Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1878-11-24

JUUEe tSSnhu Vi tue SupACnC
bench, he manifested an APP
pearance of stOlid indifference
and uucODcern which was remarka-
BILE, aud there was not an unusual
tw itching of a muscle or any other
outward manifestation of emotion OF
any kind while he was receiving his
sentence.
Soon after this, however, Rev. Dr..
/ T. w. Humes, Rev. ThOs. Duncan
aud others in this city became inter
ested in the spiritual welfare or the
! doomed man, and visited him daily,
praying with him and pointing OUT
! the necessity of a change of hear. and
| life. He was civil aud closely at
/ tentive. though not much affected at
| first, vet finally, under their minis
! trations, he became penitent, 10 de-
| gree, made
! PROFESSION OF RELIGION,
| Was baptised and the sacrament ad
ministered to him. His powers of
comprehension were found to be very
/ Limited and deficient, and he still did
/ not seem fully TO realize his condition,
saying most of the time he did not
| think he would be hanged. He
always denied the charge of which he
was convicted, and asserted that ii was
/ a concocted plan to deprive him of his
/ life, by the father of the little girl,
| with whom be had formerly had q
/ falling out.
/ FUTILE EFFORTS FOR C0MMUTATIoN.
After having been with Griffey
every day for some time, and seen
considerable of him, DR.. Humes and
/ others became impressed with the
| conviction that he was not of exactly
/ sound and evenly balanced mind, and
/ the evidence was corrObOrated by par
/ ties who had witnessed some Of bis
I actions. bling epileptic hts. Ac-
cordiugly these warm Christian
4 hearted gentlemen set about TO make
an effort to get Communication OF his
sentence to Imprisonment for life. DIR.
/ Humes prepared q petition to that
effect, which was numerOusly
/ signed aud forwared to Gov
eFnor Porter. He also received
/ a number of other petitions To the
same effect. There was no evidence of
unsOundness of mind or anything of
/ the kind adduced in either OF the
courts however, nor was there any
/ recommendation of mercy by the court,
4 nor in fact any mitigating circum-
/ stances whatever. Consequently the
Governor had nothing to go upon and
/ could not within his power with the
/ lights before him grant the request.
/ Further effort was made to have Crit
/ fey Teprieved for a few days till med
/ zeal examination could be made, but
/ this was not granted, and the prisoner
was taken up by Sheriff Reeder We'd
/ nesday ght and turned over to
! Sheriff c. +. Boyer, of Cooke county.
Griffey seems 10 have had very few
friends, and no one seemed TO care for
him, not even his relatives, foe none
came 20 see him while he was confined
here, except the father and a little
brother who were here a short time
few days since. Some interest was
manifested towards the last, however,
and several petitions were gotten up
in lis behalf.
He MAKES A.CoNFEssION.
Sheriff r eder arrived in Newport
by the BupcOmbe Road Thursday
night with the prisoner and he was
given into the hands Of Sheriff Boyer
and com mitted to Jail. As he entered
the Jail bis cOffiu. " LIch had been pro-
vidsd, was visible by the dim glare of
the lantern light, and at this GTiffey
exhibited some emotion, and seemed
considerably stirred up. He ate no
supper that night. He was visited by
several friends, among them min
isler. and to Mr.. Jos. L. Bible. editor
of the Reporter, he made the first con-
fess.Ou or his crime, having stOutly
denied ii all along. The substance OF
his con fea-iOn was that he committed
the rare, but did not use knife. We
understand also that physicians, who
msie an examination, but were not
witBes~e e before the court, cOrrObOrate
this statement that no sharp instTu-
meut was used.
He was again visited Friday morn
ing by various parties, and prepare
lions for the fiual moments
were going on. At Is minutes
before l O'Clock p. m, he was
led from the Jail with the black
placed in a wagon, and accompanied
by Il guard Of 70 men, provided by the
Sheriff, started
To THE GALLONS,
Which had been erected the day be-
fore, mile northwest of town at the
old muster ground, between the Pigeon
anu French Broad rivers.
The point was reached in about
half hour, ADD here was cODgregated
perhaps 500 or 1900 persons, men,
women and children, who has come
from ali directions and in all manner |
OF cOuFeyhDCS-.
On examination the crOss-besm OF |
the gallOws was found to have been |
sawed half in two, but it was tested |
and found safe yet. This was the only /
apparent attempt to retard the pro-
gress Of the execution in any way.
After the wagon was driven under |
the gaIlows Rev. r. +. King |
was called upon to come on |
the wagon and conduct devotional |
exercise. Before he had proceeded, !
however, Griffey was allowed by his !
own TequesttO deliver some
FINAL REMARKS.
He said in a distinct voice and with |
out formulation:
Ladies and Gentlemen: / appear !
before you to-day to answer for the |
crime which l have been charged !
with. | am not guilty as to all the |
charge 1 have been brought to this, !
by bad company and whiskey. | am
guilty IF the rape but not OF using the |
knife
At This point DR.. Hooper asked him |
IL he wss not so drunk he didn't know |
what he was doing. He replied: II |
Was under the Influence OF liquor at |
the tune, but was sober enough to |
know what / did, and what / didn't |
do | die innocent of the charge that
has been brought against me.p
hoar 70 !