The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1876-06-28
The Death Penalty.

Samuel J. Frost was executed at the
county jail in Worcester, Mass, for the
murder of his wife's brother, Franklin
P. Towne. The murder was committed
on Sunday, July 4, 1875, in the barn or
the farm owned by Towne. After com
hitting the daed Frost went to the
house and assisted his wife to get the
children, four in number, ready to1
church. After they had left the house
he returned and buried the body undel
the barn. Several times after this he
removed the body, cutting it into pieces
At the execution, as soon as Frost was
seated upon the fatal platform, Rev. Mr.
Lamson offered a short prayer. Inn
mediately at it's close the sheriff read the
death warrant, and when he had uttered
the closing words pressed firmly upon
the spring, releasing the drop. Frost
had risen from bis chair when the read.
ing of the warrant was begun, and the
deputy sheriff behind him had fastened
the straps around his legs and arms, and
before the reading was finished had
shut out the Light from him forever by
drawing the black cap over his head.
There was not an instant's delay, and
less time than five minutes had passed
between the time the doomed man TOOK
his first step upon the gallows stairs and
that in which bis body was thrown down
ward by the release Of the drop. The
drop fell with hardly an audible sound,
and the light body of the murderer
brought the rops to a strong tension.
The first thrill OF a shudder had not run
through the more sensitive of the spec,
tators when the body was seen spinning
at the end of the rope, almost headless,
fearful tear extending over the front
of the throat, and the blood gushing out
in streams. Every eye was riveted on
the startling and unexpected spectacle
as the body turned round, first disclos-
ing and then concealing this cash. The
blood, forced upward by the arterial
movements, ,spurted fountain-like upward
from one to two feet, the stream falling
to the floor in circle round the hang
ing body. This circle extended even to
the framework of the gallows, which was
in many places sprinkled with the blood.
The yelling life-blood poured from the
wound down the front of the body and
trickled from the feet, forming pool
directly beneath the body. This recital
doubtless seems full of horrors, but it
falls far short of the realities of the
scene. For some two minutes the
arterial gushings of blood continued,
and the slow dripping of the blood from
the body continued a little longer.
Physicians then stepped under the gal
lows and made their examination of the
body. The knot Of the rope had been
placed behind Frost's left ear, almost at
the center of the neck. Frost was man
of no especial muscular development,
and though he weighed but one hun
dred and twenty pounds, the drop was
enough not only to break his neck, but
to sever the spinal column entirely,
leaving the body hanging by the in
teguments of the rear portion only. The
body was allowed to hang few minutes
after the examination by the doctors,
when it was lowered and carried from
beneath tho gallows. In twelve minutes
from the appearance of the execution
party the eyes of the murderer were
closed forever. About one hundred and
fifty persons were present.