One hundred years ago
THIS IS certainly the age of journalistic hysteria. In an execution at Liverpool, the drop was made somewhat too long for the purpose of merely breaking the neck, and resulted in something like a partial decapitation, and flow of blood from the neck. Some of the papers have been attacking the authorities in lan- guage which almost suggests that to sever the head from the body instead of merely breaking the neck, is a deliber- ate outrage deserving such terms as "murder." Indeed, the writer of a very obscure letter to the Pall Mall Gazette speaks of the existence of a "syndicate of murderers" in connection with the affair, and the letter itself is headed, "A Syndicate of Murderers." One would be inclined to suggest hypnotism as a rem- edy for this hysterical journalism, were not there already such a curious blend- ing in it of sleepiness with hysteria.
The Spectator, 29 August 1891
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