Only seven were hanged by Stuart Martin
"Only Seven Were Hanged" by Stuart Martin is a crime novel written in the early 20th century. Framed as a sharp debate over capital punishment, it follows a Criminal Court judge and a mysterious waiter inside the exclusive Clue Club as they trade real-case narratives to test whether death sentences can ever be just. The stories unfold as dueling proofs, blending courtroom logic, moral philosophy, and twist-laden crime tales. The opening sets
the scene on Christmas Eve at the Clue Club, where the chairman-judge presides and a substitute waiter quietly subverts proceedings. After the club affirms its support for capital punishment, the waiter interrupts, drugs the members into unconsciousness, and challenges the judge: for each case the judge proves deserving of death, one member will be revived; for each unjust case, one remains under. The judge first cites the chilling murder by Ammar Baddan, a Tamil who calmly admits killing an innkeeper; the waiter counters with an honor-and-religion motive that recasts the act within a different code. The waiter’s own case follows: he argues that John Davis, hanged for drowning his former partner Lorry Black, was framed—then reveals he is Black, alive, having staged his “death.” The judge, shaken but resolute, begins a second example about Abe Lammie, a ruthless burglar dubbed “The Mole,” as the duel of stories—and stakes—intensifies. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
Read or download for free
For an overview of the different reading options, see our Reading Guide
| Reading Options | Url | Size | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Read now! | https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/76200.html.images | 413 kB | |||
| EPUB3 (E-readers incl. Send-to-Kindle) | https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/76200.epub3.images | 268 kB | |||
| EPUB (older E-readers) | https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/76200.epub.images | 274 kB | |||
| EPUB (no images, older E-readers) | https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/76200.epub.noimages | 221 kB | |||
| Kindle | https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/76200.kf8.images | 385 kB | |||
| older Kindles | https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/76200.kindle.images | 371 kB | |||
| Plain Text UTF-8 | https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/76200.txt.utf-8 | 382 kB | |||
| Download HTML (zip) | https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/76200/pg76200-h.zip | 419 kB | |||
| There may be more files related to this item. | |||||
Similar Books
About this eBook
| Author | Martin, Stuart, 1882- |
|---|---|
| LoC No. | 29010298 |
| Title | Only seven were hanged |
| Original Publication | New York: Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1929. |
| Credits | Al Haines |
| Reading Level | Reading ease score: 83.8 (6th grade). Easy to read. |
| Language | English |
| LoC Class | PR: Language and Literatures: English literature |
| Subject | Detective and mystery stories |
| Subject | Criminals -- Fiction |
| Subject | Judges -- Fiction |
| Subject | Capital punishment -- Fiction |
| Category | Text |
| EBook-No. | 76200 |
| Release Date | May 31, 2025 |
| Copyright Status | Public domain in the USA. |
| Downloads | 383 downloads in the last 30 days. |
| Project Gutenberg eBooks are always free! | |