I was very happy to discover that the hard to find (affordably) classic reference in Capital Punishment "Hanging In Chains" by Albert Hartshorne, published in 1891, is now online. Google Books has done us a big favor!

To quote Laura James, Esq., my favorite True Crime reviewer and investigator, "The book details severe punishments through time and cultures, covering everything from the disposal of murderers in ancient Egypt all the way up through various European manifestations of severe punishments like gibbeting or hanging in chains -- a punishment not solely reserved for pirates, and one used until well into the nineteenth century."

You can download it or read it online at http://books.google.com/books?vid=OCLC0841...s_brr=1#PPR3,M1

This book pretty much clarified in my mind what terms like "hung, drawn and quartered" and "gibbeting" meant, how it was viewed at the time, and how capital punishment used to be handled.

Makes you wonder if we have gone very wrong or very right, since then.

Hope you enjoy this nearly forgotten classic,
NS