Page:Execution, or, The affecting history of Tom Bragwell.pdf/24

 dead with fear at the time the executioner performed the sad office of adjusting the rope about his neck; which, indeed, he appeared to have considerable difficulty in accomplishing, owing to something of a bulky nature, for which I was unable to account. Another peal from 'heaven’s dread artillery' seemed to awaken the criminal from his fit, just as the cap was about to be drawn over his face, for he looked fearfully around him; but the hangman having done his duty, and the attendants having retired, whether from accident, or that they thought they had had sufficient trouble with him already, I know not, but without waiting for the appointed signal, the drop fell, and, after a few convulsive struggles, the unhappy youth, cut off for his crimes in the midst of his days, went, indeed, to meet his Judge.

The rain now pouring down in torrents, dispersed the crowd, which gave me an easier passage out, and I found no difficulty to regain my lodgings before the unfortunate lad was cut down, in order to undergo the latter part of his sentence.—I looked up to the inanimate corpse as I passed the scaffold, and could not help thinking, that the clothes in which the poor wretch met his untimely fate, had, in part, assumed somewhat of a bloody appearance.