Arthur Shaw

On Monday 3rd November, a police constable called at a house in Collyhurst, Manchester, and found the body of Ellen Shaw dead on the floor. After a short investigation, her husband was arrested and charged with murder. At his trial, it was alleged that Mrs Shaw, a drunkard, was chatting to a neighbour in the back garden when her young daughter came out and delivered the request that her husband wanted to see her. She went in, and soon after, Shaw came into the garden and told the neighbour that his wife had fallen and hurt herself. Throughout the trial thirty one year old Shaw, a tailor, maintained that he was innocent and that her death was accidental, but he was convicted when evidence proved that she had been strangled. He was hanged by Berry and a new assistant called Speight.  The execution took place on the 8th December 1884 in Liverpool. When the trap fell. it was noticed that Shaw took over two minutes to die. An investigation found that the trap door had swung back and displaced the rope and its 'knot'. causing him to be slowly strangled.