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Chapter Thirty-Two

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

Monday, 15 November, 1869

The weather was dank and overcast. A suitable morning for a hanging.

Johnson Nottidge stood next to the Governor of St. Alban’s Gaol as the man took out his fob watch and looked at it for the third time in as many minutes. Frederick Butt held it out for him to see and tutted. The man’s nerves were obviously getting the better of him. 7:45 a.m. Still, a quarter hour to go. Nottidge’s excitement rose. The thrill of watching Mary Grady die would be an experience hard to equal.

The gibbet dominated the small prison yard. They stared at it, Nottidge with fascination while Butt wrinkled his nose with distaste. There being another hanging at Maidstone that day, William Calcraft, the General Executioner of Great Britain, was unavailable, but one of his assistants had stepped in. By all accounts, Ernest Ruggles was efficient at his job. So far, Nottidge had to agree, the man, in addition to his fee, had negotiated with Butt to keep the clothes an
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