The Executioner of the 
'ceremonial murder'
-P.Krishnamoorthy 

(The backdrop for this story dates before 1986 when hanging was the official      method used to carry out death sentences in the State of Delaware)

The dawn was customary in Greenville, Delaware.  William Thomas got up early from bed after a disturbed night of sleep. He was brooding over a communication received from the James T Vaughan Correction Centre; he was scheduled to carry out a hanging sentence on a day and time during the next week. He was upset because the scheduled day happened to be an important day in his life – his birthday, wedding day, and his retirement day – all falling on the same day. He would retire from service as an experienced hangman, having more than two hundred hangings to his ‘credit’ during the past three decades. Though he joined the Correctional facility as a warden, he opted for hangman’s cadre for the sake of higher pay.   As a young man, initially he did not mind the concept of killing somebody if it was ordered by the Justice department.

After his marriage, his wife encouraged him to attend church services regularly. The church environment, prayers and its basic divine principle -not to harm anybody- held tremendous appeal. He became extremely dissatisfied with handling the killing machine and consistently toyed with the idea of joining any other profession. However, his resume reflected his position as ‘Executioner’ thereby disqualifying him in all his attempts for improvement. Hangman or executioner, he was shunned as a disgraceful human being even by the neighbours. Thomas had read extensively about the Executioner’s job - once hereditary for generations - and the notable dynasty was the Pierrepoints in Britain. During that period, the job was respected by a section of society. He had also read other comments about the hangman’s job as ‘ridiculously illogical’ - hangmen, in carrying out judicial orders, were incapable of analyzing whether it was  morally right or wrong, and by some favouring factions, it was equal to a soldier killing the enemy to save and serve the motherland.

Initially, hangmen were bound to have remorse or any other emotional feelings, but in the long run they got used to the ‘killing’ by carrying out similar assignments. They would have difficulty assimilating the experience in their personal lives … and the suggestion to agree with what you do, and depersonalize as soldiers do. Soldiers kill "enemies" with a sense of duty but a hangman has no choice in selecting them. The man who pulled the lever to cause death had to be an impassive man and that impassiveness was the bedrock principle of justice. Possibly, he controls his emotions within the boundaries of his personal feelings.  One critic had recorded that the victim in hanging ‘sees death in front of him’. Thomas did not agree with such chronicles. He was now against the concept of planned ‘killing’ of one human by another under the shelter of judicial authority.

To make ends meet in the household budget, he continued his service against his will. His divine faith helped him to have a strong mind to accept the inevitable, and compelled him to make a ‘confession’ in a church nearby after completion of every hanging. Though Judicial authority was there to protect him for every hanging, he continued doing so with a heavy heart and guilty conscience. On completing his assignment, he would wash his sinful hands and cry briefly to alleviate depression. Whenever he received a communication for such an assignment, mental agony haunted him. It was difficult to conceal his feelings of remorse from his family… thus making him a ‘dual personality’.  He longed for retirement which would relieve him from the shackles of committing more sins, and he fervently prayed that before retirement he would not be scheduled for another assignment. 

The latest communication he received from the correctional facility had shattered his hope for an assignment-free retirement day. He tried to cancel the assignment. However, the request was refused because it was impossible to find an alternate for him on that day.  Left with no other choice he had to be in the correction facility at the time and date scheduled. As he prepared for the tragic event that would include checking the gallows, the lever, the rope and the noose, he was briefed that one Michael Smith of Wilmington would be the convict facing the death penalty. Smith had murdered a family of four in a gruesome way five years ago in Wilmington. His many ‘mercy’ appeals failed at all levels.  Smith had attended classes in Williston Middle School in Wilmington. Thomas interrupted reading the brief as he suddenly remembered someone with the same name who was associated with him some years prior.

A stroll down his memory lane vividly brought recollections of association with Smith who   had attended middle school education with him. Smith was an accredited basketball player. In all the inter-school tournaments Smith played so well that he successively brought laurels to Williston Middle School. After a love failure with Susan, his classmate, he became paranoid and dropped out of school. Later he joined a notorious street gang in Wilmington. Thomas had moved out from Wilmington and there was no further contact with him.  On recollection after so many years, he suddenly became very sulky and gloomy.

The new task of ‘killing’ his old friend and schoolmate was repulsive to him, and overshadowed his earlier regret to carry out an assignment on such an important day for him. He became very emotional at the thought, and his eyes filled with tears.  Unable to find a way to escape the predicament, he cursed fate that created such a scenario. Left with no other choice, he ardently offered prayers to God to show him a way to escape.By that time the officials and the doctor had gathered to witness the hanging.  After the doctor checked Smith’s physical and mental condition as fit, Smith’s head was covered with a black hood and led to the gallows. Like a silent spectator, the perplexed Thomas was waiting on the platform with the noose. Be that as it may, even at that time Thomas relied on his hope of not carrying out the deed. As Smith stepped on the platform, he suddenly felt uneasy and collapsed instantly.  Indeed, Thomas was shocked at Smith’s sudden behavior. The doctor rushed to the scene and examined Smith. He confirmed that he had suffered a massive cardiac arrest and died.

In moments in the cycle of life changes occur. Like lightning a ray of glee suddenly appeared on Thomas’ face. He was relieved from the guilt of killing his friend. And Smith, by his death, indirectly fulfilled the wish of Thomas avoiding an assignment on his date of birth. He was doubly happy that there would be no such assignments in the future. He would retire from service that day. Amidst unforeseen developments, Smith’s death penalty was still carried out as scheduled, not through the judicial process of hanging, but by destiny’s dictum of  death by way of a heart attack.