Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 08.pdf/439

 402

well Hill murderers did not fall below the high dramatic level to which the earlier stages in the tragedy attained. Another convict — a man Seaman — was to be hanged along with them. Mrs. Dyer's ex ecution had been arranged for the same day, but an inspection of the cross-beam of the gallows rendered it doubtful whether it would bear the quadruple strain. And so another day of life was meted out to Mrs. Dyer. On the day before the execution she was moved to Holloway gaol, in order that she might not hear the dismal bell of St. Sepulchres tolling the knell of the de parting souls of her fellow convicts, or the dull thud of the collapsing door. She was brought back when all was over, and was obliged to walk, on the way to her cell, over

the graves of Seaman, Fowler and Milsom. On the morning of the execution of the Muswell Hill murderers a great crowd gathered outside Newgate to watch for the rising of the black flag which announces that justice has been satisfied. There was a pretty general expectation that Fowler would die hard, and sounds of scuffling and cries were heard before the gloomy deathsignal ascended. Nothwithstanding the police statements, and coroner's jury's verdict, that the execution was carried out in an absolutely decorous manner, several persons still persist in asserting the reality of these impressions. The phenomenon is an instance of the familiar hallucinations of hearing, which great mental excitement is apt to produce.