“Silence!” the holy man cried. “This woman will meet her agony in Hell if God sees fit!” He began to read the proper words then, talking about my salvation and eternal punishment. I stopped breathing as the tell tale words escaped his lips, “May God have mercy on your soul.” The hangman pulled the lever and, in an instant, I felt the noose draw tightly around my neck and the wooden boards disappeared from beneath my feet and my body dropped.

The rope bit into my windpipe for a moment before I swung my arm up and jerked the blade through the taught rope. Gasping for breath, I dropped down at least ten feet to the ground beneath the gallows. My ankles protested as fiercely as the crowd and I tumbled to the ground. I forced myself to move, crawling through the much under the gallows to a small opening on the side.

“Sieze her!” was cried from above and boots pounded on the wood above my heard as the guards and executioner made their way down from the gallows.