Pregled posta

Marketing

John Ellis - Period in office - 1901 - 1923

John Ellis (October 4 1874 – September 20 1932) Born in Rochdale, England, he took the responsibility of his position very seriously and hoped to "despatch" the condemned person with as little fuss and pain to the individual concerned. He was a very professional man. An insight into his behaviour and methods can be read in the book Diary of a Hangman in which he describes his methods and recalls the final moments of some of the people he executed, who included the poisoner Frederick Seddon in 1912.

Ellis committed suicide by cutting his throat in 1932. He was said by his friends to have been unable to recover from the ordeal of executing Edith Thompson, and that the Thompson execution had also precipitated his retirement.

John Ellis was the uncle of Canada's executioner Arthur English (aka Arthur Ellis).

Ellis was a notably mild mannered man who ultimately committed suicide possibly through the stresses incurred by his job as hangman and possibly through the effects of the slump on his business as a barber. He had a particular dislike of hanging women for reasons that will become apparent.

Ellis was a British executioner for 23 years at the beginning of the 20th century. He was a man who took the responsibility of his position very seriously and hoped to 'despatch' the condemned person with as little fuss and pain to the individual concerned. He was a very professional man. An insight into his behaviour and methods can be read in the book 'Diary of a hangman' which is a book where he describes his methods and some of the people he remembers executing and their final moments on earth.

He executed several famous criminals, notably: Herbert Rowse Armstrong who he hanged on the 31st of May 1922 at Gloucester prison for the murder, by arsenic poisoning, of his wife. There is some doubt now over Armstrong's guilt and new evidence has been unearthed by another, present day solicitor, who acquired Armstrong's practice in Hay on Wye and works in his old office and even bought his house.

Dr Hawley Harvey Crippen is perhaps the most famous criminal to come Ellis's way. He was hanged on the 23rd of November 1910 at Pentonville prison for the murder of his wife, Cora Crippen. Crippen was the first person to be caught by the use of the new wireless telegraph system allowing him to be arrested aboard the S. S. Montrose on which he had sailed to Quebec in Canada with his lover Ethel Le Neve. At the time it was seen as the 'Crime of the Century' and has held a fascination for many ever since.

George Smith was the famous 'Brides in the Bath' murderer whom Ellis hanged on the 13th of August 1915 at Maidstone prison. Smith had married and then drowned Alice Burnham, Beatrice Constance, Annie Mundy and Margaret Elizabeth Lofty for financial gain, via their life insurance policies and wills.

Sir Roger Casement was unusual in that he had been convicted of treason, having tried to get the Germans to send arms and equipment to Ireland to start the 1916 Easter Uprising. He was hanged at Pentonville on the 3rd of August 1916.

In 1923 Ellis had the worst job of his career when he and Robert Baxter hanged Edith Jessie Thompson aged 28 on the 9th of January at Holloway for her part in the murder of her husband Percy who was stabbed to death by Frederick Bywaters. She had to be carried to the gallows and it was reported that her underwear was covered in blood after the hanging. After this all other women were made to wear canvas underpants.

This pair also hanged Susan Newell at Duke Street prison Glasgow on the 10th of October 1923. 30 year old Newell had strangled newspaper boy, John Johnston, who would not give her an evening paper without the money. She was the first woman to hang in Scotland for over fifty years and on the gallows refused the traditional white hood.

John Ellis carried out his final execution on the 28th of December 1923, when he hanged John Eastwood at Armley prison in Leeds, for the murder of his wife. In March of 1924 he tended his resignation due to poor health, having executed a total of 203 people. Before his suicide on September 20th 1932, Ellis wrote his memoirs 'Diary of a Hangman' which has been recently reprinted.

He retired in 1924, attempting suicide later that year. On September 20, 1932, he drunkenly threatened his wife and child with a razor, then slit his own throat.

Ted Rogers, left, President and CEO of Rogers Communication and Richard Peddie, President and CEO of Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment pose for a photograph during a press conference that announced Rogers Communications Inc. and Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment have plans for a multi year partnership that will see Roger's become MLSE's preferred supplier for telecom services including wireless voice, data, landline telephone, cable, cable internet, internet access as well telecommunications and business solutions on Tuesday, Sept 5, 2006 in Toronto.
(CP PHOTO/Nathan Denette)