Untitled

              The  Hanging   Of   Miss  Griffin

                                   Justice;  The  Old  West  Way


                   She was barely eighteen, pretty and slim, with a smooth, creamy complexion, her straw coloured hair shone like diamonds in the sun as it cascaded down to her gorgeous shoulders, with sparkling green eyes and a warm welcoming smile, she wouldn't hurt a living thing. Well, not intentionally.  Her name was Margaret Griffin and she was a friendly, helpful young woman, raised with old-fashioned values and morals. Margaret had only left the family farm to earn a little money to help her struggling family. Her loving parents had not wanted her to leave them, but she had assured them that she could take care of herself and that people were generally kind and good. How very wrong she was, and she will pay dearly for that mistake.
Margaret hadn't meant to pull the trigger, the man that attacked her was much stronger then herself, but he was extremely drunk and he planned to rape her, Margaret knew that for certain and she was keeping herself for someone special, for her wedding night, she didn't want to lose her virginity that way.  So when the drunk came at her again she somehow managed to grab his six shooter, bit during the struggle the pistol discharged shooting her potential rapist in the stomach. It took him many painful hours to die, and the menfolk of the town wanted revenge. Her trail was a circus, Margaret tried to explain, but nobody cared and her sentence never in doubt. That was three days ago, now Margaret finds herself alone, in a cell, watching the sunrise. It will be the last sunrise that this pretty young woman will see. Margaret will die on the gallows at noon. In a few hours the dirty sheriff and his deputies will come for her and take her to the town square where she will be publicly hanged by the neck until dead.
This innocent girl had never, of course seen a hanging, and she can only hope that her death will be quick and merciful, she refuses to believe the deputies when they tell her that she will either strangle slowly and painfully, or that her lovely head will be ripped from her body. The previous night the sheriff had came to see her and promised her a quick death if she preformed some disgusting, (to naive Margaret) sex acts with him. Once again she had to fight a man off, ferociously biting and scratching like a mountain cat until he left her alone. But not before he shouts at her that he will get what he wants and she will die horribly. Margaret wants her Ma and Pa, but she his glad that they will not see their eldest daughter executed like a common whore. Her family will not even know she is dead until long after.
Margaret waited for her appointment with death calmly, her faith in the Lord consoling her. Suddenly, the sheriff and his deputies were at her cell, they are drunk and loud, laughing and abusing her as they enter the cell. Before she can defend herself the three men are upon her, tearing off her clothes and undergarments. She tried to fight them but two hold her down while the sheriff probes her private parts, they took turns raping her virginally and anally and forcing her to take their penises in between her sweet lips and swallow their semen. Margaret had hardly kisses a boy before, and she screamed out for help, but none arrived, she prayed to her God, not understanding why he is letting her suffer such indignity. After ten minutes or so of this torment Margaret stopped struggling and let the rapist do want they want to her, she is now secretly wanting to die on the noose as she realised that no honest man would want to marry her now. After what seemed like hours to Margaret, the men stop attacking her, bind her hands behind her back and leave, laughing, calling her a whore and telling her not to worry, that soon she will feel well enough to dance, dance at the end of a rope, she prays that it will be soon.
            Eventually, the sheriff and his two cronies come back for her, they half drag her, half walk her to the square where a large and rowdy crowd has gathered. The sight of a pretty, naked, young woman excites the mob even more and Margaret hears them calling out such things as, " hang the little whore" and "lets see her swing," and she wondered how people can be so cruel. The deputies carried her onto the scaffold, because at the sight of the noose Margaret panics and cannot move. The sheriff pushed her forcefully to the front of the platform and slid the wide loop of the hemp rope over luscious head. He adjusted the rope around her slender neck so that the loop rested upon her collarbone, with the knot positioned behind her left ear. Margaret her head lowered is softly sobbing making her firm breasts quiver and the noise of the crowd increases. She cannot believe that her young life will end like this, bleeding, naked, hanged in front of a mob baying for her blood. What had she done to deserve this fate she wondered.
The sheriff motions for the crowd to be silent then read out her death warrant. "Margaret Griffin, you stand convicted of murder most foul. For this crime you will be hanged by the neck until you are dead, punishment to be carried out immediately." Margaret lifted her head to the sky and said a silent pray, pleading to her God for a quick merciful death, but once again her God has deserted her.
     The wooden platform fell out from under the condemn girl, and the crowd yelled loudly. Margaret felt her legs drop out from beneath her, then a sickening sensation in her stomach, then a sharp blow to her neck as she hit the end of the rope and the noose tightened around her tender throat, unfortunately for Margaret, her slender neck did not snap.
       The rope was unforgiving as it dug into her trachea, twisting and stretching the tendons in her neck. Her breathing was cut off, coming out in choking gasps. As blood began to pool above the knot, her cheeks and jaw began to change to a hideous purplish colour. Drool and some blood flowed freely from her gaping mouth, and her tongue began to protrude as she struggled to wheeze oxygen. Margaret's entire body twisted back and forth as the rope ravelled and unravelled itself. The noose dug further and further under her chin, and her face grew darker and darker. She could be seen visibly straining against the ropes which bound her. Her feet fluttered, then her beautifully formed legs started kicking like a mule looking for a patch of ground on which they might rest and release the pressure on her tortured throat. Margaret's legs then bent at the knees and shot backwards as if  she were fucking thrusting her hips forward again and again. Her struggling quickly became weaker, and the sound of her breathing grew fainter and less frequent, finally beginning to settle into one long, low rasp. The mob was now mostly silent now as they watch transfixed on the girl's futile struggles.
         Margaret opened her mouth wide and began lifting her head up and down as best she could, as if this somehow might get her more air. She began to struggle violently as she realised the desperation of her situation. Her face was a deep purple now, her once vibrant eyes were reddening as the capillaries started to burst. Her eyelids began to flutter, and finally settled shut. She let her head drop down and rest against the ever tightening, unmerciful noose. It dug a little further under her chin and her neck appeared visibly stretched, her mouth hung agape as drool streamed out of it and fell onto her nearly still chest. Her breathing, when it came was just a whisper now.  Her once pretty face was contorted in pain and suffering, motionless, deep purple in colour, but cast with a deathly pallor. Margaret's eyelids fluttered again slightly, and her body let forth one last heave, her mouth widen slightly, revealing the agonly of death, she lost control of her bladder and bowels, drenching the ground beneath her and making her drip as her near lifeless body slowly swayed, leaving her undignified in death.
           The town doctor ascended a stepladder and placed his hand on her neck, while also placing a stethoscope against her still chest. There was no trace of breath, but he felt a very faint heartbeat. It wouldn't be more then a few minutes he announced to the slowly dispersing mob.
            The form hanging from the rope was now motionless, save for a slight movement of her silky hair from a small breeze. There was little sound, expect for the noise of the rope creaking from the occasional sway due to the same breeze. The afternoon sun shone upon her fair skin, highlighting the twisted muscles in her tortured neck, and the tightly stretched skin of her chest.
         The town doctor pronounced Margaret Griffin dead at 12:24, nineteen minutes after the trap was sprung. The sheriff let her body hang there for three days before having it cut down and buried in an unmarked grave in the small cemetery just outside of town. Margaret's family never found out what happened to her.