Historic%20Yorkshire

THE STORY OF YORK CASTLE. 91
water from the pool nearest to the prison door; on the
third day, again three morsels of bread as before, and
such bread and such water alternately from day to day
until you die." Standing mute was not considered
sufficient for conviction, and before a culprit could be
tried it seems to have been often the case that he could
not be tried until he had declared his willingness to be
put on trial by the laws and customs of the realm; for
we read that early in the reign of EdwardI.the Sheriff
of York surrounded and captured a party of malefactors,
of which it is said that some were killed in the attack,
others made prisoners, while others, because they would
not consent to betried according to law and custom, were
beheadedonthespot— doubtless totheirgreater satisfaction.
The records of the Assize Courts show that from 1370
to the present timenearlysix hundred people have been
beheaded or hanged at York, and the accounts contain
many very curious particulars of the various prisoners
who have been incarcerated or suffered death here. In
addition to the hangingof condemnedcriminals,for some
offences they werepressed to deathby beingplaced on a
board witha spike which pierced the spine, while weights
were added which brokethe ribs. For the crime ofpetty
treason, that is, husband-murder, womenwere commonly
strangled and then burned. The last who suffered in
this way for this offence, at York, was Eliza Bordington,
who,in 1777, was first strangled and her body afterwards
burned. For high treason the sentence was disgustingly
barbarous. Peers of the realm, gentlemen, and ecclesiastics
of high estate, and others, were visited by the
ruthless punishment of hanging,drawing, and quartering.
So perished the leaders ofthe " PilgrimageofGrace," in
which Lord Hussey was a chief participator. He was
first " hanged for twenty minutes, then cut down,
stripped, and laid upon a stage built for that purpose
close to the gallows,wherehis head was cut off and his
body quartered." Others of note might be mentioned.
The heads and the bleeding quarters of those who so