Burlington hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington, Iowa) 1845-185?, 1845-07-17

CONVEX man In common case OF as.
sault and battery. He became quite
animated and addressed the crowd at
one time. as "Genilemen of the Jury"
They both seemed TO have impressed
upon their minds the arguments of their
Counsel as they were uttered on the
trial, and II was these arguments, in
some instances clothed in the very Ian
guage Of their counsel, tina, they urged
as proof Of their innocence on the
scaffold. lie urged all TO repent
OF their sins. He then said am pre-
pared to go:-and when l drop | ex-
pee. 10 go right straight into Heaven.
bid you all farewell. am going
home to glory. | die in peace and
hope to meet you all in that better
world of glory. lie claimed the for.
giveness Of all and said he forgave all
and again bid the audience farewell.
Mr. White then said there was still
time for religious exercises. and as the
prisoners requested the time might be
so filled up, they proceeded to sing
few hymns in which all could join
After which Bishop LoRAs read the
story of the peni,en thief. and made
some very appropriate remarks. adnon-
ishing all to serve and fear God and
never sin against him and thus avoid
the doom that awaited the young men
SO soon TO be executed.
Mr. White gave a recital of the
manner in which he became acquainted
with the prisoners and made some ap.
proprlate remarks.
STEPHEN Ilop1Es then made some
additional remarks as to The lameness
of the evidence which convicted them
thought the evidence against his bro.
Their was no evidence at all-and SEEM
ed TO wish TO get up a sympathy in
their behalf. He then babe all fare.
well--lhe audience and his friends in
particular.
WILLIAM also made a few additional
remarks in bidding last farewell to
the people.
Their chains were then knocked of,
and The Sheriff conducted William to
the drop and pu, the rope around his
neck. While the rope was being put
round the neck of Stephen we could
see that William was apparently en-
gagged IN prayer. The caps were pull
ed over their faces, and in a few mo-
ments the Sheriff with one blow sew
cred the cord, the drop fell, and both
were launched into eternity. Stephens
neck broke and he died without s.ruc.
gle. William struggled nearly ten
minutes before he was apparently dead.
Thus ended the scene of their mortal
existence. Our hope is that the i'm
preston of i, on the minds Of all will
be beneficial, although public execu-
tons ordinarily in our opinion have a
different tendency. Executions should
be so conducted as TO hold out no in.
ducement for the culpril to make he
rO of himself. Are we uncharitable in
thinking that the whole conduct Of
these young men at the gallows and on
their way there, was to gain for them.
selves the title of heros1 Are we, after
we knew tina. they had held out en-.
enlargement to one of their counsel
and to others that they would confess,
and that nothing probably but the pre-
sence of their sister prevented it!-
When called upon to fulfil his special
engagement TO do this, William, who
had seen and conversed with Stephen,
declared that he could not do it--,hat
if he revealed the secret the whole
family would be murdered. At ano.
Their time one Of them said that they
had taken an oath, aud they might as
we'll die with the secret as TO break
that oath. There must be some horrid
secrets and oa,hs binding these secret
societies at Nauvoo, which sets human
life and common human allegiance at
defiance. Nothing but the revelation
of the righteous judgment of heaven
can detect and bring to justice men
thus bound together.
Too much praise cannot be awarded
TO JOHN Il. MCKENNy, Esq. our Sher-
if. From the trial to the execution,
he exhibited humanity, frmness
and ajudicious arrangement of things
that could not be ouidone. His con-
duet in This matter merits the support
of every man in the county. After the
bodies were taken down they were
placed in the collins and handed over
A. a, c..o,~I =, bo,rJ tho ,,oo,,, e..