Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1881-06-10
Buy Gas Fixtures Of Browne.
HAYS WHITE HUNG.
Two O'Clock This Afternoon the
Time.

Hundreds of people, principally me-
groes, swarmed toward Marion, Ark,
this morning by every road aud pig
path, and when the reporter Of this
paper arrived there he found the
place one seething, sweating mass of
people, all intent upon witnessing the
execution. The streets were blocked
with teamp, and tho saloons we're do
ing a thriving business. The crowd
seemed to be everywhere, and one
enterprIsing merchant was selling
goods Of various sorts by cutlery from
a wagon and taking the half dollars in
by the handsful, A few fights were
nipped in the bud by the cooler heads
and a calm gradually crept over the
throng as the hour set for the execu-
ton, two o'clock, grew near
The Jail itself, a small brick struc-
ture standing in the edge Of the vii
lsge, was enveloped and almost hid by
a black cloud OF people, who, reaching
ON tiptoe, peered curiously through
the small CRATES into the interior of
the Jail. The door, a double one was
kept locked, and an ugly oue.armed
dlrky stood guard with a double bar.
relied shotgun, full cooked and loaded
to the muzzle. Entrance being finally
gained, showed a number of cells of
wraught iron, each about four by six
feet. The place was dark, save for
the beams of'a solitary light which
found their way ieebly through a
small CRATE in the cell nearest the
door. Its light fell upon Hays White,
who stood close up to the narrow
opening and peered through a little
knot of persons who had come to visit
him. Great beads of sweat stood out
Oh his forehead, and his eye cleaned
strangely in the weird light. His
ankles were shackled to the floor, and
he wore manacles upon his hands,
which clanked ominously as he moved
about his narrow prison.
He nodded kindly as soOn as he
noticed the reporter, and professed
his readiness to talk freely. He
gave a minute history of the whole
affair from the beginning, which
was substantially the same as already
published in this journal. He still
protested his innocence OF the original
crime with which he was charged, of
having burglarized a store, and said
he would not have shot Turner Hen
bricks if he had not tantalized him,
and would not have killed the sheriff
except that he believed he was in the
act of shooting him. His object in
going through his pockets, he said,
was not for money, but to find car
tridges for a breech- loading rife,
though when he found some small
change he took it. When asked if he
had been we'll treated, he said he had
by every one except a negro guard
named Bill Reed, who stood
watch at night. This guard, he said,
had tainted him with his fate and had
taken a fiendish delight in whistling
or dancing a jig whenever he knelt to.
pray, and had repeated all the harsh
words he had heard others say of him
on the outside.
Once" said White, when he was
behaving in this way 1 told him no
man who had a human heart in him
would insult a poor creature in my
defenSeless condition, and he answer
ed hat | wouldn't dare to think it an
insult if l we're out. Ny answer was
that if | could be out of the cell one
minute [ would strike him down with
my handouts"
That was the only sentence he said
he had used.
When asked if he was ready to
die, he said he was and felt
that he was going to Jesus. He
had no fears for his future aud 20
malice for the past. He did not fear
the final movement any more now han
he did three weeks ago, but still
thought his sentence unjust and that
it should have been imprisonment fer