Report continued from previous page....

The Boston Guardian � Saturday January 9th, 1869. Execution of Mrs Biggadike, The Stickney Murderess.

The Inquest. In accordance with the new act of Private Execution, an inquest was held on the body, in the afternoon, by Dr Mitchinson, in the Debtor�s Court. The Jury then proceeded to view the body, which was lying in a cell near the place of execution. The face and hands were quite white, the features well set, and there appeared to be no distortion whatever. Mr Broadbent, surgeon of the Castle, was then examined. The execution, in his opinion, was carried out with decency, humanity, and the average amount of skill. The rope was adjusted in a different manner to what he had hitherto seen it. The rope was placed round the neck, with the knot under the chin, so that deceased breathed for some minutes before death. The executioner had told him that by the body hanging in that way the head was thrown backwards on to the spine of the back, so that all sensation was destroyed, but at all events it did not prevent the deceased from breathing.She was about three and a half minutes in dying, from the fall of the drop.From what the executioner had told him, it might be that the moment she fell, her head being thrown back, all sensation might be destroyed.  The jury returned a verdict to the effect that they were satisfied as to identity, and that the execution was carried out according to the sentence, properly, and with humanity.

The Deathbed Confession - and the truth!

Thanks to Richard Clark (and his excellent website) I now have the true ending to the story. I had heard that there was a deathbed confession, but did not know if it was actually true. The facts are borne out in these two references.... "Penological & Preventive Principles" by Tallack. pp.246 247. "Capital Punishment in the 20th century" by E. Roy Calvert, published by Putnams and Sons in 1927. pages 125-126. Thomas Proctors death is recorded in the March Quarter of 1882 at the General Register Office in London. He made a deathbed confession (which was apparently recorded in the Daily Telegraph and I have yet to check this out) - stating it was he who administered poison to Richard Biggadyke, and not Priscilla. Priscilla Biggadyke received a posthumous pardon. Her grave still lies amongst those convicts who received the death penalty at Lincoln, in the Lucy Tower, forgotten by most, but not by all.