The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1884-06-08
SAVED ON THE GALLONS,
A Good Minister Praying Against
Time-The DaTs When Theft
Was a Capital Crime i'm
Canada.


fifty years ago. The affair formed
the theme for many atrocious BAL
lads by vi famous village poe.R. just
as the execution of the three Thay-
ers in Buffalo did. One day, I re-
member well. the village was
thrown into great excitement by
the discovery of a crime for
which the penalty then was
death. The whole village of
Victoria was in an uproar. Some
one bad stolen an OK. A diligent
search resulted in the discovery of
the hide, and suspicion fell upou
Richard Carr, who was kno Wn to be
poor, and in whose house the odor
Of cooked meat still huHg. The
Dogberry and shallow dignitaries,
that were next to deities in my
eyes then, succeeded. in eXtorting a
confession OF guilt from Carr and
another pocr fellow named SIN ith.
The cu'pIits were brought to trial,
AMI a jury OF twelve fellow men
found no difficulty in consigning
both TO the scaffold, after the learned
Judge had expatiated for hours
upon the enormity of the crime
against God and man.
Sentence Of death was passed
upon Carr and Smith, and they
would probably have been executed
the. next day, but suppose the
sheriff thought it would be regarded
as ungenilemanly and unfrit ndly if
ne did not arrange the tine so that
his distant constituency could get
in TO witness the 81. hit. Travel was
slow in tn S. days of no railroads.
Among those who were Mortified
and g iocked at the approaching
execution were myeuucie who was
spiritual adviser of the poor fellows,
and DR.. John Rolf. whose memory
still cliDgs to the village.
"Dr. Rolf was more excited than
any other of Smith and Carr's sym.
pathiZers and he determined to ride
to Toronto and intercede with the
Governor, who, think, was Sir
John C.loorn. Before departing
on his hazardous GRAND of Grey,
Dr.. Rolf was closeted with my uncle,
Rev. John Ryerson. The latter
subsequently told me that he had
agreed to delay the hanging all he
could by making the closing prayer
as long as his strength and power of
atterance would permit, provided
that Rolf had not returned. Coed
DR.. Rolf calculated on getting back
a few hours before the time
set for the execution. He set ont
on the swiftest horse to be had in
the village, but the people had little
fai h in his ability to make the jour-
ney in time and less faith in the
Governors inclination to interfere.
The days few on and the people
locked in from the surrounding
country. Uncle John did all he
could to comfort the doomed men
and lead them to a realization of a
greater mercy than mans, but they
refused to be comforted. The fatal
morn came, but without any tidings
of DR.. Rolf. The hour arrived and
the men were led out to die. Pri.
vate hangings had not come into
! fashion then. Il Wss considered
good and wholesome for the com>
mon people to witne the awful
and just punishment of the horse,
sbeep Or cattle stesler. The gsllows
was erected out in the open air and
In the full view of all. 1t was none
of your patent latest style irstru
ments of death. No sand bag or
scientific tests were made to assure
the quickest death possible. It was
a rude structure, upon which the
village carpenter may not have ex-
pended more than two hours labor.
Smith and Carr were placed in po-
sition, and when the hangman's
little preliminaries were over the
sheriff was informed that all was
ready for the parsons final blessing
or prayer. Then the Rev. Ryerson
got down on his knees and began
the longest and most remarkable
prayer on record. His voice was
low purk osely, for he wished &c
husband his vocal strength. ae
prayed for about twenty minutes
without creating remark, for long
prayers were not so distasteful then
as now. But when he entered upor
the second half hour great restless
ness was manifested. The sur
poured down upon the uncovered
heads and many did not hesitate ia
say aloud that they were getting toe
much OF good thing. The sheriff
was impatient and the hangmar
looked weary. The Proceedings
made him tired. Even the poor
wretches waiting death showed sign
OF annoyance, for uncle had not
told them ct his compact witt
DR.. Rolf The murmurE rose highe
and higher, but uncle prayed or
without cessng. An hour passed
and he wss still on his knees. Ther'
was now no relevancy in his appeal
He merely uttered words and dis
connected phrases to consume time
The muscles of his throat con
tTacted, his tongue was dry II
, Glove to his mouth and his voic,
wss husky, but ne prayed on, his
words falling without meaning EI o.
his hearers. At the end Of an hOu
and a half there was quite an uproal
and the discomfort had almost be
come riot, when a voice cried: Her
comes DR.. Rolf" My uncle did no
r hear or heed the new tumult tina
now arose, but prayed on. becoming