Trial and Execution
The trial of Jeffries' and Swan began eight months later, on March 10, 1752. She and John were swiftly convicted and sentenced to hang. On March 28, she was taken to the gallows in a cart and riding on her own coffin, while John was dragged on a sledge for committing alleged Petty treason. When they reached the gallows, Swan was forced to stand on the cart while Jeffries, being only 5'1", had to stand on a chair on the cart. Their legs were not tied and they were not blindfolded. A crowd of 7,000 people gathered to watch them hang. Neither Elizabeth nor John acknowledged one another, while the hangman cracked his whip and drove the cart out from under them. John died in less than five minutes. Elizabeth however, being lighter than Swan, took over fifteen minutes to die, struggling to the end.
Read more about this topic: Elizabeth Jeffries
Famous quotes containing the words trial and/or execution:
“Looks like we got a trial ahead of us. But it’s not the first time. We’ve had to go it alone before, and we’ll have to go it alone again. We’re tough. We’ve had to be tough ever since Brother Brigham led our people across the plain. Well, they survived and I dang it, we’ll, well, we’ll survive too. Now put out your fires and get to your wagons.”
—Frank S. Nugent (1908–1965)
“It is clear that in a monarchy, where he who commands the exceution of the laws generally thinks himself above them, there is less need of virtue than in a popular government, where the person entrusted with the execution of the laws is sensible of his being subject to their direction.”
—Charles Louis de Secondat Montesquieu (1689–1755)