Execution by hanging is arguably one of the most brutal methods of carrying out a death sentence. Although this form of capital punishment is now prohibited in the United States, it was widely relied upon during the 19th century. For the accused, this often meant a long march to the gallows and then the uncertainty of how long it would take them to die and whether it would be painful. This length of time and the level of the prisoner’s discomfort often depended on the executioner’s method of hanging. With a hanging, there is more to it than simply putting a rope around a person’s neck and letting them fall. Of course, the end result is almost always the same, but the process can have some variations.
short drop. The short drop method of hanging a person was perhaps a condemned man’s worst nightmare. Commonly used before 1850, it usually involved a cart, horse, or stool, which was removed once the prisoner had a noose around their neck. Usually the fall was only a distance of a few cases, so the person was slowly strangled to death. The weight of his dangling body and his struggle worked to tighten the rope, which would eventually close off the prisoner’s airway and crush his carotid artery. Not only was it a slow death, it was also quite painful.
long drop. The long drop was developed as a more humane way of passing death sentences on prisoners. Unlike the short drop, in which everyone fell the same distance, the long drop was designed so that a person’s body weight determined the distance of the fall, usually between six and ten feet. This method also ensured that the neck was broken rather than the prisoner slowly dying from strangulation. However, there were a few notable cases where the long drop did not work as planned and the condemned man was beheaded. This ghastly event would occur when the rope was too long and the force of the fall was too much for the victim’s body to support. However, in general, the long fall was considered a human advance in this form of capital punishment. Although the practice is commonly considered to have been “invented” in the 1870s, it was in fact used before this. One of the earliest recorded instances of the long drop being used was during the execution of Octavius Barron in Rochester, New York. The year was 1838 and Barron had been sentenced to death for the murder of William Lyman. Lyman was a respected and well-liked businessman in the city, so when he was robbed and mercilessly killed by Barron, the citizens of Rochester were quick to mete out the harshest punishment possible. On June 7, 1838, Barron stepped on a trapdoor that, when opened, would drop him several feet to his death. A reporter observed this new hanging method and noted that Barron died quickly and without a fight.
There are also two other hanging methods, the standard drop and hanging suspension. The standard drop is much like the long drop, with prisoners falling four to six feet to their death. The main difference here is that body weight is not taken into account in determining fall distance in a standard fall. A suspension drop, on the other hand, works the opposite way, lifting the condemned upwards with a crane or some other lifting device.