A mere legality

[Baker, John]

Mark's body was hung in chains, so I assume that the chains kept the body more or less intact.

In reference to your earlier email, I believe you are right:  Suicides were buried at crossroads, and not just any roadside.


John Baker



-----Original Message-----
From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of Wilson Gray
Sent: Tuesday, February 21, 2012 1:10 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: A mere legality

On Tue, Feb 21, 2012 at 12:56 PM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
> A notable instance is that of Mark, convicted together with a female
> servant of petty treason for the murder of their master. � After being
> hung in 1755, Mark's body was taken to Charlestown, where the crime
> had been committed, and left hanging at a crossroads near the
> Charlestown ferry, at a point where the road turned towards Medford
> and Cambridge. � Mark's body is alleged to have been seen by Paul
> Revere on his ride, 20 years later, but it is more likely that
> Revere's reference is merely an identification of a well-known
> location. � (It is certain that Mark's body was still there in 1758, 3
> years after his execution, but there are only second-hand assertions
> that it was still there until shortly before the Revolution.)

But, what would have kept the remains hanging for even three years,
without falling apart, let alone for twenty?

--
-Wilson
-----
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint
to come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-Mark Twain

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