hour after death from typhus. In about twenty-four hours the body was cut down and examined. "Around the neck, between the larynx and os hyoides, was a double parallel mark, about three lines deep, of a brown color, with a slight tinge of blue. There were traces of cadaveric ecchymoses about the body. The whole appearance was such that any individual not acquainted with the circumstances would have supposed that the deceased had been hanged while living. Some spots on the right side of the neck were strongly colored. The skin of this part was hard, like leather, and in patches slightly excoriated. There was no extravasation of blood in the cellular texture, but the muscles of the neck beneath were of a deep violet color. In the two next cases, the body of a young man, aged twenty-three, suspended an hour after death from phthisis, and that of a man, aged seventy, two hours after death from dropsy, each by a double cord, and the bodies examined on the following day, the appearances were similar; there was a double depression around the neck, of a yellowish-brown color, without ecchymosis. The cutis looked as if burnt, and was like parchment, both when felt and cut. There was no blood extravasated in the cellular tissue beneath." In other cases in which the body was hung at later periods after death, there was neither ecchymosis nor the parchment-like appearance, the mark of the cord being merely a slight depression in the skin. In the case, however, of a child, a year and a half old, on whose neck, the day after death, a small cord was tightly drawn, a small bluish-colored mark was produced. There was no blood, however, extravasated beneath it. The nature of the ligature, as, whether it be a cord or some soft material, such as a handkerchief, does not make much difference in the character of the mark, except, of course, that where a cord is used it is better defined in every respect. The yellow and parchment-like appearance may, however, be produced by either kind of ligature.

Of the lesions in the deeper tisues of the neck, if there is a considerable extravasation of blood about the point of laceration, death may be affirmed to have taken place after, or possibly immediately before, the lacerations were produced. But the evidence of postmortem suspension rests more upon the evidences of other causes of death in addition to the hanging, and in the evidence from the circumstances under which the death occurred, as shown in the following case:21

A gamekeeper, thirty-two years of age, robust and hardy in his

"Henke's Zeitsch., 1835, H. 3.

constitution, was found hanging upon a tree in the forest, three days after he had left home in pursuit of poachers. The deceased was suspended by his cravat to the branch of a young oak tree, and so near to the branch that the right side of his face was in contact with it. His feet were rather more than three feet from the ground, which bore no traces of a struggle. The tobacco pipe of the deceased was found about forty paces distant from the tree, but his hunting-knife and rifle were nowhere to be found. The cravat had left the following mark upon the neck: a groove from a half to three-quarters of an inch wide, the skin in it brown and parchment-like, and over the thyroid cartilage three-quarters of an inch deep. The indentation. was more superficial upon the left side. The direction of the mark was horizontal to the back of the neck, and thence upwards on the right side to the angle of the jaw. At this point, corresponding exactly to the knot of the noose, the skin was very deeply ecchymosed and also excoriated. The right ear was greatly discolored, as well as the integuments around it. The skin of the face and head was excoriated in many places, and bruised and lacerated also. There were, moreover, a great number of small, lacerated wounds upon the hands and arms, and bruises on the knees. No other external injuries of serious character were found. The os hyoides was broken, and the muscles and soft parts of the neck infiltrated with blood. The horizontal direction of the mark upon the neck, the extreme tightness with which the cravat was fastened upon it, the fracture of the hyoid bone, together with the large number of trifling wounds, led the examiners to give as their opinion that the deceased had been overpowered by numbers, thrown down, strangled, and afterwards hung.

Casper relates a similar instructive case.22 A sailor was killed by a stab in the heart in a brothel in Amsterdam. The women washed the body of the blood, put a clean shirt on it, and suspended it by the neck. On the examination of the body the presence of the above wound, coupled with the absence of the signs of asphyxia, led to the proper interpretation of the findings. Had a careless examination been made, however, it is not impossible to conceive how this act of homicide might have been mistaken for one of suicide.

363. Suicidal versus homicidal hanging.-The distinction between suicidal and homicidal hanging likewise depends to a certain extent upon the lesions of the neck. The suicide generally uses the least

amount of violence necessary for the production of his end, and therefore the lesions of the deep tissues of the neck are slight, so that the greater the disturbance of the conditions in the neck, the greater the probability of outside interference. Especially is this true in injuries to the larynx. With exception of the injuries to the greater horns of the larynx, any injury here is very suggestive of murder, especially murder by throttling. Homicidal hanging of adults, however, is very rare, owing to the difficulties in the execution of any such design compared with the ease of other methods. For a single man to hang another the conditions must be exceptionally favorable; but hanging by mobs, as in the lynchings of people, whether at large or already in the care of the state, which are done with the active or silent approval of the majority of the inhabitants of the neighborhood, seems possible in spite not merely of the man's resistance, but of the protection which the law can give to those in its custody. The proof of homicidal hanging depends to a great extent upon circumstantial evidence.

Formerly one of the strong arguments used in support of homicidal hanging was the position of the body,-it resting more or less upon a support; but recently less significance has been attached to the position of the body, and the fact that more or less of the body rests upon the ground has been held rather as evidence of suicidal hanging. Hofmann describes23 a large number of cases of death by hanging, giving pictures of the positions in which the bodies were found. In some just the tips of the toes touch the floor; in others the victim is practically kneeling; in others sitting; in others squatting; and in some lying down,-only the weight of the head and shoulders being held up by the rope.

