{"id":21174,"date":"2016-04-10T14:38:26","date_gmt":"2016-04-10T18:38:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/?p=21174"},"modified":"2016-04-10T14:38:26","modified_gmt":"2016-04-10T18:38:26","slug":"meeting-the-hangman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/2016\/04\/meeting-the-hangman.html","title":{"rendered":"Meeting the Hangman"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Heathcote Williams<\/strong><\/font><\/p>\n

<\/a>I used to speak out against capital punishment
\nFrom a soapbox at Speakers\u2019 Corner.
\nThis was when it was thought that hanging people
\nWas helpful in maintaining order.<\/p>\n

One day someone called Barry Trenoweth came over.
\nHis father, Gordon, had been hanged for murder.
\nHe\u2019d killed a shopkeeper in Falmouth during the war
\nIn a robbery that went wrong. A non-starter.<\/p>\n

There was only four pounds ten shillings in the till
\nAnd Gordon didn\u2019t have the time to buy a drink
\nBefore the police called at 3, Mutton Row, Penryn,
\nTo take him away to Falmouth\u2019s clink.<\/p>\n

Gordon Trenoweth was put on trial at Bodmin Assizes
\nAnd then hanged at Exeter Jail
\nBy Albert Pierrepoint, the hangman, famous for boasting
\nOf a \u201ccraft\u201d he swore could never fail.<\/p>\n

Barry\u2019s mother had suffered a breakdown after
\nAnd Barry was sent to an orphanage.
\nHe\u2019d wonder how he got there but was only told,
\n\u201cYou\u2019ll learn when you reach a certain age.\u201d<\/p>\n

At eighteen he was summoned by the Warden
\nWho informed him that he\u2019d had a family
\nBut, the Warden said darkly, due to \u201ccircumstances\u201d
\nThey\u2019d had to forfeit their baby.<\/p>\n

<\/a>

Illustration: Elena Caldera<\/font><\/p><\/div>Barry was given the address of his mother
\nAnd his grandmother, a Mrs. Rapson,
\nWho looked after Barry\u2019s mother, Gladys, left shattered
\nIn a tiny cottage, two-up two-down.<\/p>\n

There was no hot water, just an outside tap
\nAnd a tin bath in the front room.
\nGran heated water from the hob and then poured it in.
\nThey\u2019d turn the TV round so no one saw them.<\/p>\n

Barry said he was shocked and distressed by their lives:
\nThey\u2019d been innocent of any criminal action,
\nYet their lives were destroyed and his life was scarred
\nBy the law\u2019s vengeful chain reaction.<\/p>\n

It was this that drew him to the campaign platform
\nWhen he was working in London, in a hotel \u2013
\nPicking up guests\u2019 shoes at night then polishing them,
\n\u201cWhile\u201d, as he put it, \u201cI tried to forget myself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Was he, Barry Trenoweth, going to be a murderer?
\nWas he one day going to be hanged?<\/font><\/p>\n

Find out at IT: International Times, The Newspaper of Resistance<\/em><\/a>.<\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Heathcote Williams I used to speak out against capital punishment From a soapbox at Speakers\u2019 Corner. This was when it was thought that hanging people Was helpful in maintaining order. One day someone called Barry Trenoweth came over. His father, Gordon, had been hanged for murder. He\u2019d killed a shopkeeper in Falmouth during the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":21168,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[19,18,17],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-21174","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-art","8":"category-literature","9":"category-political-culture","10":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Hangman-2-1-e1460311763905.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pbvgEs-5vw","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21174","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21174"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21174\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21181,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21174\/revisions\/21181"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21168"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21174"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21174"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21174"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}