Speaking of the Death Penalty ...

The hangman's building in Virginia City, Montana still stands.
September, 2005, photo by Road Notes.

"For God's sake," said he, "if you're going to hang me, I want you to do it and get through with it. If not, I want you to tie up my finger for me." "Give me that overcoat of yours, Jack," he said to Jack Gallager, as the latter was stripped for the noose."

You won't need it now," replied Jack Gallager, who was dying blasphemous. About then, George Lane, one of the line of men about to be hung, jumped off his box on his own account." There's one gone to hell," remarked Boone Helm, philosophically. Jack Gallager was hanged next, and as he struggled his former friend watched him calmly. "Kick away, old fellow," said Boone Helm. Then, as though suddenly resolved to end it, he commented, "My turn next. I'll be in hell with you in a minute!"

You can read the rest of the two-page story at Legends Of America.

Found it in a comment by Bisbonian at the J-Walk Blog:

FYI - Boone Helm was Bisbonian's great-great grandfather's cousin.

I read the story ... there is a dearth of information about their "appeals." I guess that's what they meant by "vigilante court." I did a small amount of research trying to find out if this "vigilante" stuff was actually legal at one point but I never made the determination ... although, it was VERY common in the late 1800's. It seems every town with a dirt road had official "vigilantes." I shall do more research on this in the future and report to you on just WTF the story is.

Also, I was too lazy (at first) to look it up ... but wtf with "kick away old fellow?" Hadn't they learned about the proper "drop" necessary to do away with all the kicking and struggling? Sheesh. Perhaps that was part of the punishment/entertainment. I wonder if they ever played "Pinata" with them.

I got motivated and looked it up ... apparently they didna figure out the "drop" stuff until the late 1800's. I guess the information hadn't made it out to the west yet (as best I can determine, Boone's hanging took place in the late 1860's) ... or maybe they couldna do the math ... you know ... cuz people who lived long ago weren't as smart as we modern geniuses. Anyway, the "drop" info follows.

From Wikipedia:

There are four ways of performing a judicial hanging — the short drop, suspension hanging, the standard drop, and the long drop. A mechanized form of hanging, the upright jerker, was also experimented with in the 18th century.

Short drop
The short drop is done by placing the condemned prisoner on the back of a cart, horse, or other vehicle, with the noose around the neck. The object is then moved away, leaving the person dangling from the rope. The condemned prisoner dies of strangulation, typically between ten and twenty minutes. Before 1850, it was the main method. A ladder was also commonly used with the condemned being forced to ascend, after which the noose was tied and the ladder pulled away or turned, leaving the condemned hanging. Another method involves using a stool, which the condemned is required to stand on, being kicked away.

Standard drop
The standard drop, which arrived as calculated in English units, involves a drop of between four and six feet (1.2 to 1.8 m) and came into use from 1866, when the scientific details were published by an Irish doctor, Samuel Haughton. Immediately its use spread to English-speaking countries and those where judicial systems had an English origin. It was considered a humane improvement on the short drop because it was intended to be enough to break the person's neck, causing immediate paralysis and immobilization (and probable immediate unconsciousness).

Long drop
This process, also known as the measured drop, was introduced to Britain in 1872 by William Marwood as a scientific advancement to the standard drop. Instead of everyone falling the same standard distance, the person's height, weight and strength[4] were used to determine how much slack would be provided in the rope so that the distance dropped would be enough to ensure that the neck was broken but not so much that the person was decapitated.

Prior to 1892, the drop was between four and ten feet (about one to three metres), depending on the weight of the body, and was calculated to deliver a force of 1,260 lbf (5,600 newtons or 572 kgf), which fractured the neck at either the 2nd and 3rd or 4th and 5th cervical vertebrae. However, this force resulted in some decapitations, such as the famous case of "Black Jack" Tom Ketchum in New Mexico Territory in 1901. Between 1892 and 1913, the length of the drop was shortened to avoid decapitation. After 1913, other factors were also taken into account, and the force delivered was reduced to about 1,000 lbf (4,400 N or 450 kgf). The decapitation of Eva Dugan during a botched hanging in 1930 led the state of Arizona to switch to the gas chamber as its primary execution method, on the grounds that it was believed more humane.