When their throats were cut the blood gurgled into the drains like surface water after a thunderstorm. It was hard to believe that a body could hold so much blood. It had a slight metallic odour, to which the executioners had become inured. The people with the knives were skilled, and continued to perfect their techniques over time. They were strong enough to ensure that the work was done expeditiously.     To do it right, they had to hold the chins up so that the windpipes were exposed. Then the blade was plunged in, almost to the hilt. That way there was maximum leverage for the cut across to the other side slicing, on the way, through the windpipe and the jugular vein, so that death was almost instantaneous.

            They had to have the right tools, and they had to be of the highest calibre. It is a measure of an expert, in any field, that they know that choosing the best implement is part of being the best practitioner. Anyone who feels their skill is being disparaged because someone has said “you have very good equipment” doesn’t understand this.

            The knives came from the highest quality steel and the most reliable makers. There were no compromises. They were honed constantly to keep them as sharp as possible, so much so that in time the blades started to diminish in width around their centre of gravity. Then the cutting edge developed an S shape. That is the sign of a wicked knife.

            The art of killing has a long pedigree. Slaughter in wars, in executions, judicial and otherwise, and in plain, old-fashioned murders, employed and employ the same methodologies as those that are affected in the charnel house. One tool that has spanned the full historic range of mammalian death dealing has been the poll-axe. Poll-axes are like the regular axes a woodcutter might use, but with this difference: the business end comprises of a tapered rod, which protrudes from a heavy cast-iron head piece. To ensure death with a poll-axe an experienced killer struck hard at the back of the head using the implement. The result of the strike was a hole of about the diameter of the smallest denomination coin in the skull of the victim, who collapsed with a roar. Into this hole the slayer inserted and withdrew a thin wooden dowel multiple times, which had the effect of scrambling the brain to make sure of death, but also of causing the limbs of the stricken to thrash about.

            The poll-axe started as an instrument of war. Prior to the invention of gun powder, and the development of small-arms, one type or another was standard issue to armies all over the world. Sizes varied from small, single-handed implements for the use of mounted fighters, to a long-handled weapon with a head that contained a poll-axe on one side and a regular axe on the other, with a lance in the middle, for foot soldiers. This was known as a halberd. There are many instances where archaeological finds have uncovered human skeletons that bear the clear marks of execution by means of a poll-axe, particularly those close to battlefield sites.

            In the slaughterhouse of the Considine brothers in their youths, slitting of throats was for sheep. Cattle were killed with the poleaxe.

• Foreword to “The Makers’ Name” by Seamus McKenna