Connecticut western news., 1872-12-20
A Rlundertng Execution.

The city of New York witnessed on Fri day last the unusual spectacle of an exc. cution. Contrary to all recent precedent, a murderer was hanged for his crime. Whatever their opinion of capital punish ment, good men ought to rejoice that jus tice has for once been honored but they ought at the same to lament that it has been honored in so shameful way. From the accounts in the New York papers, vivid Adea of the extraordinary performance may be gathered,-of the jeering and yelling crowd of thousands of spectators :; of the trembling, fainting, miser- able crimnal-so frightened at the thought of death that he had to be held up to his doom; and, worst of all, of the execution itself-a barbarous and blundering piece of business, which ought to have been shock ing to the stoughtest nerves, and appalling to the stoughtest hearts. After some min utes of preliminary praying and trembling, the good 'farther," we are told, ''stepped back, and Henry Rogers was alone under the fatal beam." The remainder of the performance is described as follows in the New York Star:
 When the signal was given, . heavy sound was heard inside the executioner's box at the right of the gallows, and Rog- CTS swung in mid-air. As he ascended he still clutched in his left hand rosary which, he never dropped. The body, from the force of the swing, turned several times around, but betrayed no signs of life until at 2. 40, when the hands began to tremble and the veins of the hands and wrists be- gan to swell; the legs twitched for a mo ment and the knees were drawn up little {; the breast began to heave in spasms until at 9.43 the legs dropped down again. The jaws were also seen beneath the black cap to move violently, and thin greyish fluid flowed from his mouth. The neck and hands also turned black, and the veins in the wrists became greatly swollen. At 9.46 nine men who had been summoned by the Coroner began each in turn to ex- anime theAbreathing man, and at 9.46 1-2 his breathing was more audiable to those in close proximity to the gallows. At 9.47 the head made 8 sligh trembling movement and when, at 9.49 the jail physician exam ined the breast, it was found to be still breathing, and not until 9.57, fifteen min utes after the cutting of the rope, was life found to be extinct.
 OuC6 OuFI0S Iu6 uOCJOE GAaIuluallOQ Ine body was lowered until the toes nearly touched the ground, when the hangman as if he had not supped sufficient of hor TOT, again elevated the body, nor was it done in manner very gentlest. A straw pallet was procured, and after the specta- tors had Leen ordered to leave the yard, the body was lowered on the mattrass, and 10:45 all that was mortal of Henry Rog- CTS was placed in stained coffin, which bore no plate. The black cap was re- moved, and more gastly picture perhaps was never seen. The face of the cu1prit looked vivid: his hazel eyes which had not lost thelr color, stared at the beholder, while the firmly set teeth, pressed into the lower lip indicated, unmistakably that death was caused by strangulation.
 We have reproduced this ghastly sketch in our columns, that our readers may see the basis of fact upon which we stand, when we protest against such outrages as this. It seems hardly possible that snch . transaction can have taken place, in the metropolis of Christian land. l. certain ly need not take place again. We protest against it in the name of justice, no: in the interest of lenity. There are those who will find in this horrible affair an ar gument against the death penalty, who will cry out anew, as they read the shameful