They Hanged My Saintly Billy (80 page)

In
the
immediate
vicinity
of
the
Gaol,
raised
platforms
were erected
on
every
available
spot
which
afforded
a
sight
of
the gallows.
Twenty-three
of
them
crowded
the
Gaol
and
County Road;
and
the
charge
of
admission
to
some
of
the
front
seats
was as
high
as
a
guinea
for
each
person.
Half-a-guinea
seemed
to
be
the ordinary
rate,
but
places
at
the
back
were
obtainable
for
less
money. In
the
County
Road,
the
roof
of
one
house
had
been
boarded over,
to
afford
a
vantage
point
from
which
the
execution
could
be witnessed.
In
other
instances,
householders
let
the
produce
of
their well-kept
gardens
be
trodden
underfoot,
for
the
price
of
standing room.
As
early
as
ten
o'clock
on
Friday
night,
scores
of
people
had taken
up
positions
on
the
platforms,
expressing
a
resolve
to
stay there
until
they
saw
Palmer
hanged;
drenching
rain,
however, soon
compelled
them
to
seek
shelter
in
adjoining
inns.
During
the night,
the
streets
were
tolerably
empty,
except
for
visitors
arriving by
the
midnight
mail
trains,
north
and
south;
but
as
soon
as
the grey
dawn
scattered
the
darkness,
all
Stafford
burst
into
renewed life
and
activity.
The
public
houses
gradually
disgorged
their occupants,
and
a
continuous
stream
of
vehicles,
from
the
four-in-hand
to
the
overladen
pony-cart,
poured
into
the
town—a
traffic augmented
by
droves
of
pedestrians.
Long
before
five
o'clock, every
street
leading
to
the
Gaol
was
choked.
By
eight
o'clock,
it was
estimated
that
some
twenty
thousand
strangers
had
arrived in
Stafford.
Bands
of
colliers
from
the
neighbouring
pits
formed in
the
midst
of
the
crowd
and
seemed
so
bent
on
forcing
their
way nearer
to
the
scaffold
that
the
great
preparations
which
the
magistrates
and
Police
made
to
preserve
order
and
avoid
accidents,
were fully
justified.

Barriers
had
been
erected
at
intervals
in
the
streets
to
lessen
the pressure
of
the
crowd,
and
detachments
of
the
County
Constabulary,
to
the
number
of
one
hundred
and
sixty,
under
the
command
of
Captain
Hatton,
the
Chief
Constable,
were
stationed
at all
salient
points.
One
hundred
and
fifty
specially
sworn
constables
assisted
them.

Since
scarcely
one-half
of
the
assembly
could
get
a
view
of
the scaffold,
the
rest
struggled
with
all
their
might
to
improve
their positions.
The
setting
up
of
the
scaffold,
at
about
four
o'clock
in the
morning,
was
taken
as
a
proof
that
the
execution
would
not be
deferred;
which
further
encouraged
those
who
were
unfavourably
placed
to
press
close
and,
if
possible,
hear
the
dying
speech which
it
was
hoped
Dr
Palmer
would
deliver.

As
the
hour
of
eight
approached,
the
excitement
of
the
mob grew
more
intense,
yet
there
was
no
disturbance
that
warranted Police
interference.

About
eighty
thousand
tracts
suitable
to
the
occasion,
and
a number
of
Bibles,
were
distributed
by
Mr
Radcliffe,
a
religious gentleman
from
Liverpool,
and
his
helpers,
among
the
immense crowd.
In
several
dissenting
chapels
continuous
services
on
behalf of
the
unhappy
culprit
had
been
held
all
night,
and
numberless preachers
exercised
their
calling
from
the
platforms
when
daylight appeared.

Contrary
to
the
usual
custom
in
small
country
towns,
the scaffold,
a
huge
affair,
somewhat
resembling
an
agricultural machine
and
hung
with
black
cloth,
was
not
built
upon
the
top of
the
prison,
but
brought
out
in
front,
so
as
to
bar
the
road. Smith,
the
man
selected
to
execute
the
sentence
of
the
law,
was once
a
nailer—a
great,
coarse
fellow,
standing
five
feet
ten
inches —but
left
his
original
vocation
soon
after
he
became
hangman
in the
year
1840,
and
now
pursues
the
precarious
trade
of
a
higgler. Smith
hanged
Moore
for
the
murder
of
the
Ash
Flats,
four
years ago;
and
once
ran
a
race
against
time,
almost
naked,
through We
dnesbury
town,
being
sent
to
gaol
immediately
on
accomp
lishing
this
feat.
The
rope
destined
for
Dr
Palmer's
neck
was twisted
by
a
ropemaker
named
Coates,
who
is
also
a
porter
at
the Stafford
railway
station.
All
the
railwaymen
lent
a
hand
in
this task,
and
Coates,
having
an
eye
to
the
main
chance,
made
thirty yards,
cut
the
surplus
length
up
into
small
pieces
of
two
or
three inches,
and
hawked
them
through
the
streets
of
Stafford,
at
a shilling
the
inch.