The "short rope" reference. See the Wikipedia article on Execution Dock in London, the execution place for persons convicted in the Admiralty courts of capital offenses. "With a particular cruelty reserved for those convicted of acts of piracy, hanging was done with a shortened rope. This meant a slow death from strangulation on the scaffold as the drop was insufficient to break the prisoner's neck. It was called the Marshal's dance because their limbs would often be seen to 'dance' from slow asphyxiation."
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