My love of science is not quite at that level, not at this point in time. In addition, I have lost a close family member to hanging- a member of my nuclear family so I do not take the subject lightly.
That being said, I have amended my statements to say that it could effectively end someone’s life- but I do maintain my position that it would be difficult to hang an extremely non-compliant victim and will run through a brief recap of a couple of the shortcomings this structure has.
Please keep in mind that I am making judgments from three-thousand miles away more than eighteen months after the fact, and doing so from looking at pictures. I do not guarantee my analysis, but I think it founded on good principles and knowledge.
First, the twitter picture showing the “this is art” signs is the best picture I have seen of the thing and shows more than I knew until seeing it. That pic does not show where and how the structure meets the ground. If someone bothered to drive a form stake into the ground at each leg, that would make a fairly big difference. (Ideally two stakes at least 24", 36" would be better still, driven at 45 % angles to vertical - one north/south, the other east/west would make for a very secure connection to the ground.) If it is staked down at all four legs, especially the way I describe, it would help resist racking the thing in either direction as well as resist lifting which would be necessary to knock it over.
Okay, as I mentioned above, the steps are weak and not well executed. There are only two stringers four feet apart with no support in the mid-span of the treads. In addition there is NO structure under any tread at any point-- it is just the sheer strength of the nails holding them up at each end. That is a very weak connection and easily exploited. I weigh over two hundred pounds and I believe I could easily stomp the treads loose from the stringers. In addition if someone has their body weight on the same tread as me-- by bouncing I could likely crack one or more of them. However many nails they may be attached with, if I could jump up and bring my full weight near the point of connection I am certain I could dislodge any step. Doesn’t guarantee an escape, but makes it much harder for them to lift you up there by force, climb up there themselves, then commence the execution.
At this point we get into a philosophical debate. If one or two, or even three fat middle aged guys are trying to drag MY ass up there to hang me-- I would have a pretty good chance of wearing them out creating a situation where they get sloppy and maybe get knocked off the platform themselves or have to stop for breath weakening their grasp on me. But there were ten thousand people there that day. I might be able to jump free and evade two or three people but many more than that and I will be the one out of breath with little resistance after a certain amount of time.
Next, if I could stand on the deck by myself (or with the weight of others up there- but unrestrained) I could shift my weight from side to side enough to cause the thing to “rack” sideways pretty quickly. It is very surprising how easy it is to make even a large structure shake and rattle. If you can picture typical scaffolding, it is only steel frames at each end held together with a giant one inch tubular steel cross which is the best possible cross bracing and you can shake those without even much effort. (Which is hilarious when a new guy who is uncomfortable with heights is standing next to you! If you also add in some verbal “AAAAHHHH!!” sound effects it can lead to very interesting stains in people’s pants!) All of that to say this- if you could, well, if I could stand with my feet well apart and shift my weight side to side (picture the motions of a speed skater but without any forward motion) it would likely create enough force to bring the thing down. If it would not, then standing on one side, taking a step forward then jumping up and forward to land near the other edge of the deck (you would have to be sure to fall backwards though) would create a huge amount of lateral force, surely enough to bring it down after a few tries. As long as the legs are not staked down (and here I am going to assume that no one came a day or two before, dug four eighteen inch round hole two feet deep and poured a ton of concrete into four holes anchoring the upright portions that later were made into this structure.) If the legs are not staked down that kind of force might also tip the whole thing over even if it is much more rigid than it seems likely to be.
Lastly, if left to my own devices, as long as the legs are not staked down – from the ground I could probably push it over on its side by myself. (Of course I have the strength of many men because my heart is pure!) Well actually because it is not very big or very heavy and I am used to lifting and pushing lumber where I want it to be.
That is three ways I could render the thing useless by myself in less than ten minutes using no tools, not even a Swiss Army Knife. For that matter, I could probably knock the cross piece the rope is tied to off the posts using no tools! If it just has a few toe nails I could knock it loose as long as I could reach it. Take that cross piece and hide it from the mob and the thing becomes entirely useless! And all of that is just me trying to stop others from committing atrocities. If I had the help of just one person (and I got to pick the person) I would guarantee the thing would never hang anyone in just a few minutes. Or if it was just me free to act without interference from the crowd and I had my tool belt on-- rendered useless in ten minutes, completely dismantled in thirty minutes.
The point is, as someone else said above-- it is a much better tool of terror than it is as a tool of murder. An angry mob would find ten times more success just strangling someone with the rope than marching them up there and trying for a genuine lynching. If the person is resisting, it would take twenty people minimum to pull off a hanging. In a half the time two or three people could easily strangulate the same person with just their freaking belt.
And lastly, I am disappointed that no one laughed at my comment that this gallows- this “work of art” would be featured in a garden at the Donald J. Trump Presidential Library. That is very funny, and it really does kind of tell the story of his entire administration.
(The only other display will be binders with the title of fancy initiatives on the front cover and when you open them up – nothing but blank pages.)