The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1866-02-28
The Execution-A Fragment.

The Execution-A Fragment.
1t was at midsummer, precisely, the 1eth of
of July, 1903, that the miserable convict
awoke to look out upon the last day of his
earthly existence. The instrument which
Justice had caused to be erected fol- his execu
ton, stood forth upon Munjoy in fatal and
. mysterious preparations, where an immense
crowd were assembling from town and coun-
try-men women and children--to witness
the spectacle just at hand, when fellow NOR
tai was to take his last look upon mortal things
and die.
Such an event was of rare occurrence, ana
the curiosity OF our nature must not be too
severely censured that it had taken SO much
pains for its gratifcationl .li7e- Il
He was to be led forth-the murderer, from
his gloomy celtic pay the forfeiture of crime,
so adudged by the honorable Supreme Court
of Massachusetts,, of which, at that time
Hon. Theophilus Parsons, one Of the most
eminent in his profession, was Chief Justice;
Maine, then, being part of that State.
aA'' Why fifty years should not have witnessed
many examples of similar efficiency in the ex-
ecution of the law in our State, when the
State Prison could have furnished many ripe
victims for execution, is best known to our
judges, governors and juries. is
1t is not our object to discuss the subject Of
hanging in general, but merely to advert to
the scene witnessed in your city, as just hint
ed. The writer was living contempory with
its enactment but did not witness the .execu-
ton of the criminal-the sad catastrophe.
Through almost a whole lifetime of years,
memory has to revert to this event and with
the experiment there is SO much of the indefi
mite to meet me, that almost despair of pro-
dueing reality, yet it is no fancy sketch
draw; it was real, though romantic in its
character, and the catastrophe was too terri
o BILE to be forgotten by those who witnessed it,;
and those must now be few. "ForJ0tten let IL
BE-" some would say; others would say nay.
The prisoner, and he shall be nameless, was
committed to the County Jail in Portland, at
that time, there being no Maine State Prison
1t was a case, L suppose, judged to be worthy
of the severest penalty of the law. The con-
Wet denied not his guilt, but that he had no in
tention to kill the unhappy victim of his sud-
den and Infatuated passion. Visitors were adj
mitted to his cell, to minister to his religious
Ca benefit; DR.. Payson and some Others, proba-
bly,. have an indistinct recollection of being
Id, in his presence myself, as l seem to have an
idea of the person of the prisoner, his cell and
its location, and the manner of ingreSs and
egress, which consisted of a horizontal aper-
ture, through which the visitor had, with con-
siderable difficulty to crawl and draw his
length along. 1t can be imagined with what
,e feelings we met the prisoners eye; how sol
emn and direct our words must have been,
the truth Of which was SO soon to be realized.
.l.a How one in SO close proximity with a man
whose hands were scarcely washed from the
murderer's blood-alone with him in his dun
geon-could feel secure, except as we might
hope that some sense of gratitude remained
in his depravednature, which would keep back
violence from his benefactor-yet were we
. not safe in the presence of penitence and
prayer? To any one, visit under these cir
cumstances, was not without profit. How
sure would he be to reflect with selfcompla-
9, cency and self-applcation. How sincere the
prayer for divine preservation from outbre ak
ing and crime. --..... r,-
ss L
SO dreary connected with the gallows, erected
in my native town in Massachusetts. re-
member where the 1old gallows STOOD" in
your city. One of the elderlies will point you
to the place on the hill as you go out of town
on the west, and then thought to be quite out
OF town. There might be some delcacy in
VOWED in the subject now, lest in asking the
question you should "come too near home' to
some one residing near the premises. -
The days of whipping-posts, Of stocks and
pillories and gallows hvae gone by, and these
f. instruments of justice are known scarcely by
name to the present generation.
But have brought my readers in sight of
tie assembled, eager, restless populace I
have said that 1 did not witness the execu-
ton, yet was one of the excited multitude
for awhiie-for hours, perhaps. e+
Think of hot summer forenoon, its hours
slowly wasting away, a strong and bewildering
excitement pervading the bosoms of an inn
mense Misunderstanding for the
appearance of the forthcoming pageant, the
Sheriff aud his suite. The emotional nature
stirred up from its lowest depths, the great
heart of that mass Of humanity, sometimes
still, sometimes throbbing deeply, ckening as
the delaying hour approaches ;-and still they
come not. Still impatient f-4
'.Lingering ages haste away" $500
BY this time ninety-nine out of every hun
dred are finding how dearly they have "paid
for the whistle" in suffering morbid curiosity
to bring them to wi tness scene so disgust
ing. '-'
l had thought much of the unhappy pris-
oner, his trial and the day of his execution,
and could I, after all, remain to witness the
final CATASTROPHE? l was becoming nervous
Expectation long delayed, like hope, "maketh
the heart sick" rushed from the crowd, to
analyze in solitude, if would, the nature of
that element in our poor humanity, that can
take pleasure in beholding the execution of
the death penalty! Yours, IW.