These guys would be like rock stars in states like Texas.

The rival hangmen who touted for business

ENGLAND: Two rival hangmen were severely reprimanded by their Home Office masters because they were “touting” for business in the depths of the Depression.

Tom Pierrepoint, who served as an executioner for 37 years and dispatched more than 300 men and women, and Robert Baxter were both discovered writing to under sheriffs, the local officials responsible for securing the services of the hangman.

Papers newly released at the National Archives show that Pierrepoint and Baxter wrote whenever a newspaper recorded a capital sentence passed against a murderer.

Since many death sentences were commuted on appeal, this suggests they were applying to hang prisoners before it was certain they would indeed die on the gallows.