Daily national Republican. (Washington City [D.C.]) 1870-1872, 1870-04-11
alatiOnaI aepnbstfau
IN. ExeouOon OF J0ek Reynolds IN
New York.


nh. Exscut,sn OF sack Reynolds IN
New York.
On Friday last Jack Reynolds, alias syl-
yester Breen, paid the penalty OF hls l,Je
the hands Of the hangman, 10 New LOTS LOTS
for the wanton murder OF WHllan low.
send, committed on the 29th OF Jahusty
last. On the night above stated heyuoluIs
entered the basement In when i UN,Ni
I'm hIs wife and children, were living, All
bnddied together, aud asked for nighte
indSing. Townsend Informed him that they
M no room, and requested him TO "please
90 ont - refusing TO do 80, Townsend
went up TO him, and putting hls hand
lightly on Jacks shoulder, said, "lps no
use sitting down; you must go outi 90, IKE
good fellow" Before Townsend could
dIylne Reyuold's intention, the latter Jumped
mn and stabbed him In the breast. A strug
Gle between them cnsued until parties heard
the screams Of the family, and came up and
secured Reynolds, when Townsend walked
back Into the little room In rear OF his store,
having fret picked up piece OF knife BLADE,
e1claiming, az he handed i TO MI. Belcherl
t'Here Is piece Of the knife that scoungreI
stabbed me with" He lived nearly hvc
mInutos, despite the fact that the hrst
Woupd inflicted upon him had been through
the ventricles Of the heart.
The prisoner was taken to tho station
house followed by an excited crowd who
shouted ''bring q rope" "hang hlu,,
'Shanr him /" and Il was only BY the cool
ness and decision Of the ofhcers that the Ia ls
he met on Friday last was not anticipated
ON the spot. When the people shouted out
Chang him" the prisoner became almost
ferocious, and exclaimed, hanging Is
once in custody Reynolds knew the evil
depee Of his guilt was overwhelming, aud
attempted to play the luuatie, but failed, rs
tho sequel shows.
tain DESCRIPTIONS Of the execution 70 the
minutest detail, which vary but little from
the usual sickening details of such oeca-
The arrangement of the scafIold was
somewhat different from the ordinary FORM
There were the usual upright and crosstree.
Set in the middle Of the crosstree was pull
lev, and at the corner toward the east,
where the crosstree and the upright were
Joined, was another pulley. Through both
these pulleys a rope was passed, one end OF
which dangled In the air, suggesting to the
spectator an accurate guess OF where the
prisoners head should como tho other end
passed down the beam TO tho victims right
til II was lost to sight behind IN enclosure
Of planks. Behind that enclosure the rope
was understood to be attached to a weight.
The weight was held In place by cord, and
when that cord should be cut by the blow OF
an axe the only thing to stop It's descent
would be the prisoners body with his mead
in the moose. On the end Of the cord that
daugled between the beams there was a
small iron hook, with spring catch.
The moose was affixed to the neck OF the
prisoner before leaving tho cell, the end be-
log provided with an eye or ring into which
the hook at the end of the rope running over
the pulleys was TO be snapped at the proper
time. Directly under the galloWs there was
q platform, so-called, for the murderer TO
stand upon, which consisted Of q flooring OF
planks simply laid down on the pavement OF
the yard.
Upon being brought from the prison.. Reg.
nolds stepped without any assumed indif-
ference, and with scarcely perceptible emo
tlon, across to his place under the rope, with
priest at either side Of him, the three I'm
medlately kneeled down In final prayer, the
gallows functlonaries kneellng with them.
In a few moments the others arose, but Rey.
nolds continued on his knees until the tall
man with Jewish features stepped up, placed
his hands on the murderer's shoulder and
spoke to him. He then stood MP, and the
contrast of his height with that Of the man
behind him seem more q boy than ever.
Tho tall man snapped the Iron eyelot on the
moose into the iron hook on the rope that
had been dangling In the air, and for q
moment Reynolds glanced around on those
before him, with HE hands clasped as well
as bis pinioned elbows would permit, and
waited for his death.
The tall man threw over his face the cowl
that was over the back Of his head and drew
the cord OF the black cap down to It's place,
and 10 a second was heard from behind the
screen Of planks, the blow Of the axe on the
cord that retained the weight in its place.
At the sound the body went up In the air to
such a height that the doctors could Just
haudily reach up TO the victims wrist to feel
his pulse. He was not ierked up with any
considerable violence. He seemed, indeed,
10 DO rather oaslly lined from. his foot, and
carried up as II by spring to the place at
which he stopped. This was at O;20. He was
duIet for a minute. Then his clasped hands
were separated, and hls fingers felt again
for one another, and his hands were carried
up as far rs the pinloned elbows wonla Yer-
init. For two or three minutes then the
whole body was moved In q conyulsiye effort
to take air into the lungs. and the hands be-
came blue, indicating that there was no
longer any red blood In the body. He was
dying simply from the embarrassment OF
resplratlon-dying by suffocatlon.
At ono moment there was strong back
ward bending OF the body and legs-so that
the whole figure was like part of circle, OF
which the front Of the body was the con-
yexity. In flyo minutes the muscular move
mcnt had closed. In seven minutes the
pulse was impeTeeptible at the wrist, and
the body was lowered, so that the heart was
on a level with the doctors head, that they
might judge by ausculatlon whether IL had
ceased 10 beat II was beating then, with
an occasional heavy beat His body was,
however, cut down In about twenty minutes
AFTER the cutting of the cord, and on the re-
moval Of the black cap his features were In
reposa and very little changed.
In speaking Of this execution, the New
York Herald pronounees Il ga shameful
failure" aud sayai
at IL a law In physics that \ descending
therefore, the force 10 at nj imum, vet il Is Al
its start wheR It IL supposed to jerk the Victim
this hanging, Il Ia expected to break the vic.
Tins neck. The force Ia bUll more reduced BY
the elasticity of the body. No mans neck viii
ever be broken by the TOmbs apparatus. When
the vertebTal bones 10 the neck are foroibIY
and suddenly dislooated death takes place ia 4
second. The bones rest upon one another and
form part Of = tube, through which passes the
spinal marrow. When these bonea are forced
from their places their edges crossing one an
that marrow as the edges OF aoisSor act on aSy
soft tissue. No death can DO easter or more
sudden than one so caused, and that 10 the
contrary, was barbarous and cruel The hTSt
failure was In the ApParatus-the second was
moose IL a loop made with a running Knot, The
knot must slip and draw the loop tight as
weight is applied. The knot on ReynoldGi
half open loop q rope The knot il such eases
should 80 behind the ear under the base OF the
skull and with that boBy support draw on the
throat, so as TO compress the wlndplpe aud all
the large blood vesrels, Suhooatlo IN will then
Kill In from one to two minutes. In the case
OF Reynolds the knot went In front OF his ear
and under the Anglo OF his left law, and not
being drawn tlghtit left on the side OF the
neck an open Triangular space In which was
the jugular vein and the left common carotid
artery. Circulation through the hFAln was
therefore kept up, and the man simply died by
stIAngulation OF the windpipc,
This was case OF hanging. u there ever
was one, in which resuseltatIon was quite
within the limit Of possibility
Full RETURNS from the election In Com
nectlcut show that tho majority for English
is $40. The vote for Jewell was 80, $50; for
English, 44,l30. The total vote one year
ago was OO,5i5, showing decrease this year
OF S'l25. The Republican vote l. 2,l73 less,