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Originally in Port Phillip there was no stated allowance provided for an execution, and the first hangman's office was required in the case of the. two Vandiemonian aborigines executed in January, 1842. AA'hen it was announced that a hangman yvas wanted, there were a dozen applicants for the post, but as the Government restricted the choice to convicts under sentence, one Samuel Davies was selected. H e was a double-distilled scoundrel, yvho, after doing a sentence at the Ocean Hill—known as Port Arthur— passed over to the new settlement, where he soon got into trouble, and was serving as a " lifer " when the stroke of luck came in his way yvhich secured his enlargement. His remuneration for hisfirstjob must have astonished him, for he was not only paid £ 1 0 in hard cash, but be also obtained yvhat was knoyvn as a "Ticket-of-leave," i.e., a discharge from prison and his freedom so long as he "mustered and reported" himself to the police. This fellow was about the best conducted of our hangmen, and he continued to officiate until certain doubts arising out of the validity of the removal from office of thefirstResident Judge (Willis), led to the practical abolition of capital punishment for several years, when, Davies' occupation being gone, he slipped quietly out of the public mind, and neither nominally nor otherwise was anything knoyvn or heard of him afterwards. T h e first permanent executioner in the colony was one Jack Harris, w h o was transported from England to N e w South AVales in 1818, and remained a prisoner of the Crown for twenty-nine years in the N e w South AVales penal establishments. Here he yvas employed for some time as assistant hangman, but never accomplished a "turning off" himself until a regular appointment yvas made. His emoluments were 2s. 6d. per diem, with rations and a cell in the Melbourne prison. Jack's 'prentice hand was in ridding the yvorld of a convicted murderer, and a bungling muddle he m a d e of the job. It took him just eight minutes to effect the strangulation of the hapless being on yvhom he had to operate, and it was a horrible sight to behold. H e used too thick a rope, and yvas ignorant of the " professional knot," which, after the drop fell, shifted under the culprit's chin ; and had there not been a long fall the eight minutes would probably have been extended to eight-and-tyventy. Harris having obtained his freedom, became a thorough drunken scamp and public nuisance. T h e police often brought him before the Police Bench, whence he yvas usually sent back to gaol. O n e day he m a d e his appearance before Mr. Henry Moor, one of the ancient Mayors. H e yvas accused of having been drunk and disorderly, and begged hard for another chance, protesting most solemnly that if let off only this time he would most certainly turn over a new leaf. M o o r good-naturedly took him at his word, which so astonished Jack that he burst forth into a profusion of thanks :—" A n d so, please your Vursbip " (concluded he), " I h a m so mightily hobleeged to you that, s'elp me, hif hit hever do 'appen that you come hin m y line you m a y believe m e that hi'll do you ha good turn." T h e roars of laughter that greeted this wind-up in a croyvded Court seemed to tickle and annoy the Magistrate, who, though always good-humoured, did not m u c h relish a laugh against himself, and he quickly retorted on the unconsciously offending " Mr. Ketch :"—" Be off, you scoundrel, or I will repent m y leniency and give you six months. Y o u rascal, I will take precious good care you shall never have a chance of doing m e either a good or a bad 'turn.' I will keep out of your clutches, never fear." Jack "quickly took the hint, twitched the hair over his forehead with thumb and forefinger, and with a lowly jerk of the head and a villainous half-smothered snigger, hastily went through a right-about-face and left the Court. This fellow kept in and out of gaol for a couple of years, during yvhich he yvas almost a sinecurist, for there was only one execution in 1848, none in '49 or '50, and but one in 1851. T h e gaol floggings did not average more than two per annum, and Harris began so to rust that he one day m a d e a dash at Geelong, stormed the place, committed some larcenies, and only came to a halt in the Geelong gaol. At an execution towards the close of 1851 (Harris having been recently convicted of felony) it yvas thought desirable to have a brand-new hangman, and the office was conferred upon James Cahill, w h o was an " Emancipist," or prisoner free by servitude. H e also hailed from Sydney. But he was a poor hand with the " cats," and so fumbled over hisfirsthanging that had not Harris been brought from Geelong as a helper, Cahill would hardly have got through yvith it. Cahill married a fine buxom immigrant girl of no mean personal attractions. O n e day soon after her arrival she was walking in the bush northward of the gaol. The hangman yvas seated on a stump, reading a well-thumbed novel. They met, they sayv, they conquered. T h e wedding was solemnized at St. Francis', in the presence of quite a concourse of ladies from 15 to 50, eager to see h o w a hangman could bear the tying of an ecclesiastical halter about his oyvn neck. T h e