Editing Jack Ketch (section)

== Lord Russell's execution ==
<blockquote>
On that occasion, Ketch wielded the instrument of death either with such sadistically nuanced skill or with such lack of simple dexterity &ndash; nobody could tell which &ndash; that the victim suffered horrifically under blow after blow, each excruciating but not in itself lethal. Even among the bloodthirsty throngs that habitually attended English beheadings, the gory and agonizing display had created such outrage that Ketch felt moved to write and publish a pamphlet titled ''Apologie'', in which he excused his performance with the claim that Lord Russell had failed to "dispose himself as was most suitable" and that he was therefore distracted while taking aim on his neck.<ref name="Fiorillo2010">{{cite book|last=Fiorillo|first=Juré|title=Great Bastards of History: True and Riveting Accounts of the Most Famous Illegitimate Children Who Went on to Achieve Greatness|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GQ8amBTgny8C&pg=PA82|access-date=23 August 2010|date=2010-01-01|publisher=Fair Winds|isbn=978-1-59233-401-8|page=82}}</ref>
</blockquote>

Ketch was paid by Russell beforehand, as it was customary for those sentenced to death by beheading (which in those days was "reserved for ... aristocrats")<ref>{{cite book |last=Misra |first=Amalendu |date=2022 |title=On Beheading |location=Cham, Switzerland |publisher=Springer Nature |page=144 |isbn=978-3-030-96142-8}}</ref> "to tip the public executioner in advance. It was hoped this would encourage him to do a swift and efficient job, hopefully despatching the victim in one clean blow."<ref name="Lord">{{cite book |last=Lord |first=Monty |author-link=Monty Lord |date=2023 |title=Bizarre Laws & Curious Customs of the UK: Vol. I |location=Preston, Lancashire |publisher=Young Legal Eagles |page=92 |isbn=978-1-7397488-3-8}}</ref> In spite of this, Ketch allegedly "did such a bad job that, after the axe hit the side of Russell's head, Russell looked up at him and said, 'You dog, did I give you ten [[guinea (coin)|guineas]] to use me so inhumanely?'"<ref name="Lord"/> However, in the pamphlet purportedly authored by him, Ketch "repudiated the charge"<ref name="Lee">{{cite book |last=Lee |first=Sidney |author-link=Sidney Lee |date=1892 |title=Dictionary of National Biography: Vol. XXXI |location=London |publisher=Smith, Elder, & Co. |page=71}}</ref> that Russell had paid him twenty guineas the night before the execution (although he stated it was "true I receav'd 10. Guenies"<ref>{{cite web |url=https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo2/A47287.0001.001/1:1?rgn=div1;view=fulltext |title=The apologie of John Ketch, Esq., the executioner of London, in vindication of himself as to the execution of the late Lord Russel, on July 21, 1683 |last=Ketch |first=John |website=University of Michigan Library |access-date=21 August 2024}}</ref> from him on the [[scaffold (execution site)|scaffold]]), that Russell had insulted him, or that he had struck Russell's shoulder rather than his head. Although biographer [[Sidney Lee]] believed that the pamphlet was "probably written by Ketch himself",<ref name="Lee"/> author Stephen Wade describes the provenance of ''The Apology of John Ketch Esq.'' as "questionable",<ref name="Wade">{{cite book |last=Wade |first=Stephen |date=2009 |title=Britain's Most Notorious Hangmen |location=Barnsley |publisher=Pen & Sword Books |page=27 |isbn=978-1-84563-082-9}}</ref> since we have "no accurate notion of who wrote"<ref name="Wade"/> it. He argues that "it may well have been what we would now call a '[[ghost writer]]' out to make a few [[groat (English coin)|groats]] by fabricating a biography of a notorious public figure."<ref name="Wade"/>