The Toll on the Executioner

Nothing deters like capital punishment, right? A comfortable notion that needed to be investigated, so I did. If it works then surely people close to the system would be deterred, especially executioners and would-be hangmen. So were they? Months after his resignation as Chief Executioner John Ellis, tried to commit suicide in 1924 – then a criminal offence – after a bout of drinking.

Ellis promised not only to curb his drinking, but never to attempt suicide again, but Ellis died by his own hand eight years later. He threatened to kill his wife and daughter with a cut-throat razor. They fled before the former executioner who had participated in over two-hundred executions turned the razor on himself in September 1932. Had he succeeded in killing his wife and daughter rather than himself, he would probably have faced execution at the hands of his bitter rival Tom Pierrepoint.

The Applicant

Ellis escaped the gallows, but one would-be executioner was not so fortunate. In previous centuries some executioners had committed worse crimes than the people they were hanging and at least two ended their lives on the gallows.

As the twentieth century approached villainy was no longer a recommendation, but one criminal had aspirations of a career on the other side of the rope. Samuel Dougal applied to become a hangman in the 1890s. He was rejected as unsuitable. Nevertheless, he plainly knew the consequences for murder.

While France celebrated the 114^th anniversary of the storming of the Bastille, Dougal finally got his own tour of the execution chamber, but from the wrong side. He was there to be hanged by William Billington, assisted by Ellis, although an over-enthusiastic prison chaplain delayed it by thrice demanding to know if Dougal was guilty or not. After refusing to answer twice Dougal confirmed his guilt from beneath the hood and the lever was pulled. The chaplainʼs behaviour infuriated Billington.

The Road to the Gallows:

He was the only applicant to become a hangman to go to the gallows in the twentieth century in Britain. In 1885 Dougal buried two wives who had died in mysterious circumstances in Canada. Seven years later he married again in Dublin – the most fortunate of his partners. Falling on hard times he saw the inside of a prison cell for forgery. Sarah White left him soon after his release and Dougal set his sights on the wealthy Camille Holland, or rather her money and property.

They moved in together and Dougalʼs roving eye settled on servant Florence Havis. His attempt to molest her was thwarted by Holland on May 16^th 1899. Three days later Holland went missing. Dougal soon moved his wife in and enjoyed access to Hollandʼs bank account. He had a succession of girlfriends, but seemed to have a charmed existence.

Eventually the police investigated Hollandʼs disappearance – forged cheques proved the beginning of the end. He was arrested on March 18^th 1903 at a bank in possession of bank notes with serial numbers the police had informed banks to be alert for. Arrested on a holding charge of forgery his Moat House Farm in Essex was searched and the decomposing body of Camille Holland was finally discovered.

She had been shot in the head with Dougalʼs gun. After a two-day trial Mr Justice Wright donned the black cloth and sentenced the applicant executioner to be hanged. Dougal was hanged in Chelmsford Prison on July 14^th 1903. The ultimate deterrent could not prevent a would-be hangman from committing murder and ending his life on the gallows.