It was a very simple affair.

A stout beam was fastened on the top of two posts, about fifteen feet high.

At about the height of a man's head a couple of boards stretched across the space between the posts, and met in the center.

The ends at the posts laid on cleats; the ends in the center rested upon a couple of boards, standing upright, and each having a piece of rope fastened through a hole in it in such a manner, that a man could snatch it from under the planks serving as the floor of the scaffold, and let the whole thing drop.

A rude ladder to ascend by completed the preparations.
As the arrangements neared completion the excitement in and around the prison grew intense.