Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1882-07-06

crazy, but have converted him to my ideas,
and he is with me now, heart and soul.''
To this the correspondent said ut appears
to be the general belief that you are sane
enough on general matters, but a little off on
this particular point. l see you scout that"
''Of course l do. | am as sane as you are.
know what did and why did it. Garfield
stood in the way Of the nations prosperity.
The Deity charged me with duty. He in
spired me to remove the President of the Uni
ted States, and as Gods man did what was
bid"
Are you then prepared to die 20
81 am. AS have said before, don't care
I'll go cheerfully in five minutes so far as Pm
concerned, but the retribution Of the Deity will
be terrible"
"And you believe this p
''Certainly."
s'Then if you are Gods man why not leave
it all to Him, why not wait for His interfer-
ence I? Why bother the President ?"
because, as l said before, I dread the ret
ribution of the Deity on the nation and on the
people. The time will come when | will be
looked upon as patriot Poor Garfield had
to 20 because he was under bad, malgn intiu-
ences Oh, no Make no mistake. 1t is not
Guiteau who is in trouble. 1t is the people OF
the United States who are on the brink of a
crime. Guiteau, who is inspired is all right,
but those who hang him will wish they had new
er been bOrn.'
A BRILLIANT IDEA.
With all his varied experience on Thursday,
the most brilliant idea Guiteau evolved was a
scheme for cheating the gallows. Having been
told that if the execution was delayed beyond
O'Clock, p. M, on Friday, that the sentence
of the Court could not he legally carried out,
he suddenly addressed Warden Crocker as fol-
lows:
"Warden," said he, 81 have All idea. Sup
pose you go to Baltimore, expecting to return
by ten or eleven o'clock tomorrow. Being
there, you miss the train and don't get back in
time to hang me. Now, that's an idea. You
will serve the Deity by saving Gods man."
Eyes, see that s all very nicefOr Guteau,
but where does Crocker come in? While you
are being saved my honor will he lost. You
must see the absurdity of that plan. l would
be disgraced and would forfeit my place."
ooh! would attend to that, Crocker. You
don't understand this thing at all. If could
be saved the people would rejoice. Pm GODS
man, and l tell you he means business all the
time What do you say?'
''Don't be absurd, Guiteau."
"You won't ?"
"Certainly not"
''Then to hell you 60 along with the rest.
You'll make beautiful quartet, and oh ! how
happy you'll be. First, cOnspire to kill Gods
man, and then roast, roast in hell ~
TRUST is DEAD.
At this juncture colored man who had
been doing the condemned mans washing for
some time, waited on him for balance due,
which amounted to sixty cents. Here's fifty
CENTS" said the assassin, passing the amount
through the bars "'Tis all have now, but
r L. 1,,1o r1n1y;
''S'all right" said the colored man 'credit
it to me in heaven"
THE GALLONS.
During the days of doubt as to the Presi-
dents action, and in spite of Guiteau's
trust that in some way there would be provi-
Dental interference in his behalf, the dread
preparations for the final event went on. The
essentials for the execution were arranged by
Warden Crocker and District Attorney Cork
hill The gallows is located in the northwest
corner of the prison, diagorally opposite the
cell in which Guiteau was confined after being
fred on by Sergt. Mason. This cell is the first
to the right of the rotunda, on the north side OF
the prison. The gallows was built in 1880 and
is stoutly constructed, the timber used being
Georgia pine. The cross-beam is 6 by II inch
es in the middle, tapers to 6 inches square to
the ends, which rest and are firmly secured on
upright pOSlS Il lotI ulSu anu o iuCuoo o4uoi0'
The platform of the gallows is II feet square
and i3 feet above the brick pavement. 1t is
supported by six S-inch uprights, in addition
| to those on which the beam rests. The latter
are braced by heavy timbers, the entire struct-
ure being strongly bolted and neatly put to-
gether. Into these uprights stout joists are
mortised and firmly bolted, and on the latter
is neat flooring of two-inch boards. Around
the platform and the stairway is plain rail-
ing. The steps are on the south side Of the
scaffold and face the door that opens into the
rotunda. The steps are 81 feet wide, with a
12-inch tread and a rise of I inches. In the
centre of the scaffold directly under the mid
die of the beam is the trap, which is 5 feet
square and hung on four great hinges under
meath. 1t is held in place by long bolt, con-
trolled by a spring or trigger, to which is at
tached strong cord. This rope or cord pass
ing over pulley is conducted along five
inch square box to cell four feet distant from
the scaffold railings.
MYSTERIOUS JACK KETCH.
Within this cell is stationed two officers,
whose names are nol made known, and in or
der to give more security to the act of exc
cution the grated window is curtained so as
to hide the occupants from view. Through
a small hole in the curtain one of the officers
watches the warden give the signal for the
cord to be pulled. This signal is generally
given by nOdding the head, waving a handker-
chief or raising the hand. In order to secure
against any mistake the signal is agreed upon
and fully understood by the warden and the
lookout in the cell. AS soon as the signal
is given the lookout communicates it to the
hangman, who jerks the rope attached to the
trigger Instantly the trap drops and the
murderer's body is swinging from the end of
the rope. The hinges of the trap are creased
so as to guard against any impediment in it's
working. In order to prevent the trap re-
bounding against the body piece of stout
ming over an iron pulley OH the sill of the
stairway, is attached to it.
THE ROPE.
A score or more of ropes were sent from diff
ferent parts Of the country for the express
purpose of being used on this occasion. The
one selected was of MANILA, seven-eighths of
an inch in thickness and AZ feet long. 1t was
rubbed with oil and CASTLE soap, and after be-
ing stretched it's size was reduced to three-quar-
tiers of an inch. After having been laid out
the ends were firmly bound with twine, and
the knot properly tied. 1t is pronounced to
have been the best hangman's moose ever seen
in Washington. 1t was made with six turns" :"
and to keep it from slipping, the end, after
passing through the loop at the top of the
trap, had common knot. The efficiency of
the gallows and strength of the rope were test
ed on Thursday, Guiteau's substitute being
bag of salt weighing 240 pounds, which when
the bolt was drawn fell with tremendous force.
GUITEAU'S LAST NIGHT.
Guiteau was very restless during most of the
latter part of the night, not sleeping more
than twenty minutes at a time. Towards
morning he fell into a sounder sleep, from sheer
exhaustion. He rose on Friday morning few
IL nd IL, ~