Today’s Willfully Mute Yet Truly Morbid Fact!
In Ireland, Matthew Ryan appeared at the Kilkenny Assizes in 1740, accused of highway robbery. In prison he feigned madness, refused to put any clothes on, and in court affected to be dumb. The jury duly studied his actions and when asked by the judge to decide whether Ryan was mute and mad by the hand of God, or willfully mute, the jury brought in a verdict that he was “wilful and affecting dumbness and lunacy.”
Having pointed out the terrible consequences of his continued refusal, the judge mercifully gave him some days to consider his plight. At the later hearing, however, the robber showed his determination by continuing the charade. Accordingly, the court had no option but to pass the dreaded sentence, and two days later Matthew Ryan was taken under strong escort to the market square in Kilkenny. At this late stage, realization of the horrors to come dawned on the doomed man and, finding his voice, he begged to be hanged instead. But no dispensation could be given and as the large crowd watched with horrid fascination, Ryan was spread-eagled and tied down. A square board was then laid on his chest, on top of which were placed weights, increasing in number until the felon died of his intolerable injuries.
Matthew Ryan, pressed.
Culled from: Rack, Rope and Red-Hot Pincers
Garretdom: Accidental Death!
Fatal Explosion of an Oil Lamp.
PITTSBURG, Pa., Sept. 28.—A lamp exploded in the house of Mrs. Mary Flanagan, on Penn avenue last night, badly burning four persons, one of them fatally. Mrs. Flanagan had unscrewed the burner from the lamp without extinguishing the light and was filling it up with oil. The flame suddenly flashed up and the burning fluid was scattered over Mrs. Flanagan, her daughter Sadie, aged eight years, and an infant aged eighteen months. Hugh McGuire, a boarder in the house, succeeded in putting out the flames, his hands being terribly burned. The injuries by Mrs. Flanagan and the daughter are not serious. The babe will die.
Culled from the collection of The Comtesse DeSpair
1886 Morbid Scrapbook
More grim olde news can be perused at Garretdom.
Andersonville Prisoner Diary Entry Du Jour!
This is the continuation of the 1864 diary of Andersonville prisoner Private George A. Hitchcock (see the archived version for all entries up until now).
Here’s today’s entry:
September 14th. Very hot. The train which left last night collided with a freight train six miles away, by which eight of the cars were smashed, killing and wounding about sixty “Northern Mudsills.” All of the uninjured on that train were sent back into camp, and none left to-day.
Culled from: Andersonville: Giving Up the Ghost