Preface

One doesn’t have to be a Sidney Carton fan or Scarlet Pimpernel enthusiast — or even another George Selwyn — to share a fascination with executions. There is a terrible drama inherent in the public taking of a human life by the State that needs neither purple prose nor grisly detail to sober and stun its audience, whether there in person or reliving it through its recreation in print. There were nine such awe-inspiring spectacles in Cuyahoga County during the 19th century and I have found in the individual circumstances of each a fascinating cross-section of manners, mores and social relations as they existed in their particular eras. And while I am convinced that their serial recounting does not warrant publication as a formal book, I am happy to have this opportunity to offer it, via the Cleveland Digital Library, to kindred spirits of Cleveland lore. It is dedicated to all those who have hitherto helped me in my adventures in Forest City woe.

John Stark Bellamy II
March 5, 2000