The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1890-11-15

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remained in the cell with her husband till
o'clock this morning, when she was led
away weeping. Birchall slept but little,
but his demeanor during the night remained
unchanged He had an impression that
some one would publish bogus confession,
sc he prepared the following as his final
statement:
BIRCHALL'S LAST STATEMENT.
WOODSTOCK JAIL November IA, 1890.
All rights reserved. II after my death there
shall appear in the press. or In any other manner
whatsoever, any confession that had any hand
In the murder OF f. c. Benwe or any personal
knowledge of said murder, with intent or malice
aforethOught, or any personal connection with
The murder on the 17th OF February, or other
days or any knowledge that any such murder
was likely 10 be committed or any statement
fullher than any that may have made public
previous TO this date, l hand this statement 10
The care Of George Perry Of Woodstock, Ontario,
that lie may know mat any confessions or partial
confessions are entirely fictitious and In no way
ever written By me, and neither emanated from
me in any way whatsoever 10 any person, ana
The whole IS fictitious and without a word Of
truth. This likewise apples TO my story IN the
main, in which have made no such confession
or partial confession. This holds good through
out. REG. BIRCHALL.
THE LAST HOURS.
He partoOk sparingly of breakfast at
o'clock, and then began to prepare for the
final ordeal. He put on a white flannel
shirt, with coat and vest, but asked the
turnkey to see that this was replaced after
his execution by an ordinary white shirt
with starched collar and black tie. He
would not wear a staTched collar at the exc
ton, he said, because ii might interfere with
the placing of the rope around his neck.
At 6 80 o'clock a crowd began 10 collect
in front OF the Jail, chiefly newspaper men
from all over Canada and the United
States. An hour later the doors OF the jail
were opened and the crowd admitted and
PASSED through to the yard in which the
scaffold was erected. About $50 persons
wers admitted.
FINAL PREPARATIONS.
The eXecutioner appeared upon the scene
a 30 O'Clock, rope in hand, and began to
put things in order. The Scatfold was made
of three pieces of timber six inches square.
Two uprights were sunk in the ground and
the third timber was crossed over the top
The rOpe ran over pulleyS III THIS cross
beam and weight of $50 pounds Of iron
was attached to the opposite end Of the
moose and held up by cord to staple.
The cutting of this cord releases the weight
which fails and jerks the condemned up
ward four feet
AZ o 10 u tlGCh lit l4ldIl, nav IHE Sp4A4-
pleted his preparations outside, came in at
tired in a long black Prince Albert coat.
Night-guard Midgley, with hard look about
the mouth but telltale moistness about the
eyes, climbed the stairs and stood OF the
gallery "a beside BirchalPs corrldor-doOr.
There the old soldier stood, gloomy and
sorr0Wful, until the sad procession passed
cut and down the spiral steps.
SAD PROCESSION.
At s % o'clock the executioner was beck
oued TO 90 up. He had been walking around
the rotunda, in mis- hands the straps with
which he was to tie BirchalPs arms, waiting
for the signal He put behind his back and
partly under the skirt of his coat the russell
colored straps, and went up the stairs.
A minute or two he took to strap the
prisoners arms behind his back, and then
The awful march TO death began. First
came Rural Dean Wade in his surplice, and
reading the Church Of England service for
the dead, behind him DR.. Chamberlin, fol-
lowed by A. d. Stewart and Deputy Sheriff
Perry. The prisoner came next, deathly
rale but res0lute, his jaw locked with the
hXity OF death. His step was steady His
jet black hair and mustache made the pallor
Uf his face like malbie.
PITY FOR TEE DOOMED MAN.
He was dressed in dark-colored tweed
clothes, white flannel shirt wit a black bow
mt the collar, and light patent-leather shoes
lie looked so young, and there was such an
expression of unmOvabe resolution and un-
daunted courage that the men who saw him
and knew HIM to be worthy Of death IN the
eye of the law forgot he had shot his friend
in the back in a lonely swamp.
Faces OF half the men there were as white
almost as that of the doomed man. Al the
loot Of the spiral staircase the procession
reformed, and his friend Leetham walked
on one side of him, with Day Guard George
Perry on the other. Jailer Cameron fol-
lowed Them, and after the hangman the
aged Sheriff was supported to the door of
the corridor overlooking the west yard.
The march was slow along the corridor and
out into the yard. Leetham walked close
beside the prisoner and held one hand in
both of his, with all 1.-The assurance of a
friends heart-clasp.
FAREWELL TO EARTHLY CARES.
The principal actors in the tragedy stopped
with their charge fifteen feet from the gal
lows, and the solemn tones of the Anglican
service thrilled every one there with hor-
TOr that hardly let them realize the tre-
menduus Importance Of the act in which
they were taking part. They felt an over
pOwering pity for the bldck-haired, white
faced young man standing on the threshold
OF eternity. His eyes had not trace of the
fIivelity that lighiened his Imprisonment.
A. he stood listening to the low tones of the
pIIrst they were fixed on the blue sky over
to the north. There was not hunted look,
nor was there any fear in his eyes, but
fixed purpose that seemed to consume his
reason.
IL is not possible to imagine the expression
of his face. He was living a lifetime in that
hour, and there was no one there but would
have shared the strain of his terrible ordeal.
II was not despair, but he had strung his
whole being up to die game"
UNDER THE GALLows
At the words Dust to dust" in the SER
vice Birchall STEPPED firmly forward and
took his place under the scaffold, with his
face to the south aud turned up slightly. lie
nlf do in IL fTa.a Ill
kissed under the galows. The eXecutioner
put strap around the prisoners legs, lust
above the knees, and when the clergyman
took BirchalPs hand and kissed him the
Witnesses were sure the end was near and
tile suspense was terrible; terrible on the
witnesses, but no human knowledge can say
how terrible 10 the man standing alone there
on the green s%ard. AS the priest entered
upon the Lords Prayer the executioner put
the black cap over the head of the doomed
man and adjusted the moose about his neck.
Birchall had declared he would say moth
Ing at the scaffOd and the witnesses did not
expect he would. His silence seemed, by
the Intensity Of his purpose, TO be silence
concentrated hundred times. He did not
say word after leaving his cell, except it
might have been to mutter word to
Leetham or Wade when he bid them good
by with a kiss.
SWUNG INTO ETERNITY.
AT S:29 o'clock, six minutes after the pro-
cession started from the corridor the words,
Deliver us from evil, gave the signal and
a quick pull Of the small rope by the execu-
tioner, who stood behind the laws victim,
released the immense weight. 1t dropped
with the rapidity of thought and sank six
or eight inches in the ground by the force
OF its weight Birchall had been placed
close to one Of the uprights and the Jerk OF
the moose drew his body first obliq6ely, then
up. The body WAS jerked into the air about
five feet and fell until the feet were within
two feet OF the ground.
The commissions cOmmer ced half minute
later, but were not at all violent, more re-
sembling heavy breathing with slight
tWitchipg Of the hands and legs. At $3.50