File:Salem's Gibbet a Rare Antique (The New York Sun, 1931-08-08).jpg

Salem's Gibbet a Rare Antique

Essex Institute Has Execution Chair in Which Mme. Dodier Died.

It happened in 1763, in the little town of St. Valier, near Quebec. The populace of this quiet community was horrified to learn one morning, that Joseph Dodier was dead, murdered in his bed while he slept, and in a most fiendish manner. For his end had been brought about by the pouring of molten lead in his ear.

After due inveatigation it appeared that Mme. Dodier was the perpetrator of the crime. She was arrested and convicted by the British military authorities and sentenced to be hanged. Following the hanging her body was placed in an iron gibbet and suspended from a pole at a crossroad near the Levis church. Here it remained for some time as a warning to the evildoer who might pass that way. The body was later buried, still encased in its iron cage. In 1855 the body was exhumed and the gibbet sold to the old Boston Museum. There it remained until 1899, when the collections of this museum were dispersed, and the gibbet was presented to the Essex Institute at Salem, Mass. And here it may be seen today in a far corner of the Institute's annex hanging in fitting comradeship with a guillotine blade which was in service during the French Revolution.

The gibbet is composed of iron straps of various widths and lengths and is badly corroded as a result of its long interment. A circle of iron went about the neck, with two straps bent into a sort of pear-shaped cage for the head. Where these two pieces cross a large hook is riveted by means of which the gibbet could be suspended. Also attached to the neckpiece were two long narrow straps to which the arms were fastened by circular bands, one for the upper arm and one for the wrist. Parts of the arm sections are now missing.

Attached to the neck band at the front and back and extending under the body, is a wide strap which acts as a support for two circular bands. These hands passed around the body at the level of the breasts and hips. From the lower body band extend the leg straps, each slightly bent to conform with the coutour of the thighs. Three circular hands served to confine the legs, and at the bottom is a sort of stirrup on which the weight of the body rested.

The attachment of one hand or strap to another was done by riveting and all of the circular pieces are made with a hinged section to allow the entry of the body. That the gibbet was not constructed for Mme Dodier's sole use is shown by a series of slots and punch holes, by means of which adjustments could be made to conform with the length and size of the body which it was to contain. Thumb screwn, now so completely rusted in places as to be immovable, were used to hold the adjustable parts in the desired positions.

[Image caption's] Iron gibbet of gruesome but historic association.

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