John Smith being 'cut down' at Tyburn in consequence of a reprieve which came five minutes after he had been turned off.

Engraved print depicting John Smith being 'cut down' at Tyburn in consequence of a reprieve which came five minutes after he had been turned off.
The print was originally published in the The Malefactor's Register in 1780. Engraved by Daniel Dodd and printed by John Lodge. It depicts Smith having just been cut from the gallows, his body limp and supported by two men, a hood still over his head; a ladder rests against the gallows where the end of the noose still swings; a crowd of onlookers stand concerned around the scene.

John Smith was sent to the Tyburn gallows in 1705 for 'housebreaking' but fifteen minutes after he was turned off the back of the cart he was issued with a reprieve and cut down. He survived to tell the tale and became known as 'Half-Hanged Smith' He recounted 'I remember a great pain caused by the weight of my body. My spirits were in a great uproar, pushing upwards; when they got into my head I saw a great blaze of glaring light that seemed to go out of my head in a flash. Then the pain went. When I was cut down I got such pins-and-needles pains in my head that I could have hanged the people who set me free.' On his recovery John returned to his life of crime and, on being convicted again of housebreaking was transported to Virginia.