Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-03-16

| JAIL on APRIL 5-THEY ARE MAKING PREPARA-
| TONS FOR LEAVING THE woRLD-THE STORIES
! OF THEIR CRIMES
There are now in Jail three men who. having
been convicted of murder, are awaiting the
time, twenty days hence, when, unless the
courts interfere or the President gives them
respite, they will pay the penalty of their crime
on the scaffold. They are Albert Green Nell
son Colbert. and William Briggs. all colored.
Having been convicted of the highest crime
known to the law, they will. on April 5, ''be
taken to place prepared for their execution
and there be hanged by the neck until they
are dead The time fixed for the execution
is between the hours of twelve and two o'clock.
| The condemned men
HAVE GIVEN CP ALL HOPE
of being granted even respite for one week,
and announce that they have made their peace
and have no fears of death. They are now en-
gagged in preparing to leave this world. and in
| doing so are making a strong effort to convert
! Albert Dodson and Frederick Barber who are
now waiting to receive their death sentences.
| Green and Colbert spend most of their time
not read. but he is very devout and does not
lose any opportunity offered to hear some
words of praise.
! Rev. John Roberts leader of the Young Mems
| Christian association of the A. NJ. L. church.
/ visits the condemned men two or three times a
week. He has been faithful spiritual adviser
| to them, never having omitted a visit on ac-
count of rough weather or for any other reason.
| The men occupy single cells, but when visited
! by their spiritual adviser they all go in one
] large cell. and sometimes the other murderers
are permitted to join them. Yesterday at their
religious gathering. special prayers were said
| for Barber. who murdered woman in George
town by throwing her into the canal. Albert
Dodson; who was also present. was deeply
| affected, and the minister hopes to
| HAVE HIM AMONG THE BLESSED ONES
before the triple execution three weeks hence.
| At noon to-day Mr.. Roberts administered the
sacrament to the condemned men, He feels
confident that they are fully converted. He
says that they are now fully prepared to die.
| and will walk to the scaffold without any fears
! of the hereafter. The condemned men receive
visits from friends and relatives. Colbert and
| Briggs are visited by their parents and other
! relatives Green has no parents. but his
They all keep up very well considering their
condition.
! Next Monday morning Mr.. John H. Russell.
! assistant engineer at the jail, will
BEGIN PREPARATIONS FOR THE EXECUTION.
| There are some changes to be made in the
scaftOld. which was originally made only large
enough to execute one person at a time. The
scaffold originally erected for the execu-
| ton of James Madison Wyatt Stone for wife
| murder. He was executed April 2. 1850. Stone
was the first person executed at the new Jail.
The scaffOld was then in the yard in the rear of
the building. but 1t was afterward removed to
the northeast corner of the building in the wide
corridor. The next to pay the penalty on the
present structure was Edward Queenan and
Babe" Bedford. who murdered Philip Hirth
i'll the northwestern part of the city Sandy
Plnn, who was convicted with them. received a
Communication of sentence aud went to the peni-
Tertiary. Those murderers will long be re-
membered by the Jail officials for their beauti-
full singing just prior to their march to the gal
| lows.
The next to ascend the long fight of steps
and pass into the next world was Charles j.
Guiteau, the
ASSASSIN OF THE LATE PRESIDENT GARFIELD
He was hanged June 80, 1892 Next came
Charles Shaw, a colored youth. who murdered
his sister near Uniontown. He was executed
January 10 of the same year. Soon after his
execution Jansen, the resurrectionist, occu-
pied cell near the one which Shaw had occu-
pied. for stealing his body.
The scaffold was next used for the execution
OF John Langston, alias Hudson. who killed
Policeman Fowler while in discharge of his
duty. His execution took place Nav Is. 1885
The second double execution on the present
structure took place April 80, 1885, when Louis
Sommerteld. white. and Richard Lee. alias
Dick Sparrow. colored, paid the penalty each
for wife murder. The former had also killed
another relative.
The ninth person hanged here was Antonio
Nardella, the Italian who was executed for the
murder OF another Italian. He was hanged
May %, 1886.
The coming execution will be
THE FIRST TRIPLE EXECUTION
since the present jail was built There have
been two double executions and five single ones
as above stated. making nine in all who have
passed into the other world from the present
scaffold
The scaffold is about u feet square. The
platform is about II feet high and the posts on
which the cross-beam rests are nearly 10 feet
high The present cross-beam is made of
Georgia pine. For fear that something may
possibly go wrong Gen. Croker has given or
ders Tor some repairs and changes in the scat
| fold \ new crOss-beam is to be put up and the
trap Is to be made larger. The present trap
door Is only large enough for two persons to
stand upon and pass through the opening with
out knocking against each other and perhaps
presenting horrible spectacle. All this the
warden intends to avoid. The trap will be
made about two feet wider. and it will then be
about seven feet long by two feet wide The
holes i'll the cross-beam through which the
ropes will pass will be about 20 inches apart
affording plenty of room to avoid any possible
difficulty. The trap will be worked as it always
has been, from a cell adjoining the scaffold. On
the morning of the day of the execution the
prisoners in many of the cells on that side of
the jail will be removed. so that they will not
be able to see even the march to the gallows
ALBERT GREEN WAS CONVICTED
of what is known as the Broom Drill homi-
eide. The murder occurred on the evening of
September 10. in front of a church on LIST
street between n and o streets southwest
The victim, james Lucas. was member of the
committee OH good order" at the church
where the broom drill was given. Green with
a companion named Webb, attended the enter
: tainment. Green misbehaved and Lucas ordered
him ont of the church. He went out after some
words had passed between them, but in going
he gave notice that he did not propose to be
| snubbed in that way. He went down the street
a short distance and laid in wait for his victim.
expressing his intention to "do him up" and
kin him if it really became necessary Accord
ing to his notions it became necessary Lucas
was with some female companions. Green
called him aside and inflicted the fatal wounds
while the women were waiting. Licas died
few days afterward and Green. who tried to
escape, was captured in South Washington. He
was given two chances for his life. He was
granted new trial after his first conviction
but the second trial ended with a similar re-
sult. He was sentenced on the same day that
Briggs received his last words from the court
THE STORY OF BRIGGS CRIME.