AS part of our weekly Crime Files series, we are taking a look back at the archives to bring you stories from Herefordshire's history.
The following story dates from 1738.
A PARSON was almost hanged by accident by a drunken executioner in Hereford in 1738.
William Summers and John Tippin were sentenced to death for housebreaking in Herefordshire that year.
The pair were taken to Gallows Tumps in Hereford for the sentence to be carried out on March 25 of that year.
They were reported to have behaved in a "very penitent manner" by newspapers of the time as they arrived at the site, now lost under the Hunderton area of Hereford, but made no confessions.
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But the hangman at the tree was so intoxicated with liquor, it was reported, that he believed there were three men to be executed.
The third man was a parson, present in his official role.
The gaoler was forced to step in as the executioner attempted to put one of the ropes around the parson's neck as he stood in the court, eventually stopping him from doing so "with much difficulty".
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