Whether one stands for or against the death penalty, there is no denying it has been part of human existence throughout history. Once calculated to ensure an excruciating death before witnesses, with long suffering before blessed relief (such as crucifixion), it was later changed in many societies to be quick and merciful, at least in some cases. Often piety has served as a part of the execution, a priest participating to demonstrate human subservience to divine judgment. And often the execution has not been as incident free as the executioners’ desired.
Today, most executions are performed with at least a nod towards merciful speed and minimal suffering. Such has not always been the case. And yet, on regrettable occasions, some executions designed to be horrific for the miscreant being dispatched have somehow been botched to become even more horrific than their perpetrators intended. Here are 10 examples of executions which did not work out exactly as the executioners planned. Though in the end, the hoped for result was achieved.
10. Mary, Queen of Scots, beheading, 1587
Mary Stuart, often mistakenly believed to have been a half-sister of England’s Queen Elizabeth I, was in fact her first cousin, once removed. She was the daughter of Scotland’s King James V, and as his only surviving child, (or rather, legitimate child) claimed the title Queen of Scots. The complicated interaction between the rulers of Scotland, England, and France are far too complex to discuss here, beyond saying that her claim to the Scottish throne was disputed. So was her one time claim to the throne of England, despite both English and Scottish Catholics supporting her, to say nothing of the French. Her cousin Elizabeth, a Protestant, was not amused by Mary’s pretensions, and when Mary fled to England and threw herself on Elizabeth’s mercy, desirous of her protection, the Queen had her placed under house arrest.
Mary resided in several different castles and great houses as a prisoner of Elizabeth’s, while she and her followers involved themselves in intrigues and plots to obtain the throne. In 1586, while in the 19th year of existing as an involuntary guest of Elizabeth, Mary was convicted of treason against the Queen and sentenced to death. Elizabeth ignored pleas for mercy. Mary was scheduled to be beheaded in February, 1587, at Fotheringhay. An executioner and an assistant were selected to accomplish the deed in the Great Hall, using an axe. Of course, church officials and other high-placed personages were on hand to establish the legitimacy of the execution, as well as to ensure the salvation of Mary’s immortal soul.
While her soul may have found mercy, her corporeal being did not. The first blow of the axe struck Mary not across the neck, but in the back of her head. A second blow proved to be more accurately aimed, but it did not fully sever her head from her body. It took a third swing of the axe to complete the deed and allow the executioner to hold her head aloft for the witnesses to contemplate. After several burials and exhumations, Mary eventually was interred in Westminster Abbey, where she lies in a chapel shared with, among others, her first cousin once removed, Elizabeth I. Mary’s son later ruled as King of England and Scotland as James the VI and II.
9. William Kidd, hanging, 1701
Under his title of Captain, William Kidd is nearly synonymous with pirate. Tales of Captain Kidd’s piracy, his ruthless dealings with friends and foes, and his buried treasure, are a major vein in the lode of pirate lore. Evidence indicates he was likely not a pirate at all, but a privateer of singularly poor judgment and inept political skills. He did make a small fortune capturing ships of his sovereign’s enemies. And he made enemies of his own among royal governors and military leaders in the Atlantic, the Caribbean, the Indian Ocean, and in colonial New York. Whether he buried vast hordes of loot in the latter, or anywhere else for that matter, has intrigued treasure hunters ever since. Kidd’s life and career has always presented a murky picture. Yet all agree he was executed for piracy in 1701, in London.
During the trial which preceded his execution, Kidd produced evidence in the form of warrants and letters of marque, as well as personal correspondence. The documents supported his assertions of innocence of piracy and other crimes. During the trial the evidence vanished, making conviction easier for his enemies to obtain, though they were discovered in the early 20th century. At any rate, his enemies obtained a conviction, and Kidd was sentenced to be executed by hanging at Execution Dock, London, on May 23, 1701. In the custom of the day he was allowed to purchase food and drink while spending his last days in prison, and did so extravagantly, especially the drink. When he was delivered for his execution, he was drunk.
