They were cobblers, salesmen, barbers and landlords. Working men. Yet they were anything but ordinary. They were the State’s part-time killers; the hangmen.
In Britain it was the rope. In France; the guillotine. But in its short history the United States of America has experimented with a bewildering array of execution methods….And continues to do so. This programme examines the history of the five principal methods: Hanging, Firing Squad, Electric Chair, Gas Chamber and Lethal Injection.