance. One of the men not appearing to be dead entirely was instantly shot through the head, the same ceremony being performed on the other. After this the whole regiment was ordered to march round the dead bodies.’

Even 50 years later little had changed. The compère of death in some regiments was the drum major. When the troops had formed the hollow square and all was ready, he gave the signal with a mere flourish of his cane, whereupon the 14 men detailed as the firing squad marched forward and selected a musket from those stacked before them. As ever, 13 of the weapons were loaded with ball, one with powder only.

Having armed themselves, the squad formed up in line and, upon a further flourish of the cane, aimed and fired. Should any sign of life be apparent, the drum major then ordered four of the squad to take up reserve muskets, advance on the prisoner and shoot from point-blank range.

Next came the command: ‘March past in slow time.’ As each company drew level with the body, a further order was given, that of ‘Mark time’, the soldiers marching on the spot, obeying the next order as they did so, that of ‘Eyes left’, all the men having to witness the fate of their erstwhile colleague and, it was hoped, thereby learn from his example.

In case all this is shrugged off as a relic of a harsh and outdated regime, it should be remembered that in the World War One, 307 British soldiers were shot for desertion, cowardice and other alleged crimes, albeit taking place without the pomp and ceremony as that above.

Nor were they the only ones shot by firing squad during that war. Eleven German spies were executed in the Tower of London – Lody, Breekouw, Muller, Janssen, Rogin, Melin, Buschmann, Ries, Meyer, Hurwitz and Roos – all shot in the small rifle-range which stood less than 20 yards from the dwelling occupied by the author and his wife when resident there.

The first to be shot, Carl Lody, wrote two letters from his cell in the Tower. One, written on 5 November 1914, was addressed to the commanding officer of the Third Batallion Grenadier Guards. It read:

‘I feel it my duty as a German officer to express my sincere thanks and appreciation to the guards and sentries being, and having been, my guards. Although they never neglected their duty they have shown always the utmost courtesy and consideration towards me. ‘If it is within the frame of regliments [regulations], I wish this to be made known to them. I am, Sir, with profound respect, Carl Hans Lody, Sub Lieutenant, Imperial German Naval Reserve.’

To his family he penned a more poignant letter:

‘My Dear Ones, I have trusted in God and He has decided My hour has come and I must start on the journey through the Dark Valley, like so many of my comrades in this terrible War of Nations. May my life be offered as a humble offering on the altar of the Fatherland.

A hero’s death on the battlefield is certainly finer, but such is not to be my lot, and I die here in the Enemy’s country silent and unknown, but the consciousness that I die in the service of the Fatherland makes death easy.

The Supreme Court Marshal [sic] of London has sentenced me to death for Military Conspiracy. Tomorrow I shall be shot here in the Tower. I have had just Judges, and I shall die as an Officer, not as a spy. Farewell, God bless you. Hans.’

The last time the Tower was the venue for such an execution was in 1941 when, at 7.12 a.m. on 15 August, Josef Jakobs faced a firing squad provided by the Scots Guards. Having injured his ankle on landing by parachute, he was allowed to sit down in the rifle-range. Subsequent examination of the chair by the author testified to the accuracy of the squad, the back supporting rail having been shot away, accuracy confirmed by the fact that of the eight bullets fired by the guardsmen, five had pierced the circle of white lint which had been pinned over Jakob’s heart, killing him instantly.

In America death by firing squad is the method of execution adopted by some states; in others it is an alternative to that of hanging. Condemned criminals are given the choice and almost invariably opt to face the rifles rather than the rope. Guns always having had their place in that country’s history, it is hardly surprising to learn that the first recorded execution by firing squad occurred as early as 1608, when a councillor in the colony of Virginia met his death in that way.

One can only hope that he died quicker than did murderer E. J. Mares, who in 1951 faced a firing squad consisting of five civilians, each armed with a new rifle and a bullet, one a blank round. The squad had been chosen in secret, and on the appointed day had been driven to the site, there to position themselves behind a thick stone wall pierced by five gun ports. When all was ready, the condemned man was secured in a chair some yards away, a heart-shaped target being pinned on his chest as the aiming-point.

All five members of the squad fired with, however, lamentable results: whether because of humane reluctance or sheer incompetence, all four bullets struck the right-hand side of the victim’s chest, resulting in a debacle whereby death came with agonising slowness as Mares bled to death.

At this stage it should be pointed out that the inclusion of a blank round in order to salve the consciences of the squad members (‘Mine might have been the blank, so it must have been the others who killed him/her, not me’) is somewhat of a fallacy: there is a markedly detectable difference in kick, the recoil of a rifle, when firing a blank, compared to that experienced on firing a live round. The barrel, too, is noticeably cooler, having had no bullet pass through it. However, it could be said that if, psychologically, a squad member wanted to believe that he was not responsible, the knowledge that a blank had been issued among the live ones would thus provide the conscience-saving opportunity.

This understandable aversion to killing a person against whom one felt no personal animosity posed an obvious problem to those detailed for the task (although, as with advertisements placed for the job of hangman, there was no shortage of applications from amateur enthusiasts or cranks). The problem was solved with all the zest and ingenuity that characterises the American aptitude for innovation – they made a machine to do it. After all, they reasoned, newly designed weapons have to be mounted on a stand and fired by remote control from a safe distance, so why not have such a machine replace the human firing squad? While the machine would still have to be triggered by a human being, at least the mechanically directed aiming would ensure the necessary degree of accuracy.

So, in the early years of this century, such a machine was constructed. Three rifles, mounted in a small steel cubicle, their muzzles protruding via ports, were designed to fire when three cords were cut, these controlling spring mechanisms connected to the triggers of the weapons. Again, one rifle was loaded with a blank, which one unidentifiable to the three men severing the cords.

So far so good, but it was necessary not only to test the rifles
in situ
but to ‘zero in’ each one on the exact aiming-point, the victim’s heart. But until the victim was actually seated in the chair, where precisely would that aiming-point be? There was only one way to find out. This was ascertained in a bizarre fashion, one that must have put an almost unbearable strain on the victim’s nerves: prior to the date of the execution, it involved his being strapped into the chair for a dummy run! There, the doctor determined the position of the heart, using his stethoscope, and a target was pinned in position. The rifles were aligned on this and fixed securely on their stand, and the victim escorted back to his cell. The mechanism was then tested, the rifles firing at a target then pinned to the back of the chair, and achieved such perfect results that the subsequent execution passed off without mishap.

The machine was used only once, being later superseded by the gas chamber and lethal injection. As the basic principle was sound, and human firing squads continue to be employed in the United States, one wonders why the machine method has not been updated by microchip technology which could eliminate the need for the preliminary sighting ordeal. One can only assume that members of contemporary firing squads have more accurate weapons and perhaps are less prone to aim off-target for personally held humanitarian reasons.

Such misgivings play no part, or are stifled, where military firing squads are concerned, service regulations being framed to govern all actions and behaviour. Like those of most countries, the American orders during World War Two for execution by musketry detailed the roles of all participants:

‘The officer in charge will instruct the escort and the execution party in their duties. He will arrange for the receipt of the prisoner by the prisoner guard, an execution party of twelve men and a sergeant, and for a chaplain to accompany the prisoner. He will cause a post with proper rings placed therein for securing the prisoner in an upright position, to be erected at the place of execution, and order twelve rifles to be loaded in his presence. Not more than four nor less than one will be loaded with blank ammunition, and will be placed at random in a rack provided for that purpose.