Richard Casady wrote:

Hanging was invented to be less cruel than boiling in oil or breaking
on the wheel. It achieved that at least.

The state of Utah used to offer the choice of hanging or shooting,
Nobody ever picked hanging.

Casady

I used to think that beheading was barbaric.
By ax, saber or guillotine. And I'm sure it sometimes was - when the
executioner had to take several swipes before the neck was severed.
But a clean cut through the spinal column, specially if the major blood
vessels were severed, was faster than the long drop. I think that was
likely a humane end in the best case.

Brian W