Hanging
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Hanging is killing a person by suspending them from the neck with a noose or ligature. Hanging has been a standard method of capital punishment since the Middle Ages, and has been the primary executio
Detail from a painting by Pisanello, 1436–1438
Execution of guards and kapos of the Stutthof concentration camp on 4 July 1946 by short-drop hanging. In the foreground are the female overseers: Jenny-Wanda Barkmann, Ewa Paradies, Elisabeth Becker, Wanda Klaff, Gerda Steinhoff (left to right).
Mass execution using "pole-hanging" of Serbs by the Austro-Hungarian army in 1916
The execution of Henry Wirz in 1865; Wirz was given a standard drop, which did not break his neck
Tom Ketchum
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Thomas Edward Ketchum was an American cowboy who later became an outlaw. He was executed in 1901 for attempted train robbery. The execution by hanging was botched; he was decapitated because the execu
Hanging
…fractured the neck at either the 2nd and 3rd or 4th and 5th cervical vertebrae. This force resulted in some decapitations, such as the infamous case of Black Jack Ketchum in New Mexico Territory in 1901, owing to a significant weight gain while in custody not having been factored into the drop calculations. Between 1892…
Black Jack Ketchum
Ketchum on the scaffold before hanging, April 26, 1901, Clayton, New Mexico
Photo from a contemporary postcard showing Tom Ketchum's decapitated body. Caption reads "Body of Black Jack after the hanging showing head snapped off."