The Reminiscences of Sir Henry Hawkins, Baron Brampton (Volume 1)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1904 Excerpt: ... or the ghastly traditions of the place, or the impending fate of our callous client; but there was a tier of shelves occupying the side of the apartment, on which were placed in dismal prominence the plaster of Paris busts of all the malefactors who had been hanged in Newgate for some hundred years. No man can look attractive after having been hanged, and the indentation of the hangman's rope on every one of their necks, with the mark of the knot under the ear, gave such an impression of all that can be conceived of devilish horror as would baffle the conceptions of the most morbid genius. Whether these things were preserved for phx-enological purposes or for the gratification of the most sanguinary taste I never knew, but they impressed me with a disgust of the brutal tendency of the age. Dr. Bernard, however, seemed to take a different view. Probably he was scientific. He went up to them, and examined, as it seemed, every one of these ghastly memorials with an interest which could only be scientific. It did not seem to have occurred to his brain that his head would probably be the next to adorn that repository of criminal effigies. He was in charge of a warder, and looked round with the utmost composure, as though examining the Caesars in the British Museum, and was as interested as any fanatical fool of a phrenologist. He shrugged A JUDGE SENTENCING A BUTLER 167 his shoulders, raised his eyebrows, and repeated his old formula, 'Well, if I am to be hanged, I must be hanged.' He was acquitted. My elaborate arguments on the law were not necessary, for the jury actually refused to believe the evidence as to the facts. I have never known why; but perhaps our old friends Jeakes and Jacobs could explain. I cannot. Such are the chances of trial by jury! As a re...