The Gallows At Fort Columbus Where Beall Was Hanged

From the February 25, 1865, New York Times.

"The gallows, the same used at the execution of GORDON, the slave trader, is not built with a drop, but furnished with weights and pulleys, by means of which the condemned man is jerked into the air with a sudden motion which instantly dislocates the vertebrae of the neck.

"Around one of the uprights, an inclosure of rough boards is erected, and the weights and pulleys, as well as the executioner, are thus concealed from view.  The noose is separate from the main end, and is provided with an iron ring, which hooks on to the gallow's rope.

"This horrible instrument of death was erected on the southerly slope of the island, facing southeast."

"The noose is the same one used to hang HICKS, the pirate GORDON, the slave trader, and the negro HAWKINS, who was executed for murder on the high seas."

Confederate Major General W.H.C. Whiting of Fort Fisher was at this fort at this time. I have to wonder what he thought of all this.

A More Humane Gallows?  --Old Secesh