Curious Punishments of Bygone Days

								

errors & heresies generally condemned by all orthodox writers that we
haue met with and haue judged it meete and necessary, for vindicatio of
the truth, so far as in vs lyes, as also to keepe & pserue the people
here committed to or care & trust in the true knowledge & faythe of or
Lord Jesus Christ, & of or owne redemption by him, and likewise for the
clearinge of orselves to or Christian brethren & others in England,
(where this booke was printed & is dispersed), hereby to ptest or
innocency, as being neither partyes nor priuy to the writinge,
composinge, printinge, nor diuulging thereof; but that, on the contrary,
we detest & abhorre many of the opinions & assertions therein as false,
eronyous, & hereticall; yea, & whatsoeuer is contayned in the sd booke
which are contrary to the Scriptures of the Old & New Testament, & the
generall received doctrine of the orthodox churches extant since the
time of the last & best reformation & for proffe and euidence of or
sincere & playne meaninge therein, we doe hereby condemne the sd booke
to be burned in the market place, at Boston, by the common executionor,
& doe purpose with all convenient speede to convent the sd William
Pinchon before authority, to find out whether the sd William Pinchon
will owne the sd booke as his or not; which if he doth, we purpose (Gd
willinge) to pceede with him accordinge to his demerits, vnles he
retract the same, and giue full satisfaction both here & by some second
writinge to be printed and dispersed in England; all of which we thought
needfull, for the reasons aboue aleaged, to make knowne by this short
ptestation & declaration. Also we further purpose, with what convenient
speede we may, to appoynt some fitt psn to make a pticuler answer to all
materiall & controuersyall passages in the sd booke, & to publish the
same in print, that so the errors & falsityes therein may be fully
discoued, the truth cleared, & the minds of those that loue & seeke
after truth confirmed therein p curia."
"It is agreed vppon by the whole Court, that Mr. Norton, one of the
reuend elders of Ipswich, should be intreated to answer Mr. Pinchon's
booke with all convenient speed."
The sentence of this book to be burned by the common hangman was changed
to be burned by some person appointed to the duty who would consent to
perform it. It was not always easy to get a hangman.
In 1684 a man in Maryland "of tender years" was convicted of
horse-stealing and sentenced to death. A "private and secret" pardon was
issued by the Assembly, but he was given no knowledge of it until he was
conveyed to the place of execution and the rope placed round his neck,
when he was respited on condition that he would perform the part for
life of common hangman, which he did.
The hangman was usually some respited prisoner under sentence of death.
In some shires in England, he had to be hung at last himself, else the
power of possessing a hangman lapsed from the town. One hangman,