Southern sentinel. [volume] (Plaquemine, Parish of Iberville [La.]) 1848-1858, 1855-02-10
From the Bee of the 3d..

Yesterday forenoon, about 10 o'clock, Will
liam Young was hanged in the inner court OF
the Parish Prison. for The murder of Christian
Rhcin, a child of whom he was the guardian,
and whom his inhuman cruelty consigned TO an
untimeIy grave. Long before the hour ap-
pointed for the murderer's execution, Il large
crowd, chiefly composed Of children and per-
sons OF color, assembled around the gates of
the Jail. None, however, were admitted, ex.
cep ing the representatives of the press, Off.
Gals and members of the city beuch.
Shortly after 10 o'clock, the massive door Of
the inner court was unlocked and the spectators
admitted TO the scene of the s,ernIy solemn GER
emOny.-AbOut one hundred persons were
present. Shortly after they entered the yard,
the prisoner was conducted from a cell situated
Immediately above the drop, and brought for>
ward and seated on a cane bOltomed stool on
The scaffold. The Sheriff then advanced and
read the fatal warrant.
The prisoner was led forward BY a negro
and the executioner. HIS step was firm; his
face CHASTITY pale; but no outward sign of emo
ton was visible He appeared, indeed. 10 be
utterly UNCONSCIOUS Of the terrible doom avail.
ting him. lie never opened either his lips or
his eyes, even for an instant. His face in
dicated a nature depraved, sensual. and obsti.
nate. He wore yellow pants. with a whi'c
shirt and a cap of the same color. The attend.
ed hangman was grotesquely dressed. The
face of this w~retched miniun of the law was
concealed by a horrible looking black mask,
which gave 10 the CHASTITY ceremonial an alto
gether unnecessarily revolving aspect.
AS soon rs the Sheriff had read the warrant,
the cap was drawn over the face of the culprit,
the hangman stepped from the scaffold to the
platform. the rope that sustained it was sever
ed, and the body of the murderer dangled in
the air. His fall was partly broken by a por-
ton Of the scaffold, which was not released IN.
Ill the head of the unhappy man was in contact
with it.
1t will be remembered that the culprit en-
deavored to evade the penalty annexed to his
crime by an act of suicide. He succeeded in
cutting his throat, in a most frightfui manner;
80 much so, that had the execution been post
poned for a few hours longer, he would not
have been hanged at all. In order to render
an execution possible the wounds were bound
with lint and lilen. Such is the tender mercy
OF the law to The y~iolators of its DEGREES.
Partly in consequence Of the obstruction
already alluded to that broke the fall, aud par.
tly owing to the knot of the rope having caught
immediately beneath his chin, as soon as the
bolt was Withdrawn these ghastly wounds were
re.opened and enlarged-the wind pipe wa.
entirely severed--the blood flowed eopiousIy
from his throat and mouth, staining his white
neckerchief and cap--and the wind rushed
through the bleeding opening with a frightful,
most unear.hly loud report, which caused every
spectator in the yard 10 shudder and turn away
his face in horror. The agony of The sufferer
must have been intense. His legs and his
arms--alihough firmly tied behind his back
writhed about for at least ten minutes. The
veins Of his hands increased in size.
1t was the most revolving spectacle that we
ever saw or ever read of.