soc.history.war.world-war-ii

>
> Rubbish. The British did not allow gallows journalism (it was stopped in the
> 19th century), but they didn't hold executions in secret either.
>
> An independent lawyer attended every execution to confirm that the accused
> had died according to law; there was always a priest and a doctor present
> and additionally two entirely independent witnesses specifically to report
> back to the Home Secretary on the conduct of the execution.

What rubbish? Government selected "independent" witnesses, sworn under
some oath of secrecy to report only to the Home Secretary in
classified files, is not the same as reporting to the public on the
next day or week. For example read this horror story:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/1187464.stm

"But files recently released at the Public Record Office show that
Henry Pierrepoint was sacked because he had arrived for an execution
in Chelmsford in July 1910 "considerably the worse for drink"..."

Your idea of independent witnesses is to make the public wait 100
years to get to read their observations? When John C Woods botched
hangings at Nuremberg it was reported on the next day itself, not
after 100 years.