Reaction To The Sentences
There was an outcry over the death penalty being too harsh for the nine men. In 1887, the Sydney Town Hall was said to have been packed to protest against the hangings. A deputation of 150 citizens attended the governor in support of the hanging. Five eventually had their sentences reduced to life imprisonment by the Governor. However, for the first three years they had to be served in fetters. The remaining four were hanged in January 1887. One of the men was seventeen. Two thousand people were said to have turned out to witness the hangings. Bondi resident Robert Howard botched the hangings when he miscalculated the drop necessary for the youths. One died instantly but the remaining three struggled for several minutes. One of the three struggled for six minutes and bit his tongue in half in the process.
Read more about this topic: Mount Rennie Rape Case
Famous quotes containing the words reaction to, reaction and/or sentences:
“In contrast to revenge, which is the natural, automatic reaction to transgression and which, because of the irreversibility of the action process can be expected and even calculated, the act of forgiving can never be predicted; it is the only reaction that acts in an unexpected way and thus retains, though being a reaction, something of the original character of action.”
—Hannah Arendt (1906–1975)
“The excessive increase of anything often causes a reaction in the opposite direction.”
—Plato (c. 427–347 B.C.)
“Methinks the human method of expression by sound of tongue is very elementary, & ought to be substituted for some ingenious invention which should be able to give vent to at least six coherent sentences at once.”
—Virginia Woolf (1882–1941)