Randolph County journal. [volume] (Winchester, Randolph County, Ind.) 1855-1862, 1857-12-31
AanooIpb gournaI.
Thursday. December
EXECUTION OF MULLENIx.

EXECUTION OF MULLENIx.
Grecnbury o. Mullenix, who was executed
at Grecncastle on Friday, the 18th inst, for
the murder Of his wife, was native of Put
nam County, Ind. His father is said to be
a North CaroInian, but TO have lived in Put
nam Co. for more than thirty years, where
he has accumulated some property. He Is
represented as an ignorant and debased man:
his father was n drunkard, and he is himself
an intemperate man. In religion, he is said
TO be " Hard Shell Baptist" in politics,
a Democrat(') of the Pierce, Buchanan, and
Willard school; opposed to Free Schools,
and destitute Of any liberal ideas on religion
or government.
The late victim Of our criminal laws was
about twenty-five years of age, of a low and
brutal organization; of a vicious, stubborn,
revengeful Disposition; and, when we take
into the account his having received very
lttlc--or rather, perhaps. we should say n
very bad-education, and consider his prob
able hereditary proclivities, we can wonder
but little that favoring circumstances should
have prccipitatcd the RESULT. Let it be
taken a. lesson and warning.
Mullenix il said 10 have married his vic
tim, Miss Sublctt, from 81 ill-focling toward
some other persons, in order to let them
"see" " what he could do. She was a quiet,
wclldisposcd girl, Of family very nearly
upon par as to social standing and charac
ter with that of her husband and murderer.
II is said he treated her unfeclingly, inn
posed hardships upon her, expressed his dis
like Of housekeeping, and talked frequently
Of going West.
They had been married just month when
he took her life with an axe, cleaving her
skull 10 the brain while she was preparing
breakfast, on the morning of the 10th April,
Of the present year. He was tried in Octo-
Der and sentenced to bc hung in November,
but through the intercesson of his father,
was respitcd by Gov. Willard for four weeks,
at the expiration of which time the sentence
Of the law was carried out.
He seems to have entertained singular
confidence. to the last almost, that he would
not be executed. lie chad been fooled
oncc;' and even when all doubt must have
been removed from his mind, he manifested
the most stolid and reckless Indifference a.
to his fate, and treated the whole matter
with the most disgusting lc,ity-got into
his coffin to see how il would fit tried
on hi- black cap, and said he hoped he would
shave the pleasure of wearing il to NOR
row." and said, when about leaving the
prison for the scafiold, that IL his mother
and sisters felt troubled" il was more than
he did.
Clcrgymcn who visited him during his
confinement could not draw any thing like
confession from him. He once said that
if he saw how u confession would do him
any good, hc might think about it," but
he did not see how IL could.
Though the prisoner was To bc executed
IN private. large concoursc of people from
"thc East and the West, the North and the
South" were crowdng the streets, eager 10
gratiiy curiosity. \ rope had been stretched
some forty or fifty feet from the Enclosure.
and guards with loaded muskcts (thc prof
f,rcd services Of the indianapolis militia
having. II u said, been deeliucd) were able
to keep the " so,crcigns at bay. To make
the satire still more severe, the "cverlnsl.
Ing pcdlar" was on the ground proclaming
the qualities of his wares and the bargains"
In them. when MulcniS was yielding to the
claw last indgnity," but u short distance
from him. But "good order" il said to
have prevailed throughout the day.
Since the tragedy had to "comc off," We
are glad IL was enacted in pivatc. The cx-
hibition of such scenes to the public We re
gard as decidedly prcjudicial to the moral
feeling of a large portion, at least, OF our
fellow beings. And we have long enter.
tanned a private opinion of our own--and
one which We have no objection to making
public-that the apparent anxienty of GER
tain editors and newspaper reporters to por-
tray all the sickening details of the most dis
graceful and revolving actions of which de-
praved human nature is capable, is, TO say
the very least, of doubtful propriety.
We have condensed this account (and NOT
condensed as much as we intendcd) from
the Indianapolis Daily Journal, whose edit
or was on the ground, and we hope il may
be long before We have a similar task to
perform.