Cara, that's the same lyric Leadbelly sang. "Driving wheel" or "driver wheel" is correct. It's a form of underworld execution that never caught on in Britain for some reason: you take your gang and your victim down to the railway line and hold up a freight train (too many witnesses on a passenger train!); you shove the victim's head between the spokes of one of the driving wheels and make the driver move the train forward a couple of feet; the connecting rod or coupling rod then separates the victim's head from his or her body.

In view of the labour-intensive nature of the method, and the involvement of witnesses - driver, fireman, guard (I should say engineer, ... conductor, shouldn't I?), in a land where you can buy firearms over the counter, I can only assume that it was used (a) for fun and (b) pour encourager les autres.

This ought to be included in the 'Orrible murder thread!

Steve