William Calcraft (1800–1879) was the most famous English hangman of the 19th century. One of the most prolific British executioners of all time, it is estimated that he carried out 450 executions during his 45-year career. A cobbler by trade, Calcraft was initially recruited to flog juvenile offenders after meeting the City of London's hangman, John Foxton, while selling meat pies near Newgate Prison. He succeeded Foxton, but his controversial use of the short-drop method of hanging, in which the victims were strangled rather than had their vertebrae broken by the fall when the trapdoor on the gallows was released, caused some to consider him incompetent. Many took several minutes to die, and to hasten their deaths Calcraft sometimes pulled on their legs, or even climbed on their shoulders in an attempt to break their necks. Calcraft's antics may have been intended to entertain the crowds of more than 30,000 that sometimes attended his executions before a change in the law in 1868 meant that executions could only take place in prisons. Among his victims were Marie and Frederick Manning, the first husband and wife to be hanged together since 1700.
Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Calcraft
_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
1014:
Byzantine–Bulgarian wars: Forces of the Byzantine Empire defeated troops of the Bulgarian Empire at the Battle of Kleidion in the Belasica Mountains near present-day Klyuch, Bulgaria. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Kleidion
1836:
The Arc de Triomphe in Paris, commemorating those who fought and died for France in the French Revolutionary and the Napoleonic Wars, was formally inaugurated. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arc_de_Triomphe
1862:
American Civil War: Confederate spy Belle Boyd was arrested by Union troops after her lover turned her in. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belle_Boyd
1967:
Vietnam War: During preparation for another strike in the Gulf of Tonkin, the aircraft carrier USS Forrestal was hit by a series of chain-reaction explosions caused by an unusual electrical anomaly on its flight deck, killing 134 sailors and injuring 161 others. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1967_USS_Forrestal_fire
2010:
An overloaded passenger ferry capsized on the Kasai River in Bandundu Province of the Democratic Republic of Congo, resulting in at least 80 deaths. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kasai_River_disaster
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
shipwrecky: 1. Characteristic of a shipwreck. 2. (figuratively) Weak, feeble; shaky. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/shipwrecky
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
Now, the redemption which we as yet await (continued Imlac), will be that of Kalki, who will come as a Silver Stallion: all evils and every sort of folly will perish at the coming of this Kalki: true righteousness will be restored, and the minds of men will be made as clear as crystal. --James Branch Cabell https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/James_Branch_Cabell