The Noose of Samuel Burrows, page 2
The two men had known each other for some time dating back to Clarke’s time at New City Gaol, where he provided religious comfort to those about to face Burrows’ noose.7 Whatever Clarke really thought of Burrows, he decided to keep it to himself. However, it would be fair to say that Clarke was not a fan of Burrows’ antics, especially when it came to his behaviour on top of the gallows. Now he found himself on Brook Street preparing to give religious comfort to the man who launched so many into eternity. Returning with water alongside some bread and cheese, he saw the hangman painfully attempt to get himself out of bed. Burrows couldn’t muster the strength to get up properly and promptly fell back. Slightly concerned for his well-being, Clarke placed what he had gathered on to a dusty table and rushed towards him. As he approached Burrows, Clarke could see all too well that he was not long for this world. Time was running out for the hangman.
The two men spoke about their time at New City Gaol, with Burrows almost returning to his old self as he did, recanting memories of those they both knew well. Burrows highlighted that those he condemned broke the law and therefore he had little to repent. However, Clarke was not here to regale his host with stories and was quick to remind Burrows that his eventual place in the kingdom of heaven was not guaranteed based solely on the law of the land. He still had to repent his sins. The condemned and the burden that Burrows felt were in some way entwined in Clarke’s mind. Only through the act of forgiveness in the eyes of the Lord could the hangman be truly saved.
With Burrows reluctant to ask for forgiveness, Clarke began to read scriptures from the Bible in order to educate him further. As Clarke opened the book, Burrows stared intently towards the reverend. He began with Matthew Chapter 6, verses 14–15 to remind Burrows that a place in heaven was still salvageable for him.
Clarke read the passage out aloud: ‘For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.’
Burrows was in deep thought thinking about those words. He had never thought too much about those that would end up on the other end of his noose at the time, but with his own end now quickly approaching, it was beginning to weigh heavily on his mind. Clarke informed Samuel that when reading from the scriptures it was this passage that always had the most effect on the condemned as they were about to face their executioner. Burrows laughed, informing the reverend that their spirits still haunted him and had done for years. If they forgave him, then why did they still haunt him?
Clarke breathed out a sigh. He was finally getting through to the stubborn hangman. The reverend continued to explain that it was because he buried his sin away with drink rather than asking for forgiveness from the Lord. Only then could he truly be free. Burrows nodded with reluctant agreement.
Clarke urged him to look back over his life and ask for forgiveness but reminded him that it had to be sincere as the Lord would know. It had to be genuine remorse. As Clarke was about to turn the page in order to find another example that could help, Burrows placed his hand on the Bible. Clarke looked at him, closed the book, and placed it in the hangman’s firm grip. Burrows was about to talk about his life as the city’s executioner in the faint hope that he could redeem his soul in the eyes of the Lord. Clarke got Burrows a drink and then sat down beside him. He was ready to listen and hoped that the Lord was listening too.
As Burrows began to reveal his story to the reverend, he looked once again at the portrait of himself above the fireplace. With the light of the new morning once again filling the room, it was clearer for him to see his younger self. Now he saw a man filled with arrogance and pride in what he did rather than a man begging for forgiveness. He had never thought about those condemned souls as he pulled on his lever, and if he ever did, it was fleeting. Now, the time was right. Forgiveness was for the Lord to decide. All he could do was to tell Clarke as much as he could, and pray that God was listening to every word.
Chapter 2
Life Before the Noose
SAMUEL BURROWS WAS no one extraordinary. It is perhaps for this reason that he has become all but forgotten, even in the city where he once lived. For a man like Burrows, survival was realistically the only thing about his life that could be called any form of ambition. He was simply a lower working-class man who just so happened to live at a time of seismic change within Britain. Yet, rather unwittingly, he had a front-row seat during this time of change, and those who he encountered on his journey of life all had their own stories to tell. The only difference between them and him was that it would be Burrows himself who condemned them to their untimely deaths.
Burrows roamed the streets of the City of Chester during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. It was an era of warfare, protest, revolt, poverty, and more importantly for him, crime. Burrows found himself inadvertently involved with all of the above in some way, shape or form. He was an ostracised member of Cestrian society, a bogeyman of sorts who was loathed as well as feared. Naturally, he never saw himself in that same way. Instead, he viewed himself as a vital cog in the wheels of British justice. He was not, in any way, skilled or even exceptional in his work. Anyone who had the stomach to do what he did could have easily done the same job that he did. He was a brutish man and was never one to shy away from a fight, especially when heavily intoxicated with alcohol, which was often.1 He was far from any kind of role model, and any respect that he might have earned during his earlier life was swiftly eroded when he took on the post that he was best remembered for.
