Catherine Hayes burnt for the murder of her husband.
Valois sculp.
[n.d, c.1750.]
Engraving. Sheet 110 x 174mm (41/2 x 6 3/4"), large margins on 3 sides.
Scene depicting Catherine Hayes (1690 - 1726) being burnt for the murder of her husband. John Hayes was murdered with an axe by Thomas Wood & Thomas Billings (Billing's being Catherine & John's son). On 1 March 1726, they persuaded Hayes to partake in a drinking contest, then killed him once he was intoxicated. The trio then dismembered Hayes' body To make identification more difficult, they decided to cut off his head, wrap it in a cloth and place it in a bucket, which they later threw into the Thames at Millbank, from where it was soon recovered lying on a sandbank near the Horse-Ferry at Westminster. Wood, being a butcher, dismembered the rest of John's body, the pieces of which they threw into a pond in Marylebone Fields. The recovered head was examined and the scull found to be severely fractured in two places and the face lacerated. Catherine Hayes was tried alongside Wood & Billings and, although she claimed to have only held a candle as Billings and Wood murdered her husband she was found guilty of Petty Treason was sentenced to be drawn to Tyburn on a hurdle and there to be burned alive at the stake. Wood & Billings were sentenced to be hanged at Tyburn and afterwards be hanged in chains. Wood died in prison of fever before the sentence was carried out. At Tyburn Catherine was secured to a stake, set in the ground a few yards from the gallows, by an iron chain around her body. A cord was put round her neck and passed through a hole bored in the stake, for the purpose of strangling her to ease her death. Two cartloads of dry brushwood were piled around her and at the signal the fire was lit. She begged Arnet to strangle her before the fire reached her and he took the end of the cord and began to pull on it, but the flames blew in his direction burning his hands so he had to let go. She reportedly gave three dreadful shrieks before she was engulfed by the fierce fire and fell silent. She was seen trying to push away the burning faggots with her free hands but to no avail.
[Ref: 68730] £130.00
[n.d, c.1750.]
Engraving. Sheet 110 x 174mm (41/2 x 6 3/4"), large margins on 3 sides.
Scene depicting Catherine Hayes (1690 - 1726) being burnt for the murder of her husband. John Hayes was murdered with an axe by Thomas Wood & Thomas Billings (Billing's being Catherine & John's son). On 1 March 1726, they persuaded Hayes to partake in a drinking contest, then killed him once he was intoxicated. The trio then dismembered Hayes' body To make identification more difficult, they decided to cut off his head, wrap it in a cloth and place it in a bucket, which they later threw into the Thames at Millbank, from where it was soon recovered lying on a sandbank near the Horse-Ferry at Westminster. Wood, being a butcher, dismembered the rest of John's body, the pieces of which they threw into a pond in Marylebone Fields. The recovered head was examined and the scull found to be severely fractured in two places and the face lacerated. Catherine Hayes was tried alongside Wood & Billings and, although she claimed to have only held a candle as Billings and Wood murdered her husband she was found guilty of Petty Treason was sentenced to be drawn to Tyburn on a hurdle and there to be burned alive at the stake. Wood & Billings were sentenced to be hanged at Tyburn and afterwards be hanged in chains. Wood died in prison of fever before the sentence was carried out. At Tyburn Catherine was secured to a stake, set in the ground a few yards from the gallows, by an iron chain around her body. A cord was put round her neck and passed through a hole bored in the stake, for the purpose of strangling her to ease her death. Two cartloads of dry brushwood were piled around her and at the signal the fire was lit. She begged Arnet to strangle her before the fire reached her and he took the end of the cord and began to pull on it, but the flames blew in his direction burning his hands so he had to let go. She reportedly gave three dreadful shrieks before she was engulfed by the fierce fire and fell silent. She was seen trying to push away the burning faggots with her free hands but to no avail.
[Ref: 68730] £130.00