The Kite and the Coin Toss - newly added
Just added the following to the Signer's Day of Reckoning, the en masse hanging of the signers of the Declaration of Independence:
As the Signers had literally jumped from their gallows, the added strain snapped many of their necks upon the impact of their ropes reaching full extension. Thus many were granted a quick and painless end.
Benjamin Franklin, still in a dead weight sway at the end of his rope from the momentum of the jump, was one such lucky man.
His loyalist son William Franklin, the Colonial Governor of New Jersey, had fully intended not to attend the event. Then he received a royal invite to witness the spectacle, his seat in direct view of his father’s gallows. William believed the king intended for him to specifically bear witness to his father’s execution. He attended, fearing the invite was yet another test between bloodline and loyalty. This was the first test he would pass out of fear more than loyalty.
William stood frozen, watching his father until his feet stopped swaying. Though chaos ensued all around him, the motion of his father’s feet was a hypnotic pendulum and it was not until they stopped that triggered the release of his gaze. He snapped out of his stupor comprehending he had not witnessed his father’s execution, but his escape. William had taken in the complete conviction of his father’s expression as he saw him leap to his freedom, therefore he had not missed that his father had smiled all the way until the rope went taut.
What William witnessed solidified his intent to carry out his father’s wishes. He had even promised to himself that he would append a record of all that occurred and would occur because of this turn of events, in his father’s prison journal.
As the Signers had literally jumped from their gallows, the added strain snapped many of their necks upon the impact of their ropes reaching full extension. Thus many were granted a quick and painless end.
Benjamin Franklin, still in a dead weight sway at the end of his rope from the momentum of the jump, was one such lucky man.
His loyalist son William Franklin, the Colonial Governor of New Jersey, had fully intended not to attend the event. Then he received a royal invite to witness the spectacle, his seat in direct view of his father’s gallows. William believed the king intended for him to specifically bear witness to his father’s execution. He attended, fearing the invite was yet another test between bloodline and loyalty. This was the first test he would pass out of fear more than loyalty.
William stood frozen, watching his father until his feet stopped swaying. Though chaos ensued all around him, the motion of his father’s feet was a hypnotic pendulum and it was not until they stopped that triggered the release of his gaze. He snapped out of his stupor comprehending he had not witnessed his father’s execution, but his escape. William had taken in the complete conviction of his father’s expression as he saw him leap to his freedom, therefore he had not missed that his father had smiled all the way until the rope went taut.
What William witnessed solidified his intent to carry out his father’s wishes. He had even promised to himself that he would append a record of all that occurred and would occur because of this turn of events, in his father’s prison journal.
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