The daily enterprise. [volume] (Livingston, Mont.) 1883-1884, 1883-12-28
Details OF Clark's Execution.

/ of Clark's execution at Bozemar, as fer
wardcd to the ENTERPRISE Of yesterday,
was necessarily brief, and our readers may
be interested in a full and more detailed
account of the ghastly exhibition and its
| incidents.
From the time the terrible death sem
tence was pronounced upon Clark, he
seems to have viewed his approaching
doom almost with Indifference, and at
no time exhibited any sign of despondcn-
cy or weakness. Though receiving the
ministrations of clergymen kindly. he
could not be said to have exhibited any
token of having experienced the saving
influences of religious instruction. During
the night preceding the execution he is
said to have awakened and sung
hymn, and for nearly an hour before 60
ing to the scaffold he was attended by
clergyman and joined with him in singing
a number of sacred songs, his voice being
strong and clear, if not very musical.
When brought out of the cell with
pinioned arms he walked briskly to the
foot of the scaffold, mounted the steps
with as light and firm tread as it he had
been going to the most joyous ceremony,
and took his position On the drop. AS the
fatal moose was being adjusted on his
throat and second strap drawn on his
arms, his hands trembled little, perhaps
from nervousness he could not control,
perhaps merely from buckling the strap
tightly around the muscles of his arms.
His legs were also bound with two straps,
and the black cap being placed on his
head he lifted up his face, cleared his
throat, and in voice that many an incipi-
ent orator might have envied, spoke briefly
to the people. He said
"Well, gentlemen, suppose you know
what am here for-at least you say ann
here for the murder of Thomas Rogers.
Gentlemen of Bozeman, I stand here to
meet my God, and | say am an innocent
man. am innocent of the crime of mur-
der, and know nothing of it whatever.
The man who testified against me sworc
falsely. but | can meet my God an inno-
cent man, so far as this crime is concern
ed. was brought up in as good society
as any man in Bozeman, and / was raised
by good pious mother in one of the best
families of the State where came from,
and now will meet my God (lifting his
eyes heayenward). Farewell to my sun
ny southern home, my mother dear and
the one | loved"
AS the last words left his lips the cap
was drawn over his face. Under-Sheriff
Ponsford pulled the lever and Clark fell. His
feet struck the ground, and (as, we noticed
afterward) left plain jmprints in the frozen
ground. He drew up his legs, either
from muscular contraction or conscious
desire to hang rather than strangle to
death. After a moment they again
touched the ground, but by that time a
number of men had seized the other end
Of the rope and he was drawn clear of the
ground and, SO suspended, died. The ex-
physicians, Doctors Campbell and
Monroe, found that after little less than
three minutes the pulse ceased to beat,
and the body was taken down, placed in q
coffin and removed for burial. The attcn-
liant physicians were not certain that the
leck was broken. though the fact that he
lied easily and quickly would seem to ar
rue that there was separation of the
ertebral column.
Clark was = Virginian by birth, but is
eported to have said to one who visited
i'm before his death that John A. Clark
'as not his name and that his parents and
istcrs would never known his fate. An
'ther report ssys that he wrote letters to
is relatives on the eve Of his execution.
ut this is not authenticated and is i'm
robable. He wrote q long statemcnt for
le Bozeman Chronicle, briefly detailing
le course of his life and the chain of cir
that brought him into con-
ection with Lyman and Rogers, the latter
whom he is taken to have murdered.
ould he have proved the story he told.he
ould not have becn executed for the
rime. He said that after leaving Lyman
1d Rogers he met two men, Thompson
1d Roberts, who were ON their way to