The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-02-03
CONDEMNED TO BE HANGED.
How a Man Acts when he Knows he is
Going TO Die a Violent Death.
From he Nc,c York sun.

:
Inc that he must die violent death within
an hour, he will, if be has strong imagin-
alton, turn pale and tremble IN a moment
Inc knowledge that one is to be shot or
hanged or beheaded at such an hour must
be terrible strain on the mans nerves, and
no doubt the arrival of the last moment is
reIef | have had the care of condemned
men IN many cases and have had Opportua-
Tues TO Judge of their feelings and read their
thoughts
1t is fact which never saw stated in
print, and yet which l knew to be true,
that when a criminal has been convicted
ana there is no longer any thread on which
TO hang hope, he passes into a state of
positive relief and satisfaction. He has
fought the evidence-hoped, feared, wor-
RED, and-lost. The Judge pronounces
| sentence his lawyer tells him that the last
effort has been exhausted, and the man re-
turns to his cell to throw himself upon his
cot and weep and tremble and curse Half
an hour of iris and then a feeling of relief
creeps over him; he exults that death is 10
free him and for several weeks is recklessly
! good-natured. A condemned man gener-
ally gets two months at least in which to
prepare for death. The first month is char
acterizad by the sentiments have named
He then becomes thoughtful and morose,
| and will then suddenly demand to see his
lawyer and want a new effort made to save
his life
| oaSe had the death watch on murderer
named Cresswell. The day watch was kept
by another man, and was on duty from
| O'Clock p. m. to O'clock the next morning
The reader is doubtless aware of the fact
that from the day man is condemned to
the day he is executed he is constantly under
the eyes of a death watch. The idea is to pre-
vent him from committing suicide. While
there might be no possible chance of escape,
| there are dozen ways in which a prisoner
can cheat the gallows by taking his own
| life. The death watch. while matter of
necessity, is certainly the refinement of
cruelty. The idea that every action and
movement and look is under the eve of
another every minute and hour for eight or
| ten weeks-tnat the sentinel represents the
| gallows-that he takes his departure only
when the hangman arrives-these things
have driven men mad. CreSswell had
seventy daS 3 to live when l went on watch.
The reaction had come, and he was cheerful
even to the point of being jolly He took
calendar of the year and cut out the dates
| from Sept 8 to the day he was to be hanged
and pasted them in long line on the wall.
As the figures were large they made a line
nearly the length of his wall, and he stepped
back and viewed them with great satisfac-
| ton and said:
.
! it's almost to the holidays
Each day, as he arose in the morning, he
pulled one of the dates down, and the num-
| Der had diminished one-helf before be
seemed to remark it Then he began to
| grow mOrOse and sullen, and | knew from
his demeanor what he was thinking about.
The first thought was of escape. You who
read will think it singular that a prisoner,
occupying a cell in the centre of a strong
prison, with a dozen doors and a dozen
| guards between him and liberty, and a
| death watch seated at his door with
revolver at hand, could harbor the idea of
| escape for DAYS at a time. CresSwell did,
| however, as he afterward informed me,
| and so have scores of others. He planned to
| call me into his CELL knock me senseless,
and then posses himself of my revolver,
and step into the corridor. Then he would
call the guard from the gate ten feet away,
and tell him that had fallen in a fit. The
| guard would come in, be knocked on the
head. and Cresswell would call all the other
guards in rotation and serve them the same
| way. When he left the prison he would go
| by certain streets to an old planning mill,
ascend to the garrett, and there remain
until the first hue and cry was over. He
selected two friends on whom he would call
| for provisions at midnight and after re-
| naming in the garnet for month he would
shave his beard, color his hair and eyebrows,
and go into the country and work
as farm hand He had everything figured
out as straight as a string, and had not the
| least doubt of success at every turn. He had
| this plan in mind for a week, and then
| abandoned it for better one. You smile
at the absurdity of it, but the c1ndemned
| was terribly in earnest.
CreSswell based his second plan on the
| idea that | slept during a great share of my
| watch. He would take up one of the flag
- Ill 4 b ,.NY.A
| and then make his escape by wrenching off
some of the bars guarding a window
Everything by which he could possibly
| make an attempt on his life had been re-
moved from his cell, but one night he crept
carefully out of bed to begin work on the
fagstone w til wooden pocketcomb. Had
| he been master of a crowbar and half day
| in which to work he could not have loosened
| the great stone, which rested on iron
beams and was bedded in cement. | heard
him stirring and looked into his cell, and
| h surprise and confusion at seeing me
| awake and alert were really laughable
Then he abandoned both his plans on the
ground that the difficulty of overcoming me
! was too great.
With criminal, to abandon one hope is
| simply to seize on some' hing else. Cresswell
had been arrested red-handed after an
atrocious murder in which the object was
gain. In ct. he had entered the house of a
| widow for the purpose Of robbery. She had
been alarmed. and to silence her cries he
killed her. He was arrested as he left the
house with the plumber Tire jury were not
out over quarter of an hour in his case.
Now note what an idea he got into his
head. When he was young man of %
he was now 45-he had periled his life to
save that of a child who was drowning.
The papers had recorded the act, and fer
few DAYS he was hero in his native village.
1t now suddenly occurred to him that some
of his friends would call the attention of the
Governor to this act of his, and the result
would be executive clemency. He might
not be pardoned, but his sentence would
be changed to imprisonment for life. 1t was
pltifu to see him cling to this hope He be
| iieved in it for fully a week, and would not
give in until he had sent for his lawyer. The
latter came, heard his statement, and said
'Cresswell, you must quit that idea. No
such appeal could move the Governor. 1t
| will be better if you prepare for death"
! but won't you tryp
"I'll think it over"
"You can see for yourself" continued
| Cresswel, ''that it would DO no good TO
hang me- BY sending me to prison for life
the State will make 35c. day off my work.
Just figure on my living twenty-five years
and see how much l would earn. The Gov
| ernor can't help but see it as do"
| for,