In a message dated 3/12/2002 10:27:20 PM Eastern Standard Time, [log in to unmask] writes:
Ok, what about a gallows, then. Would you be happier with a wooden gallows? Or do you still advise aluminum? Sign me, Hemp Seed
It is my understanding that traditionally, gallows were built of wood (this was even before aluminum was so costly that it was used for the capstonw of the Washington Monument).
Under certain particularly barbaric (and more recent) and irregular circumstances, it is my understanding that lampposts, balconies, steel beams, meat hooks, etc. have been pressed into service for the same purpose.
Then there are the more recent, real do-it-yourself pervs who choke the chicken (and ultimately themselves) in their basements, attics or other recreation rooms, under circumstances in which the structural component goes unrecorded becasue the rest of the details are so distasteful.
Gallows in any material have a limited appeal to me, although should there be some reason for reconstructing an historic one, I would be in favor of constructing it using the same material as was originally used. Seeing dummies of Mary Surratt et alii suspended from an aluminum gallows with shiny new Kynar finish just wouldn't be the same as the rough timber used in the original. As I remember, those timbers got sawn up and sold for souvenirs.
As I remember from my dissolute yout', the Hemp Seed wasn't exactly considered to be the best part of the plant. Not in California, anyway. But perhaps in Kansas City that was all you could get.
Sign me,
Seed Spiller