Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-05-28
HOW HAWKINS WILL DIE.
Gloomy Preparations at the Jail for To.
mOrrow's Execution.

CARDS OF INVITATION TO THE HANGING SENT OUT
| THE ROPE TO BE TESTED TO-DAY WITH SAND
| BAG-HAwKINs WILL PRoBABLY MAKE NO SPEECH
on THE scAFFoLD.
Yesterday afternoon at the Jail active prepar-
atoms were commenced about the scaffold for
the execution of Benjamin Hawkins, the col
ored man convicted of wife murder, who is to
| be hanged tomorrow between 10 and o'clock.
During the day Rev. John Roberts spent con-
siderable time with the prisoner in religious
conversation, singing and praying. Hawkins
was in excellent spirits and expressed himself
ready to meet his fate. Warden Croker was
busy during the day looking over heavy mail,
much of it consisting of requests for passes 1t
is safe to say that if all the applicants were
given passes there would be little room in the
rotunda and corridor of the Jail tomorrow for
| the officials
The law in regard to executions is to be found
in the consolidated statutes of the District. and
is as follows:
Sec. 1893 Persons adjudged to suffer death
shall be executed within the walls Of some
prison IN the District within a yard or in
closure adjoining such prison, and not else
where.
Sec. 1904. 1t shall be the duty of the warden,
or one of his deputies with such officers of the
prison, constables and other peace officers
the warden or deputy may deem necessary and
proper, to attend at such execution.
Sec. 1O95 The warden, or his deputy, shall
invite the District attorney, the counsel of the
prisoner two or more physicians and twelve
| respectable citizens to be present at every such
execution. and, at the request of the person to
be executed shall also allow any of his near
relatives and any ministers of the gospel not
| more than three, to be present
Sec. 1896 No persons other than those men,
toned In the two preceding sections, and no
person whatever under the age of twenty one
years shall be allowed to witness any such
execution.
TICKETS OF ADMISSION.
To prevent a crowd the warden permits ad-
missions by ticket only. Those prepared for
this occasion read as follows:
WAHDEN's OFFICE, US. JAIL,
WASHINGTON, DC.
You are respectfully invited to be present to
witness the execution OF Benjamin Hawkins ut
this Jail Thursday, May 20, 1890 between the
hours of 10 O'Clock am. and O'Clock pm.
john S. CRocKER. Warden.
The tickets were not issued until this after
noon.
THE sCAFFoLD.
The scaffold to be used is that built for the
hanging of James Peyton, colored. who was
sentenced to be hanged on June 90 1879 for the
committed to Imprisonment for life. His COM
panlon Ill the crime was convicted of man
slaughter and sentenced to the penitentiary for
ten years The first actual use of this scaffold
was when James Madison Wyatt Stone col
Ored, convicted of wife murder, was decapitated
by the rope cutting through the heshy neck
and breaking the spinal column. This oc-
Cured April 2. 1880 and the crime was wife
murder, on October 5. 1878. This execution
took place in a yard incosed by 1S-foot boards
in hon anfrlsa ~ no ctr fnrt
sentence read Ito the place of execution within
the Jail yard" and one had to be constructed.
The scaffold was then taken down and stored
inside of the building. but was erected shortly
after III the northeast corner of the north wing
of the building, where it has since remained.
1t was next used November 10. 1880. in the
execution of Joseph Neverson. alias Babe Bed
sord and Edward Queenan convicted, with
Sandy Pinn (whose sentence was commuted).
of the murder of Philip Hirth January Z,
1880.
Other executions in which this scaffold was
used were those of Charles j. Guiteau, for the
assassination of President Garfield. on June 80.
1882; Charles Shaw. for the murder of his
sister, January 10. 1888; John LANCASTER, for
killing Policeman Fowler, May Is. 1885; Louis
Sommerfcld for the murder of his wife and
mOther-in-law, and Richard Lee, for wife muir
der, April 80, 1886, and month after, May 81
Antonio Nardello, for the murder Of Carmine
Rotunno.
The last time the scaffold was brought into
play was on May IS of last year, when Nelson
Colbert was hanged for the murder o. Philip
WenZell October 3, 1885,
GETTING THE ROPE READY.
Yesterday after the prisoners had peen locked
in their cells at o'clock, the rope to be used,
a seventh-eighths-nch Manila, stretched and
rubbed down. was rugged on the scaffold and
the hangman's knot was tied at one end. The
moose was placed over the trap, the rope run
through the center hole of the cross beam
thence to the upright and the END made fast
to the cleat at the side. This is preliminary
matter, for today the rope will be taken down
and allowance made by the slack for a fall OF
about five feet That part near the moose will
be we'll soaped. This afternoon another test
Will be made for strength by placing bag
of sand weighing from 40 to SO per cent more
than the prisoner in the moose and letting it
drop. This test is made as matter OF precau-
ton.
II has been stated that Hawkins desired to
have ten minutes allowed him on the scaffold
to address those present. 1t is thought now
that, yielding to the persuasion OF friends, he
will not attempt any address and that the pro-
ceedlngs on the scatfoid will consist merely of
brief religious services 1t is understood that
Hawkins will be taken to the scaffold as near IL
o'clock as is possible.
SEE THE SCHEDULE of the steamers Chas.
Manchester and W. W. Corcoran for Mount
Vernon and Marshall Hall on Decoration day.
May &c.
ARE You PREPARING to contest for The STAR
prizes for the best written advertisements?
The Twining City Sale.
At the sale OF lots at auction by Duncanson
Bros. at Twining City last week 50 lots were
sold, the prices ranging from 23l to Is cents