After delivering a harangue protesting his innocence Kidd was dropped from the gallows. The rope broke, and instead of finding himself standing before his maker, Kidd groveled on the ground with the noose around his neck, likely considerably more sober. He reiterated his claims of innocence to the shocked crowd as he mounted the gallows a second time, citing divine intervention as proof of his assertions. The unabashed executioners produced a second rope and assisted Kidd to a second drop, which proved more effective. His tarred body was displayed suspended from a gibbet by the Thames, a warning to seafarers over the perils of piracy. Remnants of his body were said to be there for three years after his death.
8. Robert-Francois Damiens, dismemberment by horse, 1757
Regicide, the assassination of a monarch, has been frowned upon throughout history, with some of the more horrifying means of execution reserved for those who committed, or attempted to commit, such a horrid crime. In France up until the 18th century, the penalty of execution by dismemberment was the preferred means of dispatching regicides. Dismemberment was the forcible removal of the limbs from the living body. In the cradle of civilization which was Bourbon France, the use of horses to provide the motive force to achieve dismemberment was favored by the 18th century. Such a method was applied to Robert-Francois Damiens, a lowly servant convicted of the attempted assassination of Louis XV in 1757.
Damiens succeeded in wounding the King with a knife, which inspired His Majesty to confess his numerous extramarital affairs to his wife, Queen Marie, before he realized the injury was not serious. Serious or no, the attack led Damiens to being tried and convicted for attempting to assassinate the King, and his conviction led to his sentence of execution by dismemberment. But first the former servant was submitted to torture to ensure any co-conspirators did not escape justice. Damiens was burned with red-hot irons, the hand which struck the King was covered in molten lead, and he was liberally doused with boiling oil. He was then handed over to his executioner, who castrated him before tying each of his limbs to a horse. When started, the horses were to complete the dismemberment.
The horses’ combined strength proved insufficient to separate the assassin’s limbs from his body. While witnesses watched the application of justice the executioner used a knife to sever the tendons holding together Damiens’ tortured body. The horses were then reattached, and Damiens partially disjointed body was more readily rent asunder. The successful separation of limbs from body brought applause from the assembled witnesses. One of the witnesses who left behind an account of the proceedings was Giacomo Casanova, who wrote, “We had the courage to watch the dreadful sight for four hours…” Damiens body was burned. Some say he was still alive, though that assertion defies belief.
7. Henry Wirz, hanging, 1865
Washington DC’s Old Capitol Prison had a long and interesting history by the time of the American Civil War. Originally built as an expedient, to serve as a temporary capitol in the aftermath of the British burning of Washington in 1814, it had been a warehouse, a schoolhouse, and a boarding house before the Civil War. John C. Calhoun, former Vice President and a Senator from South Carolina, died there while in residence in 1850. In 1861 the government purchased the building to serve as a prison for captured Confederates and their sympathizers. Belle Boyd and John Singleton Mosby were both imprisoned there. In 1865 Henry Wirz, former commander of the Confederate prisoner of war camp at Andersonville, Georgia, was incarcerated in the prison.
Wirz was tried for war crimes committed during his tenure at Andersonville, including murder, conspiracy to commit murder, and other lesser crimes. Over the past century apologists and revisionists have claimed he was railroaded, that no witnesses identified him as committing any of the crimes for which he was accused, and that he was used as a scapegoat. Be that as it may, a military tribunal led by General Lew Wallace, a veteran of Gettysburg and the future author of Ben Hur, convicted him of the charges, and he was sentenced to death by hanging. The execution was scheduled for November 10, 1865, at Old Capitol Prison, after President Andrew Johnson did not grant clemency. About 200 witnesses were on the grounds of the prison to witness the hanging, along with over 100 Union troops as guards.
