The Boy at the Hanging

[danny]

To me they seem to be looking past him. I recently went through some old photos that were at least 40 years old. The story behind some of them do not match up to what most folks would think. Of course I recently read "In the Shadow of the Roundtops" by Allen Thompson. My whole take on historical events has me reevaluating what I think I know about history. In any case to me he looks like a child , perhaps a musician.

I think the same thing

 

[Pollaco]

It looks to me like the soldiers in front of the boy were looking at the soldier to the left of the boy (the blurred image). The boy just happened to be in the vicinity when something was said by someone to somebody.

 

[BrianB]

I think it is pretty certain that the boy in the photo is John Collins, bugler with the 16th NY Cavalry. (As an aside, as a member of the 16th NY Cavalry, he knew (and apparently did not like) Boston Corbett).

Collins gave an interview to a newspaper in 1914 in which he stated that he was at the hanging of the 4 conspirators.

Collins graduated from Yale in 1878 with a degree in divinity. In 1884 he founded the New Haven (CT) Boys Club and was in the following years highly involved in the movement to establish Boys Clubs in other communities (of course, today, we call such organizations "Boys and Girls Clubs").

He married Fannie M. Smith in 1878. They had 10 children. His wife died in 1905 and he died in New Haven CT in 1928.

 

[TallTallMan]

I recently posted one of Gardner's photographs of the scaffolding just before the trap was dropped and the four Lincoln conspirators were hung that focused on one of the soldiers who knocked away the support post. Here is a different photo taken by Gardner that day just after the bodies stopped struggling. I find it also very interesting for a different reason. The cropped image shows the bodies of Mrs. Surratt and Lewis Payne (Powell) hanging still at the end of their ropes. With the deed having been done, some of the witnesses and soldiers appear to be uninterested while a few can't seem to take their eyes off the swaying corpses. My primary interest in this photo, however, is the young boy on the left, wearing a kepi and a knapsack who appears to me to be captivated by the sight before him. On the right is a blow up of the young man who may have been identified as John Collins of the 16th NYVC as per research done by Barry Cauchon in an article that can be found at this link: https://awesometalks.wordpress.com/2009/03/07/3381/
The well-research article may be correct, however John Collins was born in 1843 which would have made him 22 at the time of the photo and he sure doesn't appear to be that old. Whether or not that is the young man's identity, the photo is very powerful and gives us a literal snapshot of this historic moment in time.
View attachment 488374

That's an awesome restoration. The uninterested people may have been the sadists of the war in one place and in one uniform.

 

[Pollaco]

There is a typo somewhere, He was 22 at the time but graduated from Yale in 1878?

 

[Gettysburg Greg]

There is a typo somewhere, He was 22 at the time but graduated from Yale in 1878?

There apparently were typos in the article that mis stated the date.

 

[archieclement]

Payne might actually still be alive in this picture. Look at his feet. They are still flexed and the toe section has not dropped. Also, his ribcage seems to be expanded - you can see his pecs and two or three ribs on each side.
View attachment 488414

And this group of onlookers seems to be focused on him specifically. Wasn't he the last to die from hanging? I think I read that his neck was not snapped and he instead died by asphyxiation?
View attachment 488415

This one appears close to the drop.

 

[lelliott19]

This one appears close to the drop.View attachment 488562

Ugggghhh. Long enough afterwards that the soldiers assigned to knock away the supports are no longer nearby. But soon enough that all four of those being hanged are still struggling.

 

[Pollaco]

You can see the blurs from the movement of "dancing at the end of a rope."

 

[midnitelamp]

Read somewheres that after testing the gallows again with shells, the apparatus tilted forward, thus the braces in front. In the event with what appears to be at least a Company on the platform this probably wouldn't have happened. Where is Albert Pierrepoint when you really need him?

 

[gc45]

I see this photo differently. Being a photographer of sorts, I can say when people gather they are in general looking about and getting them to stand still or stop moving is most difficult. The photo of the small boy is just that IMO- folks looking about and well after the hanging took place. There are what looks like 13 people in the photo, notice that those in the photo are all looking in different direction with only two plus the boy looking in the direction of the bodies. Also, there are no facts the photo is anything else, all conjecture in the appearance something else is going on of importance besides the aftermath of death.

