The Nevada journal. [volume] (Nevada City, Calif.) 1851-18??, 1857-10-16
FRIDAY MORNING, OCT. 18th. 1857.
From our Extra of Friday last.
Suicide off. ". Moore.

was thrown into state of intense ex-
element by the announcement that F.
V. Moore, under sentence of death for
the murder of Alex. McClanahan, and
about to expiate his crime on the gallows
had committed suicide in his cell by
poison. The startling news soon sur
rounded the jail with crowd of men at
tracted by an irrepressible curiosity to
the spot. Many rumors are afoat rela-
tive to the tragic event. We have ia
ken considerable pains to collect the
whole particulars as far as they can be
obtained and now present them for the
satisfaction of the public mind.
The impression has all along prevail
ed that Moore would not end his career
upon the scaffold. SO strong has been the
idea, and so frequently expressed, that
the Sheriff and his officers have exer-
cised the most rigid caution to prevent
the possibility of suicide. The prisoner
has frequently been removed from one
cell into another, leaving everything be-
hind in which it was deemed possible
particle Of poison could be concealed
Immediately upon the wife of the
condemned leaving his cell after her
visits to him, he has been removed to
other quarters, fearing means might be
communicated to him to destroy life
But all the unremitting attentions of his
keepers were of no avail. The drug
was conveyed to the wretched man and
he died by his own hand, cheating the
gallows, and the people of an awful spec
tacle.
The Jail was closely watched last night,
four men remaining all night in the hall
around the cells Moore was engaged
in the afternoon of yesterday and part
of the evening in debating his will, by
which he is said tolcave property to the
amount of six or seven thousand dollars
to his wife, than whom no woman could
be more faithful to a husband under the
most trying circumstances. Many of the
acquaintance of Moore were admitted
to see him on yesterday, and Rev. Faith
er Dalton, his confessor, remained with
him until about five o'clock this morn
ing, endeavoring to prepare him for the
| last hour
His wife left him in the evening, bid
ding him an affecting and eternal fare
well and saying she did not expect to
see him again alive Moore was deerly
moved. The obdurate heart of the
criminal melted and he wept as Child
The wife went without and remained in
the jailor's room, within hearing of the
prisoner, till the final scene. His con-
fessor exhorted him to abstain from liq
uor and to meet his fate like a sober
man and christian. A bottle of wine
was in his cell, and at the earnest ex-
hortations of the Reverend Father to
have it removed, the prisoner threw it
under the crate of his cell. Shortly af
ter 5 o'clock this morning and after the
confessor had departed, the prisoner
called for glass of wine which was Civ
en- him. But few moments elapsed
when groan was heard to come from
the cell. George Lenhart, the .jailor,
went to the prisoner and found him in
the agonies of death. Taking him by
the arm, he asked him what was the
matter, to which the prisoner made an
swer tx at he did not know, and these
were the last words he uttered. Dr.
Wickes was called but too late. Death
soon closed the eyes of F. V. Moore for
the last time on earth.
Mrs. Moore was heard to say to the
unhappy man, several times during the
night, Now Frank don't you forget
that" he last time in a Gliding manner
What the import of the exhortation
| might be is not known to certalnty,out
the repeated declarations of the woman
that her husband never would die upon
the scaffold, leaves room for inference.
The stomach of the deceased was ia
ken out and at this writing the contents
are undergoing chemical analysis by
| Drs. Oyerton and Rudolph. The result
of the investigation will probably be
known during the day, but it is already
established beyond dispute that death
was caused by strychnine, administered
by the prisoner himself. We learn from
good authority that the poison was han
ded into the window, probably on Mon
day last, and passed to Moore by fell
low prisoner named Kelly, who at the
time was confined in the hall of the jail
|