Those who stumbled upon him as he carried out his duties would have met him all but briefly. Yet the reasons for their eventual encounter with Burrows highlighted the severe disparities within Georgian society. From those who were just trying to survive the daily bleakness of their situations, to those who were fighting against the system that they believed was holding them back; Burrows met them all. He was the final part of a justice system in arguably the most bloody era of them all. He was the finisher of the law and he performed his work with gusto, showing little remorse. Those who faced him in the City of Chester when he was on official duty were facing the last man they would ever see.
Why they were facing him was of no concern to Burrows.
Like many who arrived in Chester in the late eighteenth century, Samuel Burrows simply appeared from nowhere. He was born in Ravensmoor, a small rural village just outside the town of Nantwich, on 28 June 1772 but much of his early life is all but a mystery and undocumented.2 What we do know though is that the small hamlet could never truly hold the scale of his ambition. Even as a young man, Samuel desired to be noticed and appreciated much more than the confines of Ravensmoor could ever give him.
With the idea of a national census still a dream, we do not know exactly when he entered the City of Chester, but once he arrived he firmly established himself. Previously trained as a butcher, Burrows quickly sought work in the Northgate Street Shambles. Burrows established himself within his new community with relative ease and it was in the busy streets of Chester where he first met Mary Williams.
She was seven years older than Samuel, who was becoming a moderate success as a butcher in his own right, but the age difference never seemed to affect their growing relationship and affection for each other. Finding a home within Northgate Street, the pair would eventually marry on 17 November 1794.3 At 22 years old, Samuel Burrows was now firmly a part of Cestrian life. Two surviving boys would later fill their dwellings, despite Mary previously miscarrying on a couple of occasions.
For Samuel, life was good, even despite the ordeals that the couple had to overcome. His shack on the Shambles was a busy place to work. While an unpleasant setting to many people, Burrows was becoming an expert in his trade, as entrails and congealed blood soaked the cobbles beneath him. However, it was still not enough for an ambitious young man who believed that he was created for more than simply cutting meat for grateful customers.4 From Mary’s point of view, living with a man like Samuel had its ups and downs. His desire to be noticed often got him into trouble and each time that happened Mary would pick up the pieces.
In his desperate attempts to become more visible in the city the blurred line between infamy and likeability was crossed regularly. On one hand, Samuel was a charmer who would use his charisma to get himself out of any potential trouble. However, on the other hand, he craved authority and was equipped to physically handle any situation. Desperate to gain any influence within the city, he saw butchery as a financial means to an end as his ambitions grew.
For Mary, Samuel’s constant ambition was both a source of both pride and confusion, even though she knew that some of what he said was nonsense. How could a man like Samuel possibly climb the ladder in a society that was firmly fixed? Mary simply put it all down to talk, never fully realising that Samuel would actually act on his delusions of grandeur.
In order to make his dreams a reality, Burrows would accept anything that would enable him to be known within the community. He would become the beadle for the parish of St Oswalds in the centre of the city.5 It was an ideal role for a man like Burrows and one that suited his more authoritarian sense of himself. Every Sunday, he would gather the community to the church, eager to find anyone who opted to avoid the congregation and force them in. Once inside he would look over the pews for anyone not paying attention. Acting as an overwatcher for the Lord, determined to keep the flock in line, Burrows would soon become known as a man not to be messed with. Not because he was a religious zealot, but because he took his authority seriously.
His once happy and somewhat charming demeanour was changing to one of a frowning, serious, and at times aggressive man. That’s not to say that he was not liked. Drinking would often reveal the man he once was. Funny and light-hearted with a cheeky wit, Burrows would regress to his former self if enough ale slid down his throat. It would be in the public houses of Chester where fellow Cestrians saw another side to their authoritarian beadle.
When the opportunity arose to become one of Chester’s special constables, Burrows gladly accepted the position. Leaving his position as a parish beadle, Burrows now found himself stalking the streets in search of any potential criminality, and talking to local business owners about security. Often acting as a watchman for the city, Burrows would spend many nights at either the Northgate Gaol or the newly established holding cell under the columns of the City’s Exchange in Market Square. The authority that Burrows craved so much was now his. In his mind, at least, he was making a difference.
Chester’s need for an executioner was never really on his mind when he served as a special constable. The city had not seen a public execution in over seven years but things were about to change. Thomas Harrison was busy with his plans for the New City Gaol, which was to be built next to the infirmary. With the Northgate Gaol in a state of disrepair, the city corporation had commissioned a new building in order to suit the evergrowing population of Chester. Furthermore, Harrison had been told that the new building needed to have the ability to conduct executions high above the entrances of the gaol in order that thousands of people could witness them.6
The City of Chester was bringing back the spectacle of public execution, and even invested in the latest technology to make the event more efficient. The days of the short drop were over and a mobile mechanical drop was commissioned. Rather than kicking a stool in the fields of Gallows Hill or even, in the case of Aaron Gee and Thomas Gibson, being pushed out of the window at the Northgate Gaol in 1801,7 the long drop included a trapdoor mechanism. The potential executioner would simply need to attach the noose to a high beam, place the condemned over the trapdoor and then pull the lever. Now the city needed someone who was prepared to be their new executioner.
