Like the fictional Sweeney Todd - John Ellis was a high street barber who killed many
The last face more than 200 men and women would ever see before they died was that of a Rochdale barber.The fictional Todd killed his victims by dropping them through a revolving trap door as they sat in his barber's chair. He would then polish them off with a cut across the throat with his razor.
He told a reporter: "I was working in a textile place in those days. And when there was an execution, I remember saying: 'I wouldn't mind doing that job.' Other people laughed at me and said: 'What, tha hang anybody!' Assisting in his first execution in May 1901, Ellis would work as a hangman for the next 23 years, assisting in and eventually conducting over 200 executions. Some of the famous criminals he dispatched during his tenure included the infamous Dr Crippen, who was convicted of poisoning and dismembering his wife; George Smith, the 'brides in the bath' murderer; and Sir Roger Casement, who was hanged for being a spy.
Ellis later admitted he had been deeply affected by the execution of the barely conscious Edith and 12 months later handed in his notice as a hangman in March 1924. He had taken to drinking heavily, and just five months later, he made an attempt on his own life.
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