Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1862-02-26
From the Cleveland Herald. !

hanging of a Siave.Pirate.
Capt. Nathaniel Gordon, of the slave sbin
Erie, was hung in the New York Tombs on Fri.
oay' MIS- execution being the frss that has taken
place under the laws euaoted more than fortv
years ago, Furnishing the slave-trade as piracy
fordon was 80 years of age, o native OF Port.
land, Maine, and had followed the sea from n
very early age, rising from cabin boy to COM
mand of ship. The enterprise of the Erie
was his fourth or nth slave-trading yoyaRe.-
Va the 7'h Of August, 1860. Gordon took on
Doarc of the Efie, at the mouth of the Congo
river, on the coast of Africa, s97 negroes, men !,
women and children, giving In exchange prncl.
pahy whisky. The SLAYER set sail the same day
IIr M Suoa' and on the 9th was captured by tho
v. > war vessel Mohican. The negroes were
taken to Monrovia, 81 dying on the Way. The
Erie was put 10 possession Of a prize crew. and
with Gordon and two or three of his officer sent
to New York. Hall and Warren, his mates,
still remain 10 the Tombs. The case of Gordon
dragged until Buchanan went out of office, the
slavers only being nominally prisoners. The
new U. s. District Attorney, E. Delaiied Smith,
brought Gordon to trial. The jury, after being
out twenty-iour hours, disagreed ghl for con.
Viction, four for acquittal. The most active
and untiring exertions were made by the great
slave'lrading interest Of New York to eave Cor
/ don, but on the second trial before Judges Ship
man and Nelson he was convicted, and on the
5ush OF November Gordon was sentenced TO be
hung on the 7th OF February. Gordon and his
friends did not believe the sentence would be
executed, and he was respited for two weeks by
the President, to give him time to prepare for
death.
| After Gordon's conviction he was almost con
stantly attended 10 prison by his wife and little
son SIX years OF age In the parting scene the
evening before the execution, Gordon weDt, but
did not entirely lose his self-possession. The
grief of Mrs. Gordon was of the most acute
description, and she had to be borne from the
prison. After bis family left, Gordon wrote
thirteen letters, one Of them to his little boy,
to be kept sealed until he shall have attained
maturer age About midnight be laid down
and slept until about three O'Clock, when he
started suddenly from hia bed, locked a. his
Watel, muttered something, and again laid down
with his face to the wall. About four o'clock
A M, Gordon's keepers found him writhing In
convulsione, with every indication of death on
his countenance. The City Prison Physician
was sent for, who pronounced him suffering un-
der dose of poison. The prisoner afterward
admitted that he had taken slrychnine which
had been furnished him, and which he had con-
cealed in crack on the under side of his bench.
Gordon's torments and miserable end are thus
described by the reporter Of the Times:
HIS sUFFERINos.
Dr.. Hodgman found Gordon in conyulsions,
which seemed to increase in violence at each
| repetition. He applied the stomach pump and
| gave him stimulants. Lockjaw set In, and the
! wretched man from that moment till 10 A. M,
1 suffered torments to which tho momentary ago.
4 ny of scaffold death can bear no possible COM
parison. Whisky was given him every few mo-
ments for the double purpose of restoring vital
ity, and neutraliziDg the pair, and had this not
been the case, long before the appointed hour,
Gordon would have passed from time to eterni-
} ty. He said he had suffered dozen deaths
since he took the poison, and begged that he
might be allowed to die, and end bis misery.
At times, for half an hour, his Jaws would be
; firmly closed, and he could neither talk mol
! groan, AT such times he would write his de-
sires upon paper. In this condition-half alive
half dead, nearly under the absolute influence
Of liquor, given for the purpose of saving him
the poor wretch fingered, until the legal
boundary of his lite's career.
AT IL o'clock, Marshal Murray notified Cor
don, through Mr.. Draper, that the hour had ar
rived. AT he expressed great surprise, and
said that he thought he had two hours more In
which to live. The clergyman entered the cell
and prayed with him, or rather for him. Depu.
ty Marshal Borst aided him in dressing, and gave
him large drink of whisky, when his arms
were tied, the
i ... BLACK CAP.
was put careessly on one side of his head, and
he was carried on the Deputy's shoulders to a
chair in the corridor. The sight was simply
shocking,
The man was not sober--that is, so powerful
had been the effect of the poison that, in order
TO keep him alive till the necessary moment,
they had been obliged to give whisky enough
to make an ordinary man drunk three times
over. He sat lollingly in the chair, gazing list
lessly around, while the Marshal With uuaf,
fected emotion, read the former reprieve TO
him. That done, he was helped to his feet
and held there while the Marshal read to him
the death-warrant. Then, with upturned head
and indescribably offensive manner
4 GORDON SAID,
I 81 have word to say. I die with the clear
conscience of man who has done, intention,
ally, no wrong. When a man gets up In Court
and says to the Jury that IL they will only con
vict q man for him, he will do everything tc
get that man pardoned, and then goes to tht
President and tells him to hang the man, III
very mean and contemplate. Such q maj
would do anything to promote his own ends
He is q mean fellow"
After which be looked around with q sense
lessssmile, asked for some more whisky, whicl
was kindly given him, The procession wal
then formed, Gordon stalking with brava
dosh air, upheld by the Mirshnls toward th,
ecafIold.
3 To casual spectator 1t would appear that ex
D hausted by mental or physical euferiDg, Cor
/. don was making great effort to walk manful
/. ly to bis fate. As It was, however, he had jus
sense enough left to endeavor to follow out .h
suggestion Of the wel-mesning Deputy, who toll
him to die like man, and to walk to the roae
60 that no one could accuse him of fear. Whel
he reached
THE euAFEoLD,
o he said: swell, a man can't die bu, once; III
not afraid" The cap was drawn over ID
whitened, meaningless, features. the nooee:kno
was carefully adjusted under bis ear, and b
= stood, an unthinkiDg, careless, besotted wretc
1 waiting for be knew not what, when with ief
2 he went high in the air, and fell to the lengt
of the rope still senseess, still unfeeling, sill
+ regardless of pain or pleasure.
Is The body TED bither and thther for a fe,
moments, and all was quiet. NJ twitchings, u
Z ronvulainna. no ehfonal M a1o,fau FIia lac