A Hangmans Diary is not only a collection of detailed writings by Schmidt about his work, but also an account of criminal procedure in Germany during the Middle Ages. Crippen) in 1910, Frederick Seddon in 1912, Sir Roger Casement in 1916, Herbert Rowse Armstrong in 1922, and of Edith Thompson in 1923. Women being tied up in sacks and thrown in rivers, and many other archaic practices were commonplace. Some include extra remarks from Schmidt some personal like "This was my first execution with the sword" (110) while others of a more generic nature like "No one had been executed in the town for 106 years" (186). Each entry in Part 1 concerns one of the 300 executions carried out by Schmidt - they include the date (sometimes) of the execution, the name and alias of the victim, the crime, and the method, and other information if relevant.

I was expecting more of a personal diary of the executioner and his thoughts about his job and the accused that he was tasked with punishing or executing.By using the Web site, you confirm that you have read, understood, and agreed to be bound by the Terms and Conditions. Franz Schmidt was definitely not an author writing to entertain or even to inform a future audience. Written by the man who served as Britain's hangman in the early part of the twentieth century, this book provides far more insight into the the criminals with whom John Ellis came into contact than into the life and mindset of an executioner. Hans Horn of Korenburg and Wolf Bauer of Rollhofen, alias Schnöllgatter, two thieves, George Wigliss, alias Habersack of Auerbach, a murderer, who with his companion committed three murders.

That being said though it was still fascinating to see what mattered to them and how they viewed execution, exile, and punishment.While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home. I started off last year with another book about Franz Schmidt, The Faithful Executioner, which I enjoyed to no end. Sometimes difficult to get through because of repetitiveness, and some sections seem to drag on, due to perhaps Meister Schmidt's particular feelings on a specific execution or torture. The diary entries alternate between terse single lines, “A thief hanged” and long passages giving tantalizing details of the crimes for which people were punished. Lots of people have their heads cut off "as a favour" to avoid the worse fates of hanging out the wheel, which are reserved for the worst offenders.