brought him to
justice. This brother requested him to give him a small sum of money so
that he might leave the country, but he refused to comply. He then said
he should make known his crime, but that did not frighten Horne. He
replied, "I'll chance it," and this gave rise to a well-known saying in
the Midlands, "I'll chance it as Horne did his neck." He was hanged at
Gallows-Hill, Nottingham, and was driven in his carriage by his own
coachman. We are told as the gloomy procession ascended the Mansfield
Road the white locks of the hoary sinner streamed mournfully in the
wind, his head being uncovered and the vehicle open, and the day very
tempestuous. He met his doom with a considerable degree of fortitude, in
the presence of an immense crowd of spectators, including hundreds of
his Derbyshire neighbours and tenantry.[2]

A year later Earl Ferrers was hanged for the shooting of his own
steward. On May 5th, 1760, he was driven from the Tower to Tyburn in a
landau drawn by six horses. His lordship was attired in his wedding
clothes, which were of a light colour and richly embroidered in silver.
He was hanged with a silken rope, and instead of being swung into
eternity from a common cart, a scaffold was erected under the gallows,
which we think may be regarded as the precursor of the drop. Mr. T.
Broadbent Trowsdale contributed to "Bygone Leicestershire" an informing
paper on "Laurence Ferrers: the Murderer-Earl."[3] We reproduce an
illustration of the execution from a print of the period.

Some interesting details occur in _Notes and Queries_ for May 28th,
1898, respecting "The Colleen Bawn." It is stated that when John
Scanlan had been found guilty of the murder of Ellen Hanley, the gentry
of the county of Limerick petitioned for a reprieve, which was refused.
They next requested that Scanlan be hanged with a silken cord, though
whether for its greater dignity or because it offered a possibility of
more rapid strangulation in short drop, we cannot tell. The Lord
Lieutenant thought hemp would serve the purpose. According to Haydn's
"Dictionary of Dates," Scanlan was executed 14th March, 1820.

[Illustration: EXECUTION OF EARL FERRERS AT TYBURN.

(_From a print of the period._)]

Mr. Gordon Fraser, of Wigtown, has collected much interesting local lore
respecting the town, which was made a royal burgh in 1341. In bygone
times it had the distinction of having its own public executioner.
According to traditional accounts