The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1869-08-14


Governor of Ohio.
Revolving Scenes ON the scaHoId.
CEas. Orme was hung at Stroudsburg on the
18th inst, for the murder Of Theodore Brod-
head at the Delaware Gap in Monroe county,
about ten months ago. The particulars of the
execution taken from the N. Y. Herald are As
follows:
REMARKABLE SCENE.
Yhe scaffold was erected in the cell opposite
to that of the prisoner and consisted simply of
two upright beams, a cross-piece for the rope
and platform that worked on hinges and
which was supported on the outer edge by an
upright piece Of wood. AT eleven o'clock on
ly with the Rev. MIR. Ridgeway, his spiritual
adviser, he was conducted to the scaffold.
There were about fifty persons in the cell
where the scaffold was, and Orme, as he walk
ed up the. steps, appeared to be the most un-
concerned man in the place. He was seated
in chair while the death warrant was being
read, and at the close of the reading, when
the sheriff asked him if be had anything to
say, he called for glass of water, and remain
ing seated, delivered rambling speech, the
pith of which was that he had been unfairly
tried and convicted on false evidence. He
closed by saying, II never got change of
clothing, of shirts or socks or anything of that
kind, and got SO covered with vermin that
the only way could get rid of them was by
burning them with light ID CANDLE
Sheriff Merwine, to the utter astonishment
Of everybody, at this point interrupted the con-
before your trialP' dyes" replied Orme.
whereupon ex-Sheriff Henry, who was Sheriff
at the time referred to by the prisoner, advanc-
ed to the scaifold from the gathering Of spec
attention and all the change OF clothing he
had desired while he had charge of him. The
prisoner said he had not had all he had desir-
ed, and this led to a debate between the man
on the scaffold and the ex-Sheriff which lasted
for several minutes, and would still have con-
tinued had not ell-known citizen Of the
place stepped up to the, latter and babe him
des'st This most disgraceful scene, which
Sheriff Merwine did nothing to put an end to,
for the simple reason, probably, that he had
put the FIRST touches on it himself, as a matter
Of course lett the prisoner in anything but a
proper state of mind. But there was worse to
follow. It was now halfpast eleven o'clock
and the prisoners spiritual advisers demanded
that the execution should be postponed till the
arrival of the one o'clock mail train, (which
The Sheriff was at first unwilling to &C.
cede to the demand, but the suggestion
of the minister had its effect upon Orme, and
be begged q postponement as a "last favor"
For moment or SO there was wrangle, and
the spectators looked at one another in blank
er they had come to see man hanged or to
attend q farce in which everybody present was
expected to play particular part The Sher-
i'll finally concluded to postpone the execution,
and SO the prisoner was taken down from the
scaffold and reconducted to his cell, while the
spectators adjourned to dinner
A SCENE OF HORROR.
h In the meantime the crowds that had gath
cred about the Jail early in the morning began
to increase, and the subject Of the postpone
ment became the topic of conversation. Nor
was the disgraceful scene between the prison.
Grand the ex-Shcrif, who SO far forgot himself
as to enter int) controversy with the con-
demned man even as the rope was dangling
over his head, lost sight of in the general hub
hub. The mail train arrived at one o'clock, but
there was no news from Harrisburg, and SO ey-
erybody who had managed't to gulp down his din
ner and had pass to enter the jail at once
werfded his way towards the scene of the execu-
ton. At ten minutes to two o clock the cell was
again crowded and the prisoner brought out
He assembled the scaffold az firmly as he had
assembled it before, and knelt down while the
minister offered up prayer for him, in which
he feryently Joined. As the cap was drawn
over his face he bid good bye to the Sheriff, his
counsel and several other persons, and then, as
the cap was fastened over his head, muttered,
II never told Brooks to shoot Theodore Broad
head, and repeated several times, "God have
mercy on me-" The Sheriff meanwhile, with
legs with strips of muslin; aud alter he had
placed the moose on the condemned mans
neck, enchanting as he did SO, @Im putting
this as comfortable as I can SO as not to hurt
you, Charley" he hurried down to the steps,
and, seizing hold of the rope attached to the
upright piece which upheld the drop, with a
sudden jerk pulled the bar from its place.
The scene that followed none that witnessed
IL can efface from his memory. The bar and
the drop fell with crash, and at the same in
slant the rope above the noese broke with a
snap like that of whip, and Orne fell dis
lance of five feet, striking heavily on the hard
floor of the prison. He would have fallen
backward his full length had the drop
not been behind him as he struck
the ground, and as it was he lay for .
with his head leanind against the wall For
an instant everybody seemed paralyzed with
terror and no one moved toward the unfortu-
nate man; but the moment the spell that
bound the spectators had passed away a gen.
eral rush was made towards the scaffold.
Orme was raised to his feet and the cap taken
off his face. He looked wildly about and held
his right hand up to his neck, but sald moth
ing probably because he was unable to speak,
until he was again made to ascend the scaffold,
while the Dangling sheriff prepared new
moose. As he placed himself under the cross
bar for, the third time he turned to wards his
spiritual advisers and exclaimed, "Oh! that
this horrible work was over" Finally the new
moose was put about his neck and the cap
once more drawn over his eyes, while he con-
tinued to utter, "God have mercy on me-
The sheriff pulled the bar and the drop fell
The body fell about four feet and rebounded
slightly as the moose frightened about the
neck. The rope did not break, but the knot
of the moose struck the mans throat, di~
rectly under the chin, andi his struggle With
death was consequently a prolonged one.
To add additional horror to the scene the
muslin that bound his arms behind him
had not been tied tight enough, and sew
eral times, while the body was dangling in the
air, the right hand was raised to the neck and
chung convulsively to the shirt bosom, near
the throat. The left hand also, as the body
swung against the drop, grasped hold .of one
side OF the platform and clutched it for several
seconds, and when it finally became weakened
and was compelled to relax its hold it closed
on the board so ffrmlythat the grating Of the
finger nails could be plainly heard all over the
hall. For fifteen minutes the poor fellow
struggled violently, and was not dead until
twenty-five minutes had elapsed from the time
he was swung of. When the body was cut
down it was placed in plain coffin and inter-
red in corner Of one of the town cemeteries.
A more horrible execution never took place
in the United States. The Sheriff did his
work bunglingly from beginning to end, and
had it not been for thepresence in the town of
Judge Barrett, who tried to bring order out of
chaos, there is no knowing what additional
horrors might have been added to the ''execu-
tion of the law