Execution by hanging required the hangman to accurately ascertain the weight of the condemned, to ensure the fall was of sufficient length to break the neck. Too long of a drop could result in decapitation, too short and the victim would slowly strangle. The latter occurred in Wirz’s case, and the 200 witnesses watched as the condemned writhed and twisted, kicking and twitching, as he was gradually choked to death. Wirz was one of just two men executed for war crimes committed during the American Civil War, though several others were executed for spying or for crimes committed as guerrillas during the conflict.
6. William Kemmler, electrocution, 1890
William Kemmler holds the distinction of being the first human formally executed using electricity. Convicted for the brutal murder of his common law wife, Kemmler was incarcerated in New York as Westinghouse and Edison’s “voltage wars” argued whether AC or DC current was the preferred method of providing electrical power to America. Edison conducted a lengthy and well-hyped campaign to demonstrate the dangers of AC current, as well as a coincident campaign demonstrating the effectiveness of using electricity for capital punishment. As part of his campaign he electrocuted animals, including an elephant, which he conveniently filmed using his relatively new motion picture technology.
New York authorized execution by electrocution in 1888, using AC current (after extensive lobbying by Edison), and Kemmler simply was the first in line by schedule. Westinghouse opposed the use of his AC technology for the purpose, as well as Edison’s unrelenting propagandizing, but eventually the scheduled execution took place in Auburn Prison, Auburn, New York. Rather than humane and quick, it was gruesome and protracted. After a first jolt and a pronouncement of death by the attending physician, Kemmler displayed signs of life. Additional charges of electricity were ordered, leading to several minutes of evident torture experienced by the victim.
Kemmler’s body smoked and charred, convulsed and changed color, filling the execution chamber with the smells of burnt meat. Several witnesses were forced to turn away, sickened by the display. The skin split and bled, hair smoldered, and approximately eight minutes transpired before the physician again announced Kemmler was dead. George Westinghouse later commented that an axe would have been a more efficient method of execution. A New York Times report of the execution headlined “Far Worse Than Hanging”. According to the report one witness, Sheriff O. A. Jenkins of Buffalo, New York, came to the opinion that execution by electrocution, “…would never do”.
5. William Williams, hanging, 1906
As of the end of 2022, William Willams, a convicted murderer, is the last person executed for his crimes by the State of Minnesota. Williams was convicted of killing a teenage boy of whom he was enamored, as well as the boy’s mother, who died in a separate shooting a week later. Williams admitted the murder of the boy, attempted to escape punishment via the insanity defense, and after conviction was sentenced to death by hanging.
Once again, the professional estimation of the hangman failed to address the realities of the execution. The hangman used a rope which was too long for its intended purpose, and Williams dropped to the floor, his neck intact, and with insufficient tension to stimulate strangulation. While Williams awaited, the hangman was forced to solicit assistance for him to complete his duty to the state.
Three or four strong men (depending on sources) were forced to seize the rope and haul upwards, lifting Williams off the floor and strangling him. No reporters were allowed to attend and record the execution, but over thirty witnesses observed Williams’ involuntary struggles against strangulation, which lasted over 14 minutes. Williams was executed in 1906. The state has not conducted an execution since. In 1911, Minnesota abolished the death penalty.
4. Ginggaew Lorsoongnem, firing squad, 1979
Ginggaew Lorsoongnem was one of six Thai criminals who conspired to kidnap and murder a child. For the purposes of readability the other five shall remain nameless here. Convicted in a trial which was sensationalized in the press and media, Lorsoongnem was sentenced to death in early 1979. In Thailand at the time the preferred method of execution was through a firing squad.
Unbeknownst to her executioners, the convicted criminal was afflicted with situs inversus, meaning her heart, as well as other major organs, was on the opposite side from normal, as in a mirror image. At her execution, Lorsoongnem was struck by at least ten rounds, and since she was unconscious declared dead. Her body was then transferred to the morgue, located nearby in the same compound as that of the execution, where it was deposited to await autopsy.
Authorities, who were busily preparing additional executions, were startled by her screams from the morgue, and her reported attempts to stand once she regained consciousness. She was removed to the execution chamber, and a second firing squad pumped additional rounds into her body. According to Thai reports, the second firing squad completed the execution satisfactorily, at least as far as Thai justice was concerned.