 

[R. Porter]

I see this photo differently. Being a photographer of sorts, I can say when people gather they are in general looking about and getting them to stand still or stop moving is most difficult. The photo of the small boy is just that IMO- folks looking about and well after the hanging took place. There are what looks like 13 people in the photo, notice that those in the photo are all looking in different direction with only two plus the boy looking in the direction of the bodies. Also, there are no facts the photo is anything else, all conjecture in the appearance something else is going on of importance besides the aftermath of death.

Even before I posted a comment I was thinking of how everyone was projecting their own interpretation onto the image; picking out elements to support that interpretation and sometimes including what other people suggest. That's one of the things I like about discussions of pictures. Different people bring different knowledge of what is captured in the image to the discussion and you get to learn about a bunch of different things and how they color the image. It's the same thing as writing history except you are not combing documents and letters collected in different locations, everything is right in front of you and you can more quickly bring your understanding of people skills to bear. (Ok, as you start to analyze you might run off and check some records or Ancestry but you are looking at an image, not after-action reports or personal letters. Everyone starts at the same place, with the image, and uses their strengths to leverage additional knowledge out of the historical record and you can do it in real time like a race or scavenger hunt. There can be a lot of learning, cooperation, and fun when a group looks at a picture.)

 

[CavRTO]

Even before I posted a comment I was thinking of how everyone was projecting their own interpretation onto the image; picking out elements to support that interpretation and sometimes including what other people suggest. That's one of the things I like about discussions of pictures. Different people bring different knowledge of what is captured in the image to the discussion and you get to learn about a bunch of different things and how they color the image. It's the same thing as writing history except you are not combing documents and letters collected in different locations, everything is right in front of you and you can more quickly bring your understanding of people skills to bear. (Ok, as you start to analyze you might run off and check some records or Ancestry but you are looking at an image, not after-action reports or personal letters. Everyone starts at the same place, with the image, and uses their strengths to leverage additional knowledge out of the historical record and you can do it in real time like a race or scavenger hunt. There can be a lot of learning, cooperation, and fun when a group looks at a picture.)

Well said

 

[midnitelamp]

This one appears close to the drop.View attachment 488562

as many times as I have seen this photo, never noticed all the eyes turned towards Mrs. Surrats end of the gallows.

 

[CowCavalry]

Any idea who the man in the light colored duster is? In one photo, he is on the gallows, in the other, he is seen above the young boy in question. He almost looks like a photographer himself.

 

[Pollaco]

It wasn't always just the grotesque sight of a hanging sometimes there are gaseous emissions and a gurgling sound is put forth by the one being hung.In this case 4 "gurglers". Maybe the crowd was trying to pinpoint a sound?

Any idea who the man in the light colored duster is? In one photo, he is on the gallows, in the other, he is seen above the young boy in question. He almost looks like a photographer himself.

He is the executioner Christian Rath. Some say captain Rath.

 

[Pollaco]

Here's a tidbit. According to a small biography on Rath, he is the one who tied the knots on the four. The men all had 7 knots and Mary Surratt only had 5. He also placed the hoods (not handkerchiefs) on the four. As hangman he was responsible for preparations. He is said to have performed a "clean" execution but I still point out that Surratt and Paine possibly choked and died of asphyxiation because the knots was behind the necks and not under the ear like it should have been.

 

[Kurtlg]

Here's a tidbit. According to a small biography on Rath, he is the one who tied the knots on the four. The men all had 7 knots and Mary Surratt only had 5. He also placed the hoods (not handkerchiefs) on the four. As hangman he was responsible for preparations. He is said to have performed a "clean" execution but I still point out that Surratt and Paine possibly choked and died of asphyxiation because the knots was behind the necks and not under the ear like it should have been.

I wonder if that was done on purpose to make them suffer. You'd think he would have known it would not cause immediate death.

 

[Pollaco]

I wonder if that was done on purpose to make them suffer. You'd think he would have known it would not cause immediate death.

I'm thinking he had it backwards. He is said to have whispered to Paine that he wanted "him to die swiftly". He may have had the same thought for Mrs. Surratt. I'm guessing that possibly out of ignorance he thought asphyxiation was better and faster than a neck snapping. Just my opinion, who really knows?

 

[bayonet]

Read somewheres that after testing the gallows again with shells, the apparatus tilted forward, thus the braces in front. In the event with what appears to be at least a Company on the platform this probably wouldn't have happened. Where is Albert Pierrepoint when you really need him?

The heck with Albert (besides he ain't American). Stick with John C. Woods, now there was a guy with "gallows humor"!