[Cicero]

Yeah. A proper hanging involves dropping a gate open under the prisoner, so he falls and breaks his neck. But sometimes they might accidentally—or deliberately if the criminal was thought to really deserve it—let them drop just a little, and then gradually strangle from lack of air.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

The lead carpenter who built our house was born in W. Central Kansas. His uncle was on the Kansas Highway Patrol and was at the execution. He said Hickock had spent the previous two or three years doing muscle building in his cell. He thought he could beat the hangman.
His neck didn't break when the rope snapped but the order said “hang by the neck till you are dead.” It took him nearly half an hour to strangle.