The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1873-04-01
CALIFORNIA JUSTICE. : !.

CALIFORNIA JUSTICE. -
DETAILS OF THE LYNCHENG OF THE
DESPERADO, MATT TARPEY.
Battertng Down the JAN Door-The I'm
Promptu Gibbet-The Murderer Plead.
Ing for his Life-strange scenes-5
'sHung Like Dog.'' w,
We gather the following additional details
of the lyachlng OF Matt. Tarpey from the cor
respondence of the San Francsco Chronicle -
The Jail at Monterey was very strong ono. !,
The cells we're Of solid stone masonry and sell
the fittings OF the strongest and most Improved,
Kind. The outer iron door was very heavy
one, and II took half an hour TO batter 1t down.
Tarpey's mother. wife and little daughter
stood by all the while begging for mefcy1G
the unfortunate wretch. Tha door, being
finally broken In dozen determined and
well.srmed men sought Tarpey's CELL BE
was found crouchlng In corner, and gtafed
at the intruders like tiger az bay. he evi.
IDENTIFY knew what to expect, and before thsf
began to plead tor life. By turns he begged,
denounced his assailants, asserted his tnno-s
cence, and called on God for mercy. He then
tried 10 reason calmly with his captors, but no ?
was told he must 60 to6allnas, and was huf.
ried into two-seated wagon In waiting q ths,
door Of The jail. -y----s ,:f !. :.s9as
TERRIBLE SCENE. .tsfssai
As he !ett the jail his mother and vile
rushed forward and hung upon bis neck. beg.
for his vile. mother and little ones, and at
last they had to be torcibly parted. He Eas
then bound hand and foot and placed An the
wagon. The last leave taking with hls family
was plteous In the extreme. FINALLY the
wagon, followed by @ crowd OF three or four
Thres miles from Monterey the wagon hslied:
under a large pine Tree. The crowd sur
rounded the spot while The prisoner waSfUld
that he would be allowed half en- hoIr TO ar
range his business affairs and TO make Ills
peace with God. Then, for the 6rst time, Tat-
pey seemed to realize the awful fact that ne
was TO die. He ceased begging like coward,
and began TO entreat in a'manly way fora
show of Justice. BE was good speaker, hav-.
Ing taken the stump In macy political con-
test. Though 80 great scoundrei, ne was
man Of considerable talent, and had very
fair education, ready flow OF language, ana
an earnestness Of manner that made him elo-
quent. A man pleading for his life could mol,
we'll help being earnest. But Tarpey was
naturally an earnest speaker, and what ne
said generally made good impression. H6
knew his power in this respect, and he tr1eo,
1t with the determined but Heterogeneous
crowd around the death tree.
TARPEY's LAST WORDS.
He argued that the court should hear big
case aud decide. He protested that he dlo'
not kill the woman Intentionally, but thet ne,
meant to shoot the man who he believed mad
drawn pistol on him. He deprecated lynch
law, and said that 1t brought everlssting dls-
grace on community that resorted to It. He
said he had been bad man aud had done
many wicked things, and now be was Wllling
to bow to what the law might decree; but ne
our'trIal. II there were men who thlrated for
his blood let them shoot him; but ne begged
that bis family might be spared the disgrace OF
his being hung. Tarpey saw that hf5 plead
'ings did not have the slightest eject, and tlatI
hs was doomed. He saw several Mexican
friends and relatives Of men he helped 10
hang !by mob violence years ago. he, aaw.
woman. he saw the faces of dozens Of quiet,
resolved men, whom he knew had made up
their minds that he must die. Above all, he
saw In tho crowd disposition to get the dis,
agreeable task performed as quickly %
possible. He heard mutterings such ss,
sSS sG9%s ss neT' est Il tnss oSsr snoSSo dun
stay here all nlghtw and he knew that his
pleadings were In vaia.
NICHOLSON sEAKEs BIB HAND. 5sis5s.
Tarpey saw Nicholson in the crowd, ind
asked his forgiveness. The latter at first ss.t
no, he would not forgive him, or take bis
hand. But Tarpey entreated, and finally,
Nicholson, at the earnest solicitation OF two or
three friends, said he would forgive him. He
grasp was but feebly returned. Tarpey Then
said: ''Mr. Nicholson, have wronged you
deeply, and know that I am going to die.
But I don't want to be hung Ike dog.
want you to shoot me. You ara the only one;
that ought 10 do It," Nicholson seemed taken
With this proposition, and he actually asked
permission TO do 1t, but Of course his request
was not noticed. Nicholson staid near by!
however, determined to assist In some way.
Tarpey's face grew ashy pale. and he asked 9
lawyer TO write out 8 brief will. He bequeathed
$1,000 to Mr.. Nicholson $1,000 each TO two
relatives In New York City, $1,000 TO any Cath
and ali the rest OF his propsrty.near $76 600
10 his family. he then prayed and plead for
ten minutes more, and finally gasped thatshe
was ready.
THE EXECUTION.
Two spaniards adjusted one end of rope
around Tarpey's neck. The other end they
threw over the limb OF the tree and madelf
fast near the ground. The pine box was
placed on the rear seat of the wagon, and Tar
pey was lifted 10 The top OF 1t. At this time
Iu6 Ludu was ucouiy PotOs Out uO oCS0Se 49,
and resigned to his fate. He said he hoped
there were none there who were bis enemies.
Many near by shook hands With him, and az
sured him that they were not. he said that
he wanted bis body to be buried In Monterey.
Some one near by said s'Al right, Tarpey. 70
there anything else I" mo" he said; II talak
not. Let me take q good look around, and
see the trees and the sky for the last tme.
He turned completely around and ga1ed
far of on every side. Then. with 9 look o.
the most abject despair, he saId: NOW I'm
ready. God have mercy on meT The band.
age was quickly adjusted, and then me TWO
Standards and Nicholson went and STOOD OF
the rope. At q signal, the wagon was driven
suddenly out, and at The same moment one o.
the spanlards gave Tarpey push backward
from the box. The body fell about four feeff
and as the rope was new 1t stretched, and tina
toes juet toucned the ground. Nicholson, the
two Spaniards and two or three others rusned
TO the rope and pulled the body up couple o.
feet where 1t was permitted to hang. There
were few violent struggles, and then all was
over. The crowd remained on the ground
for nearly half an hour longer, and then dis
persed. ~ =!
,o,,,,vr mr. a 1yrur0 ryxrd rrnnRg