T h e last though not the least, but the most injured—Henry (" Harry") Fowler. H e is the only one ofthe "Fighting Five" now amongst us (1888), and is no stranger about town, for he may be met any day sauntering leisurely up and d o w n with hands philosophically folded behind his back, taking the world easily and very partial to peering through shop windows, or having a turn at a game of billiards. M r . Fowler therefore remains the sole survivor—calm looking, white-haired, and time-bleached—the solitary remanet of five as gallant, light-hearted, and free-handed young m e n as ever enrolled themselves amongst the pioneers of a new country.
A " HANGING " POSTSCRIPT.
If the ancient records of the yvorld are to be credited, the status of that repulsive, but eminently indispensable, public functionary, the State P^xecutioner, was variously determined at different times and places. In Imperial R o m e the "carnifex" was an object of such aversion that he was not permitted to dwell within the City AValls. During the Middle Ages, the office of " headsman " yvas held in such esteem as to be hereditary in certain European countries; whilst during the brief Danish Succession in England, the executioner was a functionary of such dignity that, according to Spelman's Glossary, he yvas treated as of equal rank with the Archbishop of York and the Lord Steward. There was once upon a time in London a c o m m o n hangman, known as Gregory Brandon, yvho by a trick so imposed upon a Garter King at A r m s as to be enrolled as an "Esquire," and London hangmen were for some time designated " Gregories " or " Squires " after him. Another similar official was a Mr. Dunn, and, as a posthumous compliment, several successive "finishersof the law " Were known as " Dunns." T h e London hangman, w h o has most effectually descended nominally to posterity, was a Mr. John Ketch, supposed to have flourished A n n o 1682. H e was a married gentleman, and his dexterity in ridding the yvorld of condemned criminals inspired his wife with such admiration for his handicraft, as to m a k e her boastful of his skill. She was incessantly declaring to her neighbourly gossips " that anyone might do a plain piece of work, such as a bare hanging; but to m a k e a malefactor ' die sweetly,' yvas a gift that belonged only to her husband." Still the identity of this individual is by no means settled beyond dispute, notyvithstanding an assertion of the great historian, Macaulay, that " Jack Ketch " was the popular n a m e for a public hangman, derived from a person so called yvho officiated as such in the reign of Charles II. " Jack Ketch " was quite an apocryphal hero if there be truth in Lloyd's M S . collection of British pedigrees in the British M u s e u m , where the following version of the origin of the unenviable nomenclature is to be found :—" T h e manor of Tyburn, where felons were for a considerable period executed, was held by one Richard 'Jaquett,' whose cognomen was afterwards corrupted or anglicised into 'Jack Ketch,' a bisection or transformation which seems to have chimed in so 'ketchingly' yvith the vulgar taste, that yvhen once caught it was detained, and so remains incorporated with English slang to the present time, not only in Britain, but in every portion of the globe yvhere the Anglo-Saxon tongue is spoken." There yvas also in London during the 17th century a hangman named Derrick, whose cognomen is also imperishably inwoven with our language. This yvorthy yvas such a genius in his particular line of swinging, that he devised a novel m o d e of roping the wretches turned over to his care ; but though his invention did not take in the manner intended, it suggested the construction of a special sort of crane by lashing spars in the manner in which Derrick rigged his gibbets, a contrivance found so convenient and effectual in unloading and hoisting purposes on board ship, that it grew into a regular maritime appliance, and a modification of it is still known as the Derrick. In connection with the old English executioners, a curious fallacy exists as to their scale of remuneration. Hangmen's wages have been assessed at thirteenpence halfpenny per case, with the culprit's clothes thrown in as a perquisite; but this is a popular error, which originated in the fact that, stealing to the value of the amount stated yvas at one time regarded as a capital crime. In reality the hanging tariff yvas considerably higher, as is shown by the following transcript of an account furnished (ioth November, 1813) to Sir John Silvester, a London Recorder : — T o executioner's fees, 7s. 6d.; to stripping the body, 4s. 6d.; to use of shell, 2s. 6d.; total, 14s. 6d.