It was never a popular position to fill. Most executioners were reluctant to take on such a role and those that did knew that at least they could hide under the guise of anonymity beneath a hood. Although a fairly well-paid job, it came with a certain amount of risk. If the community knew what you did it could quickly become a danger as the mob could easily turn on the executioner. For a man like Burrows who craved attention it did not appear to be an obvious choice of profession.
Burrows did have many of the prerequisites that were essential for this line of work. He was a hardened man with a respect for authority. More importantly, he was not squeamish in any sense given his current line of work on the Shambles. His work as a special constable also showed a man who fully believed in the process of the law and was ruthless in his quest to catch wrongdoers. As the executioner of the city, and therefore the county of Cheshire, Burrows firmly believed that he was climbing the ladder, and at the princely sum of £5 per condemned criminal, he would be providing much more for his family than in his work as a butcher.8
When the offer came along, Samuel did not need to give it too much thought. This was his ticket not only to provide financially for his family, but more importantly, he had finally reached his desired destination. Even though it would remain a secret for now, the times were changing with talk that he could remove his anonymity if he so wished and reveal himself before the Cestrian crowd in the future.
For Burrows, it was the prospect of removing his anonymity further down the line that sealed his decision. He knew that he could gain the much-needed attention that he craved but that he could remain anonymous if things turned sour as he was learning the ropes. He did not give it too much thought when he was offered the position.
At that precise moment in time, Burrows did not know about the consequences that lay around the corner. Like many jobs, he believed that it would be temporary yet bring some much-needed income into the home during desperate times. He never expected that he would be standing on top of New City Gaol for as long as he did, how the job would consume him, how his role would eventually destroy his family, or even how the job would nearly kill him.
Samuel Burrows was the city’s new executioner but for now this information was only known by a select few. All he could do was wait for his first assignment but, with Harrison’s new building completed, he knew it would not be long until he would be standing on its roof to complete his first execution.
Chapter 3
The Men Who Dropped Twice
William Proudlove and George Glover New City Gaol, Chester, 1809
SAMUEL BURROWS COULDN’T sleep. The restlessness consumed him as he stared at the ceiling. He had planned for an early night so that he could be well-rested ahead of his first execution. He thought to himself that perhaps a drink would help him get some sleep. He turned to see Mary. She was already fast asleep as he gingerly made his way out of the bed. He knew every crack of the floorboards like the back of his hand so that even in the dark he could sneak around them. He gave Mary a gentle kiss on her cheek, put some clothes on, and quietly left.
Even though it was the late hours of the night, Northgate Street was still bustling with nocturnal activity. The inns and public houses were still a hive of commotion due to the vast amount of visitors who had arrived in the city earlier that day. Like Burrows, they couldn’t sleep either. He ventured to the Dublin Packet on the Market Square of Northgate Street. He thought it would be quieter there compared to the northern section of the street. Once there, he found a seat and settled for a quiet nightcap.
Activity was still going on all around the city. The printers on Foregate Street and in Handbridge were working late into the night in order to finalise their broadsides that needed to be ready for the early morning. Hundreds of single, rough, paper sheets were hanging around their shops to ensure that the ink was thoroughly dry. An important and lucrative day awaited them as they knew that these single sheets of coarse paper would make them some serious money. With this in mind, it was all hands on deck as they wrote, printed, and published in haste. It had been a long wait for the printers to make such easy money. What they were currently working on would detail exactly why the events of the day were taking place. It would act as some sort of macabre memento for those wishing to purchase a grim souvenir of the day’s action. After all, it was not every day that the city welcomed the event of a public execution.1
Over at the New City Gaol, the final preparations were being made at the scaffold, which was being constructed over its entrance. The building designed by Thomas Harrison had just opened and had already seen inmates moved from the old gaol at the Northgate.2 To the prisoners, it would have felt like heaven when compared to the medieval gaol that they previously called home. Despite that, it was still a place no one really wanted to end up. The gaol contained those from the city, yet Chester had the luxury of having two gaols within its confines. As the final checks of the scaffold were made, those who had built it now headed to their beds.
The County Gaol was at Chester Castle. Chester was responsible not only for the punishments of those from the city but also for the county as a whole. Anyone facing trial within the county of Chester would find themselves here waiting for the biannual Assizes to hear their cases. Those sentenced to transportation to the colonies would be moved from the gaol after their conviction to hulks or other gaols. Those condemned to death would simply wait here until their date with the hangman. William Proudlove and George Glover were now spending their final night on Earth staring at their cell ceilings. Unlike Burrows, there would be no sneaking out. All they could do was wait.