3. John Louis Evans, electrocution, 1983
John Louis Evans’s execution in 1983 was notable at the time as being the first in Alabama since the United States Supreme Court allowed the states to return to the death penalty in Gregg v. Georgia (1976). As such it drew considerable media attention in the United States and internationally. Evans was a career criminal, having committed more than two dozen armed robberies, numerous kidnappings, and the murder of a pawn shop owner during the course of a robbery. Evans attempted to plead guilty to the latter, which was rejected by prosecutors, since acceptance of the plea would prevent them from seeking the death penalty.
Scheduled for execution on April 22, 1983, Evans was electrocuted in an electric chair which had been built in the 1920s. and last used in 1965. His execution, witnessed by members of the press, his attorneys, and others, took more than 24 minutes after the first shock was applied. Eventually three were required, and his body smoldered, smoked, and produced sparks while it convulsed with each application of current.
“A large puff of grayish smoke and sparks poured out from under the hood that covered Mr. Evans’ face”, according to a witness, who attended the execution. “An overwhelming stench of burnt flesh and clothing began pervading the witness room”. He was describing the results of the first of the three shocks required before Evans was declared dead, after medical examinations following the first two revealed him to still be alive.
2. Stephen McCoy, lethal injection, 1989
In 1982 Texas became the first American state to use lethal injection, the intravenous administration of a “cocktail” of drugs, as the preferred means of legal execution. Eventually 32 states and the federal government adopted lethal injection, under the belief the method was more humane than hanging, gas, electrocution, or firing squad. In 1989 Stephen McCoy was sentenced to death in Texas. McCoy was a serial killer who, along with a partner named James Paster, was guilty of at least three murders, including the rape of two of the victims. Paster too was executed for his crimes.
For reasons which seem inexplicable to some, lethal injections are typically carried out by medical professionals, who create sanitary fields around the injection site. Although it seems as if post-injection infection is of minor concern to the victim, adherence to procedures is strictly followed. So are the amounts of the drugs administered as well as the rate of administration. In the case of McCoy, rather than simply slipping into a drug-induced coma followed by death, the victim reacted strongly and adversely to the injections.
McCoy’s reaction to the drugs included a physical spasm in which his body arched violently, causing at least one witness to faint. He also audibly gasped for air. Texas officials later admitted the execution had been less than ideal in its completion. According to Jim Mattox, then Attorney General for the State of Texas, “The drugs might have been administered in a heavier dose…” McCoy’s execution was one of the earliest examples of the pitfalls of relying on lethal injection as a humane method of dispatching those sentenced to death.
1. Joseph Lewis Clark, lethal injection, 2006
Joseph Lewis Clark was sentenced to die for the murder of a gas station attendant during a robbery which netted Clark all of $60. Arrested in January, 1964, Clark confessed to the murder (as well as another) after a failed suicide attempt while in custody. Tried and convicted, following the lengthy appeals process, his execution took place in Lucasville, Ohio on May 2, 2006. His execution took place before witnesses, but for an extended period their view was obscured by a curtain. They heard, rather than saw, what transpired in the execution chamber.
What they heard were repeated groans and protests that it wasn’t working, including verbal complaints uttered by the condemned man. When the curtain was opened, the witnesses observed the condemned man raise his head several times and look about him. The procedure took more than 90 minutes, delayed because the medical technicians involved failed to find a vein capable of bearing the intravenous injection. One vein selected collapsed more than a half hour into the execution. One witness reported the victim protesting, “It don’t work”, several times throughout the procedure.
A post-mortem on Clark’s body revealed 19 puncture wounds administered during the search for a suitable injection site. Clark’s execution eventually succeeded, though protests based on what witnesses reported led to increased debate over lethal injections as a means of state executions. Over the centuries humanity has sought a means to humanely dispatch those deemed to be the least humane in society. Despite persistence in trying, it appears the perfect answer to the difficulty continues to be elusive.