The Pierrepoinfs' Profession

Old Thomas Pierrepoint was a good craftsman. He had a keen eye for sizing up the strength of his subjects' neck muscles; he always tied the noose so that it would break the vertebrae at the first snap and spare the poor blighter a lot of agony. He was discreet about his job, never talked to newsmen, never sold souvenirs. He well earned his 15 guineas ($63) for each hanging job; but, as Mrs. Pierrepoint said: "Chief trouble is, the job's not a regular one."

That was something for Albert ("Yungg Alber") Pierrepoint to ponder, when he joined his uncle Thomas as Britain's second Senior Hangman. He too had all the makings of an expert executioner--his job on "Lord Haw-Haw" had been first rate; but "Yungg Alber" was a ripe 37, had recently been married, and a hangman's income was inadequate. They did not hang many chaps in Britain.

He could fall back on his job as a greengrocer's assistant at F. Harrison, Ltd. in Manchester, which he had held for 18 years. But, though it was steady enough, he dreamed of bigger things; once, when a reporter came to interview him at the greengrocery, he puckishly pretended that he was someone else, that "Alber" had moved away. Where? To a farm in Essex, said "Yungg Alber" wistfully.

Last week, he finally took a decisive step to better himself. He did not quite manage the farm in Essex, but he became the licensee of a pub in Oldham, Lancashire. "Yungg Alber" was a man of feeling; like his uncle, he always took pride in making his victim's grim death throes as light and brief as possible. His new pub had an appropriate name. It was called: "Help the Poor Struggler."

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