The sun. [volume] (Morris, Stevens County, Minn.) 1882-1895, 1889-03-28

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stood with bated breath and only the noise
Of curious thousands outside disturbed the
awful quiet Such was the impressive scene
that closed o tragedy begun over twenty
months ago.
A little before 10 o'clock the examining
board of physicians, consisting of DR.. Ames
DR.. Kilvington, DR.. Burton, DR.. Towers, Dr.
Quinby and DIR. Dunn, came in and took
their places in front of the scaffold.
Several other physicians, DR.. Spring among
them. were present. OF course all eyes were
directed to the scaffold. The unpaiuted pine
structure with its awful suggestions of death
and doom was anything but pleasant to look
upon, and yet the scaffold architect, Chris
Spiel, who was on hand all the time, regarded
it with quiet satisfaction as a triumph of his
art
Finally the ends Of the dangling nooses
were thrown to one side and rested upon the
braces of the cross BEAM The ladder was
taken down and everything was positively
decided to be all right The carpenter then
stepped forward, and, taking his rule and
pencil out of his pocket, marked the space
upon the traps within which the men were
to stand He did it with the cool business
air with which he would have marked out
the pattern for bootjack.
At two minutes past IL o'clock the silence
in the room of execution had become i'm
pressive, the doors were thrown open and
the doomed men were ushered into the scene
of their execution. They were ac-
companied by the deputy sheriffs
and by three Roman Catholic priests
The priests were Father James McGolrick,
Father Henry McGoirick and Father Corbett
They were in their churchly habilhnents,
and as they passed up the steps of the seaf-
fold held aloft the crucifx and repeated
many times, sJesus have mercy on u.s." Tim
Barrett was given the place on the right side
Of the scaffold He knelt at once and Father
Corbett kneeling by him administered the
spiritual hope that the occasion demanded
| The priest held his face close to that of the
doomed man, who, under those awful cir
cumstances, was encouraged to implore for
divine mercy. He was not able to rise alone,
but was assisted by Deputy Sheriff Rauen.
who then bound the straps about his arms
and his legs after the usual custom, Tim
was very much agitated 1t was with diff
Guilty that he could stand and at each motion
of the deputies he shuddered convulsively
and rolled his eyes about in despair. And
yet he repeated with the priest the petitions
for divine mercy. When the black cap was
/ PuAACA 0OWh ONCA hAS Eyes LIS FOLCS COulQ DC
heard In muffied tones beneath crying @Have
mercy upon us" At the other side of the
scaffold stood the younger brother, Pete
PETE THE FIRM ONE
He was much more composed than Tim.
He looked all about the room, and even in
/ epected the scaffold. It was only at the very
last that he seemed on the point of giving
way. Father Henry McGolrick performed
for him the offices that Father Corbett did
for Tim Deputies Leroy, Peterson and
James Riley adjusted the straps and black
caps. One Of the last things that Pete said
was to ask that he be placed lit
tie further forward SO that his back
i would not strike when he went down. At
one time he was about to fall and asked the
deputy to hold him up. Finally the nooses
were adjusted and all was in readiness ex-
cept for the priests to finish the litany. All
but the deputies who supported the men
stood back. The low means of the men could
be heard from beneath the sable covering of
their faces, still asking for mercy
@Oh, Lord, am innocent" Pete was heard
TO say.
Asked II they had any fiual request to