Even the fact that the hands and feet of the victim are tied does not give evidence that the act was homicidal. In such cases the opinion of the examiner will be guided, in a measure, by the remaining indicatory evidence. Thus, if an individual is found suspended from a position which he could not have reached by the means at hand, the fact that his hands and feet are tied will certainly support the assumption that it is a case of homicide. But if, on the other hand, chairs or any other means of support are found near the deceased, this presumption will no longer hold, since it is evident that person may have, himself, applied these ligatures, and then hung himself by thrusting his head through the noose and overturning or pushing away the means of support.

the

"It is, however, of importance to observe whether ligatures upon the wrists are tied in such a manner as could have been done by the person himself. The following remarkable case2 may be cited in illustration: "John Robinson, a married man, aged thirty-four, was admitted into the asylum of the workhouse, on the 24th of November last, having been in a desponding, melancholy state some time, caused by religious delusions. He had attempted to destroy himself several times, by throwing himself out of the window, and rushing into the fire, and said he had a desire to hang himself. On admission, his hands were found much burnt. He refused his food for some days, but continued gradually to improve for the ensuing six weeks, and went to bed in a tranquil state on the evening of the 5th inst., about nine P. M. He was found next morning at half-past six, suspended to a bar of the window of his cell, by means of the bandage which he had taken from his hands and folded double. His wrists were fastened together behind his back, by a piece of bandage, in which two running nooses had been made and slipped over his hands, and then pulled tight. His ankles were tightly fastened together, and his night-cap was pulled down over his face, below his nose. The toes almost, if not quite, touched the ground; the body hanging between the bed and a night chair, with the face towards the wall. On cutting him down, it was apparent, from the coldness and rigidity of the body, that he had been dead some time. The features were quite composed; no discoloration of the face; eyes in the natural position, if anything a little depressed; no froth at the mouth or protrusion of the tongue, or lividity of the neck, but, on the right side, extending nearly from the angle of the jaw to the commencement of the thyroid cartilage, the skin was cut through, as if with a blunt knife, to the depth of nearly a quarter of an inch. The hands and feet were extended and pointed downwards. No erection of the penis, or emission of semen, urine, or feces. The body, in fact, presented the appearance of that of a person dying from other causes, and being afterwards suspended. It was only the absence of suspicion of any kind that made the cause of death appear satisfactory. He must have first taken the bandages from his hands and cut them. into suitable pieces, then stood on the night-chair, then tied his legs, then fastened the noose around his neck and pulled the cap over his face, and lastly, slipped his hands behind his back, put the nooses over his wrists, and then jumped off. His friends would not permit

Lond. Med. Gaz., Vol. XIV., p. 388,

by Mr. J. H. Taylor.

a post-mortem examination, and the coroner did not consider any medical evidence requisite."

364. Cases; accidental hanging.-Accidental hanging rarely is found, and when found is under such circumstances that there can be little doubt of the unintentional nature of the suspension. Glaister cites25 three cases, one of a boy who went into the cowshed to play. There was a swing attached to a beam across the upper part of the shed. The boy climbed up to this beam with the intention of sliding down one of the ropes of the swing; but in his descent a woolen eravat which he wore round his neck caught in a large nail in the beam and he became suspended. Fortunately his father found him in time to restore him, though he was black in the face and unconscious when rescued. In the second case a boy had climbed an apple tree after fruit. He slipped between the branches, and his jacket, which was buttoned at the neck, turned up round his neck and strangled him. When found he was dead. A third case of accidental hanging, involving culpability of the mother, occurred under somewhat remarkable circumstances. The mother, in order to punish her child-a girl of three years-tied the child's arms above the elbows with a stocking, which she then passed around the body. To the stocking behind she attached one end of a cord, and fastened the other end of the cord to a ring in the wall of a dark closet about 52 feet above the floor, and about 22 feet above the child's head. At the end of three hours, which was the term of punishment, the mother went to let out the child, but found that her child was dead, having been suspended by the cord. It is difficult to account precisely for the cause of suspension, but, in any case, a mark was found on the child's neck at the lower part of the trachea. The mother was charged with the crime of manslaughter, found guilty, and sentenced to one year's imprisonment.

364a. Homicidal hanging.- Homicidal hanging, except in cases of helplessness, could scarcely be accomplished by one assailant. Ogston, however, relates one case26 of a woman who was tried in Edinburgh in 1827, for hanging her husband. This she effected by passing a noose round his neck while he was asleep, and then pulling him up. Usually more than one person is involved in the commission of such crimes. One of the most sensational crimes of Paris was perpetrated in this manner in 1888, in the murder of a man named Gouffé.27 A girl named Bompard, who had formed an illicit ac

'Glaister, Med. Jurisp., p. 146.

"Lacassagne,

Ogston. Lectures on Med. Jurispru- Crim., 1890. dence, p. 532.

Archives d'Anthrop.