St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-11-15

and Christian devotion Mve stood him in
good stead. Breakfast was served TO
the prisoner at o'clock by Deputy
Whitehead, and consisted of three
pOached eggs, canned peaches. canned
blackberTles and coffee. Birchall par
took of all with his usual appetite.
After breakfast the death warrant was
read to HIM. His friend LeeuEam had
been admitted, and as the fatal words
we're being read, Birchall shuddered
little. and. turning to his friend, said:
"Take hold of my hand, old man." The
request was quickly complied with.
and the two friends stood to-
gether Have you anything to
say against the warrant of the
law being fulfned?" asked Inspector
Chamberlain finally, when the sheriff
ceased reading, and Birchall replied:
81 have nothing to say" A big walled
enclosure. carpCted with green sod, and
fianked on the east by building cut up
by barred windows let deep into mason
ry walls, ana in corner a brand new
gibbet. The yard is full of men with
notebooks out and anxious look directed
alternately at the scatfOld and at door
IN the building approached by five stone
steps. i his was the scene in the jail
yard this morning. They were waiting
TO see Birchall hanged tor the killing of
Benwell. 1t was O'Clock. Men with
hpStatfS were present in force keeping
back the curious throng that crowded
toward the gallOWs. A final effort was
made at S:l5 and the men fell back
Of circle clear, beginning at the
south of the door through which the
prisoner was to come and extending
OVer to the north wall of the yard.
Then the terrible sound of measured
steps was heard TO reSound from the
paved passage into the Jail, and mans
voice broke the aWed stiffness with the
beautiful words: Il am the reSurrec-
ton and the life" and then the speaker
came into view-a kindly-loeking clergy
man in his white robes. 1t was Rev.
Mr.. Wade. and he headed the process
sion of the condemned. After him
came the old sheriff, with his cooked hat
and insignia of office. and other jail of
6cials; and then Birchall himself. very
pale, and his DallOr Intensified by
blue cheVlOt suit he wore. When he de-
Scendtd the steps Keeper Perry took
his left arm, and his friend Leetham his
right, and between these two he walked
untiinching TO the gallowS and took his
place beneath the beam little east of
the center. Lord, let me know my end
and the number of my days, that may
know how long l have to live." 1t
sounded particularly grim, this appeal
of the minister of the gospel to those
who knew that the
Prayer Had Been Answered
before it was spoken, for Birchal's
very movements then we're countabie
4l1s,E 1f
ter then shook Birchall'S pinioned hand
and kissed him good d-bye. .afterswhich the
FOrty-second Psalm was read through.
Then the hangman took hold of
Blrchall's shoulders and squared him
under the beam. Next ne produced the
black cap and fitted it over BirchalPs
face, and the minister began the Lords
Prayer. At Deliver us from eviI'' the
signal of death was given, and the form
under the gibbet shot upward into the
air, the head horribly twisted to one
side. 1t went away above the gravity
line and created a horrible slack" 1t
completely left the perpendicular, and
for second a part of the body was
sideways with the head grotesquely
twisted to one side; but this was hut
the scene of fraction of second, and
the body dropped heavily to the end of
the rope. The weight fell precisely at
S:26, and strong mems hearts were
stirred, and faces turned pale, and
blood grew chilled in the veins. for
Birchall began a terrible sort of gal
lows uance in mid-air, his legs drawing
up and Strengthening out many times.
his hands clenching convulsively and
unclenching as if iii mortal agony, till
to those who looked in Mortified sus-
pense it seemed as if he would never
have done. But the hangman came
forward and held down his legs. Over
the upper part of the neck and the
lower part of the face where the cap
did come not out, the skin began gradu-
ally to darkenas if congestion were COM
s~ncing. At $50 Birchall had ceased
to struggle, and the doctors were taking
his pulse. At that hour it had fallen to
eighty beats to the minute, and III the
next six minutes
He Was Pronounced Dead.
Inspector Chamberlain, Drs. Rice and
Burns and Coroner McLay assisted at
the gallows. The body was then cut
down ana an autopsy held. The au-
tOpsy was made In the Jail by DR..
Mearns under orders of Coroner McLay.
1t was found that the neck was not