The Angry Exile: Jon Venables.

The Hangman

Into our town the Hangman came,
Smelling of gold and blood and flame.
And he paced our bricks with a diffident air,
And built his frame in the courthouse square.
The scaffold stood by the courthouse side,
Only as wide as the door was wide;
A frame as tall, or little more,
Than the capping sill of the courthouse door.
And we wondered, whenever we had the time,
Who the criminal, what the crime
That the Hangman judged with the yellow twist
of knotted hemp in his busy fist.
And innocent though we were, with dread,
We passed those eyes of buckshot lead --
Till one cried: "Hangman, who is he
For whom you raised the gallows-tree?"
Then a twinkle grew in the buckshot eye,
And he gave us a riddle instead of reply:
"He who serves me best," said he,
"Shall earn the rope of the gallows-tree."
And he stepped down, and laid his hand
On a man who came from another land.
And we breathed again, for another's grief
At the Hangman's hand was our relief
And the gallows-frame on the courthouse lawn
By tomorrow's sun would be struck and gone.
So we gave him way, and no one spoke,
Out of respect for his Hangman's cloak.
The next day's sun looked mildly down
On roof and street in our quiet town,
And stark and black in the morning air
Was the gallows-tree in the courthouse square.
And the Hangman stood at his usual stand
With the yellow hemp in his busy hand;
With his buckshot eye and his jaw like a pike
And his air so knowing and business-like.
And we cried, "Hangman, have you not done
Yesterday, with the foreign one?"
Then we fell silent, and stood amazed,
"Oh, not for him was the gallows raised."
He laughed a laugh as he looked at us:
"Did you think I'd gone to all this fuss
To hang one man? That's a thing I do
To stretch a rope when the rope is new."
Then one cried "Murder!" and one cried "Shame!"
And into our midst the Hangman came
To that man's place. "Do you hold," said he,
"with him that was meant for the gallows-tree?"
And he laid his hand on that one's arm.
And we shrank back in quick alarm!
And we gave him way, and no one spoke
Out of fear of his Hangman's cloak.
That night we saw with dread surprise
The Hangman's scaffold had grown in size.
Fed by the blood beneath the chute,
The gallows-tree had taken root;
Now as wide, or a little more,
Than the steps that led to the courthouse door,
As tall as the writing, or nearly as tall,
Halfway up on the courthouse wall.
The third he took -- we had all heard tell --
Was a usurer, and an infidel.
"What," said the Hangman "have you to do
With the gallows-bound, and he a Jew?"
And we cried out, "Is this one he
Who has served you well and faithfully?"
The Hangman smiled: "It's a clever scheme
to try the strength of the gallows-beam."
The fourth man's dark, accusing song
Had scratched our comfort hard and long;
"And what concern," he gave us back.
"Have you for the doomed -- the doomed and Black?"
The fifth. The sixth. And we cried again,
"Hangman, Hangman, is this the man?"
"It's a trick," he said. "that we hangmen know
For easing the trap when the trap springs slow."
And so we ceased, and asked no more,
As the Hangman tallied his bloody score.
And sun by sun, and night by night,
The gallows grew to monstrous height.
The wings of the scaffold opened wide
Till they covered the square from side to side;
And the monster cross-beam, looking down,
Cast its shadow across the town.
Then through the town the Hangman came,
Through the empty streets, and called my name --
And I looked at the gallows soaring tall,
And thought, "There is no one left at all
For hanging, and so he calls to me
To help pull down the gallows-tree."
So I went out with right good hope
To the Hangman's tree and the Hangman's rope.
He smiled at me as I came down
To the courthouse square through the silent town.
And supple and stretched in his busy hand
Was the yellow twist of the hempen strand.
And he whistled his tune as he tried the trap,
And it sprang down with a ready snap --
And then with a smile of awful command
He laid his hand upon my hand.
"You tricked me. Hangman!," I shouted then,
"That your scaffold was built for other men...
And I no henchman of yours," I cried,
"You lied to me, Hangman. Foully lied!"
Then a twinkle grew in the buckshot eye,
"Lied to you? Tricked you?" he said. "Not I.
For I answered straight and I told you true --
The scaffold was raised for none but you.
For who has served me more faithfully
Then you with your coward's hope?" said he,
"And where are the others who might have stood
Side by your side in the common good?"
"Dead," I whispered. And amiably
"Murdered," the Hangman corrected me:
"First the foreigner, then the Jew...
I did no more than you let me do."
Beneath the beam that blocked the sky
None had stood so alone as I.
The Hangman noosed me, and no voice there
Cried "Stop!" for me in the empty square.

Maurice Ogden

Sunday 25 July 2010

Jon Venables.

Was Venables deliberately trying to get sent back to prison? Here's the thing: it's reported that he rings his probation officer to say he thinks his real identity has become known, and then invites the PO to his home and chooses the point at which the guy is going to arrive as just the time for some PC maintenance, which consists of an attempt to remove the computer's hard drive with a knife and a tin opener. A tin opener? Jeez, aside from the point that what's a couple of minute's work with a screwdriver is probably a half hour fail with a tin opener, talk about drawing attention to yourself.

Maybe the obvious answer is the correct one, which is that he's not only a nonce but a rather stupid one at that. But maybe he's one of these people who can't handle life outside and, having failed to get re-imprisoned for fighting and taking drugs decided to play a card that was absolutely guaranteed to send him back inside. That he's reported to be relieved to be in prison again makes me think this possibility can't be dismissed. So assuming that may be the case, and even if it isn't assuming instead that he's simply a drug snorting, fighty, child killer who likes kiddie porn, we could expect him to get a fairly hefty sentence, right? If the offences simply indicate what sort of character he is then society deserves to have him locked away for a decent amount of time, and if it's his way of trying to get back inside where he feels more comfortable it seems simpler to oblige him. Either way, a fairly long sentence makes sense, yes?

Two years.

/facepalm

3 comments:

JuliaM said...: To the list of assumptions we can add (assuming the 'Mail' story this morning is correct) pervert. They are reporting that the fight was over him using his mobile to film up women's skirts. Police apparantly found 1200 silich images...

I remember reading at the tome of the trial how the other (older?) lad was considered the ringleader, and Benables the easily-led henchmen. I don't know. I think he's the more damaged of the two.; 27 July 2010 at 01:13
Angry Exile said...: Again, could be taken at face value but could also be an attempt to get thrown back inside. I keep coming back to the point that he's reported as being relieved to be back in, not to mention the way in which he was caught being up there with painting 'Oi, pigs, I dare you to have a look at my computer' in 5 foot letters across his house. It really speaks of someone who can't cope with even the monitored freedom he'd had since release and who craved the structured life he'd had before. On the other hand it could be both, since he could just as easily have hit a copper and then put his hands behind his back and waited to be cuffed. But certainly his actions are those of someone who'd rather be inside than out, and I think the simplest thing to do is oblige him.

"I think he's the more damaged of the two."

He's had about a third of his life being a chaotic mess, about a third very disciplined and structured, and about a third being closely monitored semi-freedom. He's also, I'd very much hope, got the magnitude of his crime preying on his conscience. Yeah, he probably is damaged, and if the other one isn't I'd wonder if it's as much luck as anything else. But whatever he is and however he got this way I think everyone would agree that the answer is certainly not two years. Well, everyone except the judge who just gave him two years.; 27 July 2010 at 16:06
JuliaM said...: "But whatever he is and however he got this way I think everyone would agree that the answer is certainly not two years."

Blake Morrison's article in CiF today seems to suggest that he was doomed by...the actions of the authorities, natch.

Wow! I didn't see that one coming...; 28 July 2010 at 02:26