The Cairo daily bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1870-1872, 1871-10-18
THE BULLETIN.
THE SCAFFOLD.
EXECUTION OF A MURDERER.

Shepard, has to-day given up his own life
for that Of William Willard, the Warden
of the Connecticut Prison. whom he muir
derercd some two years since.
THE CRIME
for which ho yielded up his life, a.
| stated. was the murder of Mr.. Willard, the
warden of the state prison at Wcthersteld,
| the circumstances of which it j. hardly
| necessary to more than briefly refer 10.
| He was serving "a term in the prison for
| burglary committed in or near Meriden,
and he felt hi, treatment WIS unncces-ari-
| Is cruel. and 10 obtain revenge he deter
| mined to take the life cf the officer whom
| he believed TO be his tormcutDr a.. he
emphatically expressed il.
In the pursuance of thi, determination
| he, in some manner or other, obtained pos
session Of n knife from which be broke out
| the blade and then affixed il firmly to the
| end Of n long stick. Uaving done this he
| cent the Warden message to the effect
! that he had a letter which he wished him
TO examine Mr.. Willard came TO the cell,
received the paper through the grated
| door and commenced 10 peru,c IL. While
thus engaged the evil and cunning priso--
ner stuck the deadly weapon between the
bars and plunged it through the heart and
almost through the body of the Warden.
! Death, Of course. ensued almost instantly,
and thus Wilson had added TO his long li,t
Of burglaries and other offences the terri
Die crime of wIllful and malicious murder
HIS TRIAL FOR MURDER
was commenced ut once and was followed
| in speedy succession by conviction and
! sentence to death Wilson attempted su-
eide twice, once starving himself for nine
day. and once for six. The night before
! his execution, he endcavored third time
to put an end to hi, life by stabbing him
self with shsrpened wire. In the belief
that the wound was fatal he wrote a letter
| 10 his taller. the conclusion of which was
a. follows. As YOU and others will be
anxious to know my La: thoughts, ] will
here put them down.
Almighty and everlasting God, call up
on all that is within ine to bie.s Thy name
for Thy continual goodness while ! have
forgotten Thee Tnou hast borne with my
sins and surrounded me with Thy mercies.
Many times Thou hast plucked me from
the jaws Of death and sent me on the jour
ney Of life rejoicing and most merciiul
God. AS go down INTO the valley of death
will feaI no evil, for my trust is 10 Thee.
Pardon all my sins, implcre Thee; deal
with me not according to my sins, bat &C.
cording to Thy mercies. Thou diist in
Thy providence select me 10 the minister
of Thy righteous vengeance. Inou, o
God hast made me. Thou knowc-t what
is within me The traditions of men do
cause many 20 err. Thou hast drawn II
veil over the future, and no man can re-
move it. now cast my poor soul upon
Thy mercy. Receive me INTO Thy keep
ing and grant yspcnd eternity in the
light of Thy rccOncicd cOuntenHnce.
DAVID kESTLEY.
The concluding scenes are described ms
follows:
As he ascendel the scaiiold he looked up
to the dangling rope, and tnslly took hold
of it with n nervous twitch, MS ii TO test its
strength for the terrible purpose to which
it was soon to be applied. Seating him
self IN a chair he looked calmly over the
whole multitude present occasionally nod
ding here and there to those whom he
recognized. Finally the awful silenc'
was broken by the Sheriff, who commenced
the reading Of the death warrant in ner
-! vous and husky tone. When he haC
finished the Sheriff said, Now, Mr.. vii
son. have YOU anything to say why th
3 sentence should not be executed 2 vii
son, calmly smiling, delivered the follow
ing
y FAREWELL SPEECH
Il don't suppose it will amount to much
what can say, or stop the execution. 1
y you won't put it to execution, would say
a great DEAL
Stepping TO the front of the platform he
?. said
Il suppose most of you know why
shall say but few words to-day. With
h. three inches of steel in his heart, man
cannot say much, nor be expected to.
u did all | could to avoid beng here not
that / fear DEATH but such kind of q
: death-not fit for dog or murderer.
am not a murderer. | killed William
Willard in self-defensc and did just right
and hope his fate will be Il warning to
all other tyrants ike him.
Then scizing the moose hc continues
When man puts th, over his head in
the cause Of humanity i is not disgrace
= In that cause l put it over mine. And
Sheriff Russell, tighten IL up a. quick a,
You please.
Here the chaplain interrupted by a,k,n!
Wilson if he should pray for him, t.
which the s,ndcmned answered, Well
don't care if you make a short prayer.
The chaplin induiged his wish, and ther
the murderer stood up to pay the penalty
of his cine. As the Sheriff drew the cal
over his face he exclaimed, u hope my
act will be benefit to the people in Weth
4, ersfeld prison, and that they will be Sc
r. treated as never to render it necessary !,
4 kill another Warden
n. GOOD BY.
The sheriff now bid the dying man good
bye, and said, God have mercy on you
soul, and then touched the fatal spring
Y. and all was over He fell about egh
feet, and death was intantaneoas. Tn
body was cut down in about twenty min
= utes, and in ten minutes later the knive
of the surgeon were at work in the regiol
of his wound. 1t was discovered that tn
wire had actually penetrated the heart
and the resul. would have been fatal in
day or two.
r WILSON REAL NAME
is, according to his latest acknowledg
ments, James Kentley. He claims TO hay
been born near Belfast, in Ireland, in lS2
and boasted of having committed owe
eight hundred burglaries and escaped froi
the Sing Sing Prison, the New Jerse
od State Prison and the Michigan and Oh
State Prisons. When he got away iru
the Ohio Institution he fled to the wood
and both of his feet were SO badly froz,
Al ncl t,l