Hanging For Amusement

Two remarkable examplcs are on record of persons who allowed themselves to be hung for tlie entertainment of an audience. An account of one of them is given in the Lancet of April 17, 1847. The man's real name was John Harnshaw, but he performed throughout England under the high-eounrliDg professional title of Monsieur Gouffe. He was an athlete, and among other feats it was customary with him to exhibit the procesa of hanging. In this performance he relied for eecurity on the strength of the mnscles of the neck and throat. He had a rope with a fixed knot which could not slip, and passed both ends of the loop up behind one ear. The whole act was so adroifcly managed that he prevented ariy pressure of the rope on the windpipe or jugular veins, and could even sustain a weight of 150 pounds in addition to that of his own body. On three separate occasions Harnshaw mismanaged the rope, and became unconscious, being luckily reecued each time. Dr. Chowne, who writes the account, says very truly: "Itcannotbe doubted that, as far as sensation and consciousness are conoerned, Harnshaw passed through the whole ordeal of dying, and, had he been permitted to remain hanging until actttally dead, he would have passed out of existence witliönt further eonsciolisness." Kow, this man stated, not with particular reference to either accident, bui; as common to all, that " he could hardly recollect anythmgthat happèned to iiim in the rope;" thaj "helost his eenses all at once; the instant the rope got in the wrong place he feit as if he could not gel his breath - as if somo great weighi were ftt his feet; could not move only to draw himself up; feit as if he wanted to loosen himself, but never thought of his hands." Andheadded: "You cannot move your arms or legs to save yourself; you cannot raise your arms; you cannot think. " He did not see spárks or litrat, but had in his ears