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Rutterford, the Norfolk murderer, who stuffed a dying man's mouth

with mud, has been reprieved, a huge burn having so swollen his neck that hanging would have produced a horrible scene of torture. The reprieve was unavoidable, but it is one more proof of the injustice consequent on our system of execution. • Hanging is the most cruel of deaths for a light man, a man with strong vitality, or a man with a bull neck, all of whom are apt to struggle for many minutes. The only death which is the same for all, which involves no cruelty and yet impresses the imagina- tion, is death by the bullet, military execution, in fact. if it is unconstitutional to employ soldiers, a row of barrels fired by a concealed executioner would bo as effective. ,

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