Ireland allowed women to be involved with executions and two
were. It is reputed that in 1780 a
middle aged woman from Co. Kerry called Elizabeth Dolan or McDermott was
sentenced to death at Roscommon for the murder of her son. The town’s normal hangman did not turn up for
the execution of Elizabeth and her 24 fellow condemned prisoners who were
members of the “White Boys” so Elizabeth is reputed to have said to the sheriff “Spare me,
yer Honour, spare me and I'll hang them all.” As in law he would have had to have performed
the task himself if no one else could be found, the sheriff agreed. Elizabeth executed her fellow criminals and was appointed Roscommon’s hang-woman
and given a room of her own in the goal.
She is thought to have operated there from about 1780 until her death in
1807. Her own death sentence was
commuted in 1802. As
was normal throughout Britain at the time executions moved from
a place outside the town to the jail itself which is in a large square in the
town.
The new gallows consisted of a hinged lap board for the prisoners to
stand on set under an iron bar attached to the prison wall outside her third
floor window. When the prisoner(s) were
prepared the board was released from inside the prison by withdrawing the bolt
allowing them a short drop. Similar
arrangements were used elsewhere, e.g. Kilmainham jail in Dublin. Elizabeth became known as “Lady Betty” and allegedly drew charcoal sketches of
her victims. Her name was used by
parents to frighten their misbehaving children.
Probably
the most unusual assistant was Tom Kellett’s. Kellet operated in Ireland c. 1829 as executioner for the NW Circuit and
married a 16 year old girl who became his assistant!
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