Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1864-03-10
Execution of Streeter, the Me-
dina Murderer.
.ss Medina, Friday, Feb. oe.
Great Excitement through the
s Country. ts.
10, 900 PEOPLE PRESENT.

"1-... UOuutry'
10, 900 PEOPLE PRESENT. :
The Fence Around the Gallows Torn
Down. ,'s " .0 I
From the Cleveland header, Of Saturday, -
The impending execution Of Frederick i.
Streeter,,wbo murdered the Coy family, in
Medina, on the night Of the I'd OF July last,
and was. upon conviction, sentenced to be
hung on Friday, January 22d, between Che. |,
hours Of ten A.. NJ. aud foyr r. NJ, has crea-
ted widespread feeling of excitement.--
To this the peculiar and extraordinary cir
cumstances of the case have greatly contrib
uted. The peculiar atrocity Of treble muI-
der of married couple and their only child,
a boy of seven-the attempted arson-the
bold. robbery--the curious, romantic and
most wonderful identification Of the crimi-
nal--the story Of the trial--the incidents ct
his cunning escape and the extraordinary
re-capture-and above all, the extraordl-
nary character and bearing of the prisoner,
whose life was romance, and whose entire
demeanor, though inconsistent, extravagant
and dunaccountable, was nevertheless wonder.
| fully collected and frm-all this tended most
powerfully to create and foment an almost
uncomfortable excitement as the day set
for the final and closing act of the mysteri-
Gus drama rapidly approached. a.. = 81
A full review of all the details OF this
atrocious crime, almost without parallel In
the annals of criminallty, would, doubtless
be of interest to our readers, but the late
meas of the hour at which we write entirely
precludes all details, except OF the happen
ings of the execution itself.
.e--a -T THE DAY. q IN 81
; Friday dawned gloomily upon Medina.
1t seemed that Nature, as il in sympathy
with the awful solemity OF the occasion, had
cloaked herself in mourning Snow had
fallen, the winds were chilly and the sup
was mantled from sight in gray and sombre
clouds, and would not smile. In spite. OF
the bitter weather and the fearfully bad
, roads, however, thousands upon thousands
of people from adjacent towns and counties,
. from Cleveland, Akron, Wooster, Ashland,
, and even from Toledo and Cincinnati, came
pouring into the quiet village, remote as it
was from railroad and travelling facilities,
. until it seemed that Medina should instead
have been called Mecca, SO numerous were
, the pilgrimages to this new and awful shrine:
The roads were all the morning crowded
. with the pilgrims,-in every manner OF ye-
/, hicles,-on horseback, on foot. Strangers
4 gathered all along the sidewalks of the still
|
a closed, wore, but for the crowd, a Sabbath
q aspect. Swarms of people congregated
Q about the hotels, on the Court House steps,
o about the scsffold, and especially about the
n Jail. t ..'-.- ....,
, THE SPIRIT OF THE PEOPLE.
The bitter and vindictive spirit of ths
y people present was especially manifest. =
They were largely composed of the naturs
II attendants upon such an awful ceremony
J. the roughs and brutes of the country around
. who were loud and coarse enough iu
10 fierce invective. Women, too, congregated
70 in the crowd, and when they spoke, surpass
ed the men in fierce vindictiveness. Said ont
2. virago, standing under the scafold, in tht
II morning. "Ah, hope the rope will breal
% he ought to be hung twice" Anothe
a. one: Hanging is too good for him, ,"-an
Y third: II long to see him kicking u
m thoss." aud th.ss sre but randon ~sso'
III ances.
KS Many Of refinement, sensibility and hr
no manity, however, also swelled the va:
or crowd, but, less noisy, we're less noticeable
ne THE FENCE AROUND THE aALLows BURNED
rs As an illustration of the overwhelmin
zee tide of public sentiment, it may be mention
M. cd that during the night preceding the exc
,r cution, the high fence which, in accordanc
lis with the law, had been erected around tn
to seaffod. was torn up and burned down
at and that everybo expected and nobod
el- was indignant at the act.
I'D VISIT TO THE PRIsoNER-HIs APPEARING
in AND DEMEANoR.
BY the kindness of several of the count
,m officers we were admitted TO the cell of I'll
'as prisoner at eleven o clock In the forenoon
NY and had brief interview with him. Sine
oil his escape, he had been placed under ii
om strictest surveillance, being all the time Vi
MS der guard. On Thursday night he was r
'en moved to new cell, and expressed chagr
me thereat, saying that he had provided mea
in his former cell for taking his own lif
aud that he would have done the deed
ION Friday morning, had he remained there
ter But SO many have besn the improbable a
see CONT sdiotory stories which he has uttere
lne Of which, perhaps, We may say more in q
lelr other issue, that little reliance can be plac
ior- upon his statements.
'nr' His recent feigned insanity. and his bt
uu attempt to starvs himself, had superinduc
in other diseases, which had so far reduced h
der that he weighed less than one hundr
and pounds. and was too weak to walk alone.
the Enter and look at him, as he lies stretch
sed upon his straw pallet, at the further end
ant his cell. You are instantly struck with |
our incongruity between his personal appe
ich ance and the horrible deed be has boen
the ready proven to have oommitted--the fe
OF full fate which in two hours no must me
nay A delicate young man oftwenty-four, har,
ioie more than five feet six inches in heigl
once evidently dandy, and even now ca
=, ful Of his personal appearances, with bro
the hair and eyes, light moustache and beard
be face clear and handsome, though thin q
ans pale, form once slender aud now emac
uch ted--can this be the terrible burglar, n
'on' Der, assassin, triple murderer? Can d
slender, weak youth, lying so calmly up
the bed with quiet faco, cool--even cola
sre- calm gaze, and measured accents. who
- most smiles as he talks. be the septenC
NTH criminal who in ono hour shall leave Il
On bed and pass that door, and on throu
deaths dark portal. TO oiufnity2 There ID
-, wonder and marvel herel M
Inc There are present perhaps halfa dozen
all, the cell, among them the sister Of the nj
into oner, Mrs. DR.. Ayers, who has been movi
Ion. heaven and earth, in vain, for pardon or