Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1884-06-13
The Conduct Of Men Under Sentence OF
Death.

The Conduct OF Men Under sentence VI
Death.
In his novel of .sEugene Aram'' Bull
wer Lytten makes the murderer,
Houseman, tremble under the shadow
Of his crime, and pictures him rs AFRAID
TO be out when lightning is playing
overhead condition which he says
makes the stoutest criminal quake. lie
shows that villain later on confesslng
his sin in low, chokcd and falter1ng
tones. AS for Aram himself, Bulwer
makes him say that he never gave, IN
token of love and friendship, to any hui
man being the right hand with which
he dealt a murderous blow. In the
course of his careful work the author
quotes 'Wakeield on the Punishment
of Death'' as his authority for the belief
that Zone little month Of that suspense.
when it involves death, is sufficient to
Fix plowed lines and burrows in the face
of a convict OF five-and-twcnty; sui
ticient to dash the brown hair with gray,
and to bleach the gray to white"
Nearly every English novelist who
has treated OF murder has INDUCED the
fancy or echoed the belief that murder
ers are haunted by their crimes and
torn by mor The sleepless nights
of m%urderers, their blanched faces,
whitened hair, their muttered confess
sions during sleep, or frequent starts
from slumber, accompanied by shrieks
Of fright OR agony, are as familiar to
novel-readers as is the idea that a lover
can not properly engage himself n
marriage except he does so with q long
and beautiful speech to the object Of his
alteration. The pulpit has even lent
wings to the same idea.
10 these statements bear comparison:
with the facts? Are murderers slaves to,
the tormcnts ascribed to them? Phoebe.
Paulin's murderer has not been driven
to surrender himself and end the torture
me is said to suffer. The Nathan, Rose
Amber. Hayden, Maybee, Cunning
ham. Mary Rogers, and scores-yes,
hundreds of other murders committed
in OF lea New York are to-day uncon-
fesscd. Who can reconcile the fanciful,
remorse of Houseman with the iaunty.
air OF the real murderer Chastine Cox,
and his repeated assertion: ''Dat was
the first 'sault an battery 1 ever COM.
mitted:H' How al the justification of
Petro Balbo, ''she bit my finger to the
bone, and in my agony lseized the dag
ger and killed her, be quoted in verili-'
cation of the behavior of Aram, who
lever allowed his blood-stained right
hand to touch the palm Of a friend?
Three murderers under sentence of
death now await the gibbet in the Ray
mond Street Jail, Brooklyn. One is
GoNroa Mills "I0 c1ovy -, n ~ of ,o ~.
the wife he now says he truly loved, be-
aus she would not send out for more
beer. The second is Giuseppe Guidici,
who deliberately, after premeditat on,
slaughtered a fellow-workman for a
fancied grievance. The third is Alex
ander Jefferson, the Grow Hill assassin
who stood outside a shanty where his
friends were assembled and fired into
the party again and again, until he had
killed two and wounded two.
''Do they wake up at night and
shriekg' the reporter inquired Of War
den Julian.
mo-" said the warden, in loud and
derisive monosy1lable.
lis their hair turning white?"
'sNo"-in the same manner.
"Do they dread the darkness? Do they
say they are sorry? Do they admit that
they have done anythingfor which they
should suffer-"
Nothing of the Sort" said the war
den, and he looked at his questione1
as if the reporter was a poet or a callow
boy;
course" continued the reporter, '.know.
ing as they do that their end is close a,
hand and will be comprised in q fright.
full manner?"
"Why," said the warden, in amaze.
: ment, 1--WE have to stop the italian
from singing, he's SO happy. He sings
SO loud and SO much we have to stol
him. But otherwise the three murder
T. ers are the best prisoners we have; the
quietcst, most orderly and best"
"Haye they any appetite? Can they
eat?"
"Lord bless you! you ought to see
them. OF course, murderers always ea'
hearty"
''Look here" said the official, *:
never knew any man 10 suffer sucl
things as you suppose these people do
that is, any except my w father. III
had a narrow escape from death in
burning building, and his hair turned
gray right afterward, but l never knew
such a thing in my official experience
II never knew a man under sentence
of death to experience what you de
SCRIBE" he. went on. II never knew
one to feel remorse. They eat well
feel well, and are usually in ~excellen'
spirits. Such things as their hair turn
ing white, seeing the bodies OF thci
victims in the dark, getting thin, ant
so on, I never knew a Ease of. The,
are sometimes a little nervous just afte:
the excitement of their trial and sen
tence. but it soon wears off,"
"You may go al through my prison.
said Warden John Green, of Crow Hill
P~enitentiary, land you will not find
prisoner who thinks it right and jus
that he should be confined. Each ON,
knows he is guilty, but each n know
that the guilt must be proven, and s,
he argues to himself that if his lawye
had understood how to manage the cas-
and put it just right, and the Judge an,
jury had only seen it in the same light
he would have pOt off. TN unestiOn n