POLAND: Dissolute Hangman

The Ministry of Justice discharged and publicly denounced National Hangman Maciejewski, last week, and replaced him by one of his former assistants, a comparative novice at knotting nooses.

Poles under sentence to hang were worried. They know that a noose smartly drawn up (with knot close under one ear of the condemned) will bring instant, pain less death, by snapping the neck. Such have been the nooses of experienced Hangman Maciejewski, a onetime medical student. On the other hand, a loose and slovenly noose brings slow strangulation, lingering agony.

Therefore Polish connoisseurs of execution regretted the abrupt dismissal of Hangman Maciejewski last week. They set up his reputation for conscientious professional conduct against the announcement of the Ministry of Justice that he had been proved to spend his leisure time "in drinking immoderately . . . contracting many bad debts . . . [and] generally leading a dissolute life." Squeamish Poles rejoiced at a further official announcement that the permanent gallows which now stand in the yards of all State prisons will be removed "as offensive to public opinion." Hereafter a special, temporary gallows will be erected for each neck-snapping or strangulation.