North Branch democrat. [volume] (Tunkhannock, Pa.) 1854-1867, 1865-11-15
Execution of Wire ,

alFE0 tooh pidCe at IU-oU tnlS morning.
Wire rotested his innocence to the last,
ana exhibited no fear. "a @
lsEcoND DEspATcH.l
WAsHTNGToN, Nov. 10.--This morning
Father Boyle administered the sacrament TO
Captain Wirze, and Father Wigget, also of
the Roman Catholic Church, then placed
upon the prisoner the black cambria robe,
remarkng as he dill so, ~ hope this robe
will be turned into q white one in the other
world"
At 1920 A. M., Captain Wire came from
his cell, in the Old Capitol prison, accompa-
MED by Provost Marshal Russell, and Father
Boyle and Wigget. Passing between the
line of the military guard, they ascended the
scaffold, and the prisoner was then seated
The scaffold was twelve feet square and
twenty two feet high to the beam, with @
trap twelve feet from the ground. The
guard consisted of the 195th Pennsylvania
volunteers, three detachments of the Veteran
Reserve corps, under the command Of Capt.
Walbridge, the Military Superintendent of
the Old Capitol prison.
There were several hundred persons pres
ent, besides the military, civilians having been
admitted on special passes.
Amid profound silence, Provost Marshal
Russell proceeded to read the order of the
War Department, founded on the verdict of
the Military Court which tried the prisoner.
He was charged with and convicted of COM
bining, confcderatng and conspiring with
Jefferson Davis, James A. Seddon, Howell
Cobb, John III. Winder, Richard B. Winder,
Isaiah II. White, W S. Winder, W. Shelby
Reed, R. R, Stevenson L. P. Moore, - Kerr
(late- hospital steward at Andersonville,)
James Duncan, Wesley W, Turner, Benja-
min Harris and others whose names are
unknown and who were then engaged in
armed rebellion against the United States,
maliciously, traitornusly and in violation OF
the laws of war, to impair and injure the
health and destroy the lives, by subjecting to
great torture and great suffering, by confining
in unhealthy aud unwholsome quarters, by
exposing to the inclemency of the winter and
TO the dews and burning sun of summer, by
compelling the use of impure wa ter and CT
| furnishing insufficient and unwholsome food,
of large numbers of Federal prisoners, to wit,
the number of forty-five thousand held as
prisoners of war at Andersonville, within the
lines of the so called Confederate States, on
or before the 9th of March, 1864 and at
divers times between that day and the 10th
day of April, 1865, to the emu that the armies
of tho United States might be weakened and
impaired, and that the insurgents engaged in
rebellion against the United States might be
aided and comforted.
The order also states that the prisoner was
found guilty Of the second charge, namely,
murder, in violation of the laws and customs
of war, and guilty of all the specifications
excepting the fourth, tenth and thirteenth
which three set forth that he killed prisoner
by shooting him with revolver, that he
ordered a sentinel TO fire upon another with
revolvca, and that he beat another with a
revolver SO that he died,
Jhe order concludes as follows:
sSecretai y.-And the Court do therefore
sentence him, Henry Wire, to be hanged by
the neck till he be dead, at such time and
place as the President of the United States
may direct, two-thirds of the members of
the Court concurripg therein.
"And the Court also find the prisoner,
Henry Wire, guilty of having caused the
death, in the manner as alleged in specifica
tion IL, charge 2, by means of dogs, of three
soldiers of the United States-one occurring
on or about the 18th day of May, 1854; an
other occurring on or about the 1st day o.
September, 1S64-but which finding as here
expressed has not, and did not, enter into
the sentence of the Court, as before given.
"2d. The proceedings, findings and sen
tence in the foregoing case having been SUBJ
mitted to the President of the United States
the following are his orders. r
EXECUTIVE MANSION, Nov. 3, lS65.-The
proceedings, findings and sentence of the
Court in the within case are approved, and
it is or 1ered that the sentence be carried into
execution by the officer commanding the De
partment of Washington, on Friday, Nov. 10
1865, between the hours of 6 A. III, and l.
noon.
(Sgned) ANDREW JOHNSON, President.
"3d, Major General G. @. Augur, COM
mandiDg the Department of Washington, II
commanded to cause the foregoing sentence
in the case o. Henry Wire to be duly execu
ted in accordance with the Presidents order.
"4th. The Military Commission, of which
Major General Lew Wallace, U. S. vols, il
President, is hereby dissolved, by command
of the President of the United States.
(Signed) "E. d. TOWNSEND, A. A. g."
When the reading of the order was com
pleted, Wire conyersed with those on the
platform with seeming calmness and self