Green’s Dictionary of Slang

a halter (i.e. the hangman’s rope).

1703		Hell Upon Earth 5: Evil, a Halter.
1708		J. Hall Memoirs (1714) 12: Evil, a Halter.
c.1786		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue ms. additions .
1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue (3rd edn).
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1859		Matsell Vocabulum.
1895		Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 27: Evil, matrimony or the halter.