St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-03-23

OUTSIDE THE JAIL.
How the Great Crowd Awaited the
Awful Event.

n" iul
At very early hour crowd began
to gather about the court house and
jail. Through the bars of the west
windows of the Jail the ropes and scat
fold were quite plainly distinguishable,
and this was the objective point about
which the morbidly curious congre-
gated.
'.See-look in there; there's the rope,
and you can see a part of the Scaffold."
stopped on the walk by the low stone
wall bounding the Jail yard. I'VE will
just stay here and seen the hanging"
1t was then $50 o'clock; but they,
with numerous similar thunder-cravers
who gathered as minutes passed, clung
to their vantage ground OF observation.
There were soon among the crowd
mongers of pictures, and the photo
graphs of the boys sold readily at 25
cents apiece. The hand-organ man
trundled his machine into range of the
crowd and poured out upon the mystery
pervaded atmosphere 1--WE Shall Meet
pirate selections. Fruit dealers set up
their trade, the newsboys were flying
about with their papers, and the streets
and yards without the place OF eXecu-
ton took on the appearance Of solem-
nized fair. for despre the size of the
crowd everything was quiet and orderly,
and combined the characteristic ele-
ments of funeral with those of show.
AS the reporter passed about through
the crowd, the expression that caught
his ear most often was conjecture as
to the whereabouts of
THE COwARDLY REDDY,
fl,a
that if he really were in town and it
were found out, it would go hard with
him.
''He had better be hung by the law
than be caught by men that are in this
crowd" said a rOugh-looking fellow,
who looked as if he might have intimate
connections with the gentleman he re-
ferred to. Other queries were heard in
regard to the old mother; the foolish
girl who was enamored Of Pete; the
divulgence of Reddy's pretended Sc
cret, as told by German; the question
of Pete's real connection with the
crime; the murdered mans wife, and
whether or no she would taste the
sweetness of revenge by seeing. the
murdererS die, and many of the oft-dis-
cussed questions that have arisen since
the fateful night. The universal senti-
ment appeared to be that the law was
taking its just course, and that the
other offender should be on the gal
lows also.
A STRONG GUARD
was posted about the jail yard, in the
stalwart personageS of thirty-twO Of
the city police. Railings kept the crowd
at a proper distance. After 8 O'Clock
every one who did not carry pass was
barred from entrance to the court house
OF jail.
At first the crowd was composed
altogether of mongrel throng of the
lowest element of society, but as the
hour of execution drew near carriages
drove along the roads by the Jail, and
many of them stopped, and the crowd
took on more respectable appearance,
and there were number OF females
among the rougher sex.
THE CROWD INCREASES.
By half-past 10 the crowd had in
creased till there were five or six thou
sand people about the place of eyecu-
tion. The streets on the north and
south of the Jail were blocked with
vehicles, and Eighth avenue was SO
blocked with the crowd that the cars
had difficulty in making their way
through. Opposite the windows which
opened from the fateful scene. the
trees were filled with men and boys
who sought glance at the scene of ex-
ecution.
A number of the would-be spectators
were provided with opera glasses. with
which they endeavored to search out a
little of the scene of horror. BY quar-
ter of II the cars, as they passed
the jail, went through solid mass of
people for hundred feet, the crowd
opening before them and surging back
after they had passed.
AS THE FATAL MOMENT
drew nigh the surging crowd without
completely filled the street, and the
press was terrible. The boys in the
trees kept calling out: "There! L see
them both;" ''They are one the plat
FORM" "The priests are talking to
them," and similar expressions. By the
aid of mirrors the sunlight was thrown
through the grating of the windows,
and from places without the men were
quite distinctly visible. At the moment
the trap fell those of the crowd closest
to the window could hear the fatal echo,
and so the crowd was Informed that the
tragedy was over. An awful silence
fell for one short second, and then the
surging of the throng in making their
way from the scene commenced. 1t was
often expressed that but one man hung,
and the sentiment prevailed that 1t was
quite probable that Pete was saved
from death.