Seventeen men, who paid the ultimate price for their crimes on the gallows, have been lowered into the earth deep within the walls of Crumlin Road Gaol in plain wooden coffins. The first was in 1854, the last in 1961. This is the story of execution in Belfast and of the men - soldier and terrorist, labourer and tramp, American Jew and farmer - who were prepared to take a life; of the men, women and children who were their victims; and the hangmen the State paid to kill on the public's behalf. It is a remarkable story, often sad and gruesome, occasionally quirky but always fascinating.