The Evansville daily journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ia. [i.e. Ind.]) 1848-1862, 1859-12-06


panied him fled to the right and left, and
took the positions which had been previous.
( ~ assigned them. Brown looked at the
crowd, then glanced at the scafFoId. The
Deputy Sheriff extended his hand and took
that OF Brown, and, shaking it, babe hin
farewell
No ministers were present, owing to the
fact that Brown refused their offices. The
Sheriff approached him, shook his hand, and
babe him goodbye Brown stepped for
ward, when the Deputy Sheriff tied his legs
while the Sheriff drew the white cap over
his face, and placed the fatal rope about his
| neck. As soon as this was done, Brown re-
marked to the Sheriff, "you will have TO
guide from this OUT
The Sheriff asked; Captain Brown, have
you anything to say ?"
To which he replied, " Nothing"
Sheriff" Will you take a handkerchief,
and use it as signal, letting it fall when
you are ready ?"
Captain Brown" No sir, I am always
ready. Do not keep me here unnecessarily
long"
The Sheriff then stepped aside, while the
doomed man engaged in prayer. In few
minutes he stepped softly from the scaffold,
and, on leaving it, the Deputy Sheriff sprung
the trap, and John Brown was suspended
between the heavens and the earth.
Not a sound was heard except the creak-
ing of the timbers of the scafold, and the
whipping sound of the wind, as it played
with the branches of the trees.
After he had hung for twenty minutes,
Drs. Girard, d. E. Mason, John A. Straith
John Starry and II. F. Cooke, assembled the
platform, and, after feeling his pulse, hold
iy1cr tbof, obo
dead. Ten physicians, attached to the diff
ferent military corps, then visited him,
each one of them felt his pulse, and pro-
nounced him dead. Thus ended this tragic
scene, which commenced in violence aud
murder, and closed in shame and death
INCIDENTS.
On the road to the scaffold, Brown remark
ed to the undertaken, who was in the wagon
with him, on observing military in the held,
They have excluded all citizens" eyes"
was the reply. Capt. Brown said:
Gentlemen, you are very calm and col
leeted-much more SO than | am and yet
your condition is much more critical. | am
cool" said he; 81 have suffered much more
from modesty in my lifetime than l have
from fear. For thirty years I have been
educated to look on fear as myth, and now
10 nOJ kUOW WDab IL Is.
After riding some distance further, and
being beyond the limits of the town, he said,
addressing the same gentleman:
'EWhat a beautiful country you have; |
had no idea of it's beauties and the excellen-
cy of its soil. This is the first time l have
had the pleasure of seeing it,"
No other conversation took place, and be
quietly proceeded to his death.
Just previous to starting for the execution,
Brown wrote the following, and handed it
TO Hiram o Bannon:
am nOao convinced that the great inigui-
ty 1Chtch hangs oUer this country cannot be
purged aoithout immense 6Loodshed. When I
first came to this State I thought differently,
but am not0 cOnUinced that I acas mistaken"
He requested Mr.. O'Bannon not to give
publicity to the above.
After the body of Brown had hung for 80
minutes, it was cut down and placed in the
ccffin. The rope with which he was hung
was taken in charge by an officer, and af-
tie wards cut up into pieces and distributed
to those who were anxious to have it. Par
ties cut the timbers of the gallows, and
carried away the pieces, while others secur-
ed lock of his hair. When the body was
placed in the coffin, it was conveyed to town
and placed in the Jail. Many persons de-
sired to visit the Jail for the purpose of see
ing it, but their curiosity was not gratiied
A special train of cars was ordered from the
Ferry, and at half-paSt six o'clock, under q
strong military escort the coffin was re-
moved from the Jail to the cars, where it
was placed in a special one, and an escort
getting IN, the train proceeded to the Ferry,
where 1t arrived at half-past seven o'clock.