Los Angeles herald., 1890-11-15
Burchell Pays the Extreme
Penalty.
The Execution Very Success
fully Conducted.
The Culprit's Nerve Did Not for Mo-
ment FOrsake Him.
He Spoke Not Word on the Gallows but
Left Written Statement Denying
His Guilt.
Associated Press Dispatches.


WOODSTOCK, Ont, Nov. 14.-At 8 80
this morning Reginald Burchell was
launched into eternity for the murder of
his fellow-countryman, F. G. Benwell.
He partook sparingly of breakfast at 6,
then began to prepare for the final or
deal. He put on white flannel shirt
with coat and vest, but asked the turn
kew to see that this was replaced after
the execution by an ordinary white
shirt with starched collar and tie. He
would not wear starched collar at the
execution, he said, because it might in
terfere with the placing of the rope
around his neck.
AT half-past and from then on, a
crowd began to collect in front of the
Jail, chiefly newspaper men, from all
over Canada and the United States. At
half-past Z the doors of the Jail were
opened and the crowd admitted. They
passed through to the yard in which the
scaffold was erected. About $50 were
admitted.
The executioner appeared on the
scene at twenty-five minutes before
eight, rope in hand, and began to put
things in order. The scaffold was made
of three pieces of timber, six inches
square-two uprights sunk in the ground
and the third timber crossed over the
top. The rope ran over pulleys in this
cross beam, and canister weight OF $50
pounds of iron was attached to the op-
posite end cf the moose, and was held up
by cord to a staple. The cutting of
this cord released the weight, which fell
and jerked the condemned man upward
four feet.
At s:15, the hangman having
completed the preparations outside,
Night Guard Midgley climbed the
stairs and stood on the gallery beside
Burchell's corridor door. There the old
soldier stood, gloomy and sorrowful, un,,
til the sad procession passed out and
down the spiral steps.
At 8 :23 the executioner was beckoned
to go up. He had been walking around
the rotunda. In his hands were straps
with which to tie Burchell's arms.
Waiting for the signal, he went upstairs
q minute or two, and strapped the pris-
Oner's arms behind his back. Then the
awful march to death began.
The March to the GalIows.
IllbJ CdluC DCdn w d0C, III d 6dipliSC3
and reading the Church of England SER
vice for the dead. Behind him, was DIR.
Chamberlain, followed by R. D. Stewart
and Deputy Sheriff Perry. The prisoner
came next. He was deathly pale, but
resolute. His jaws were locked with
the fixity of death. His step was
steady. His jet black hair and NOUS
tache made the pallor of his face like
marble. He was dressed in dark col
ored tweed clothes, a white flannel
shirt, with black bow at the collar, and
light patent leather shoes.
He looked 80 young, and there was
such an expression of unmovable reso-
luton and undaunted courage, that the
men who saw him, and knew him to be
worthy of death in the eyes of the law,
forgot that he had shot friend in the
hack in lonely swamp. The faces of
the men there were as white almost as
that of the condemned man.
At the foot OF the spiral staircase the
procession reformed, and his friend
Leetham walked on one side of him,
with the day guard, George Perry, on
the other. Jailer Cameron followed
them, and after him the hangman. The
aged sheriff was supported to the door OF
bllc COTTluOI ONcIlOOhlllS buC WCSt WdId
They marched slowly along the corri-
dor and out into the yard. Leetham
walked close by him, and held one OF
his hands in both of his, with all the
assurance of friends hearty clasp.
The Culprits Fortitude.
The principal actors in the tragedy
stopped with their charge fifteen feet
from the gallows, and the solemn tones
of the Anglican service filled every one
there with a sorrow which hardly let
them realize the tremendous Importance
of that in which they were taking part.
They felt an overpowering pity for the
black-haired, white-faced young man
standing on the threshold of eternity
His eyes had not a trace of the frivolity
that lightened his imprisonment. AS he
stood listening to the low-toned priest
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 8
fixed purpose that seemed to consume
his reason. 1t is not possible to imagine
the expression of his face. He was liv
ing,a lifetime in that hour, and no one
there but would have shared the strair
of his terrible ordeal. 1t was not des
pair, but he had strung his whole being
up to die game.
At the words "dust to dust" in the
service, Burchell stepped firmly forward
took his place under the scafold, anc
with his face to the south and turneC
up slightly. He took Leetham's hands
in his and the friends kissed under the
gallows. The executioner put the stray
around the prisoners legs, just above the
knees. When the clergyman took Bur
chelPs hand, he kissed him. The wit
nesses were now sure the end was near
and the suspense was terrible on the wit
nesses; no human knowledge can say
how terrible to the man standing alone
there on the green sward.
Game to the Last.
AS the priest entered upon the Lords
prayer, the executioner put the blacl
cap over the head OF the doomed man
and adjusted the moose about his neck
Burchell had declared that he would
say nothing at the scaffold, and the wit
nesses did not expect that he would
His silence seemed by the intensity O.
his purpose to be silence concentrated 6
hundred times. He did not say WORD
after leaving his cell, except that il
might have been to mutter word tc
Leetham or Wade when he bid them
good-by with kiss.
At :27, six minutes after the process
sion started from the corridor, the
10 fro,x, oxv;1 <.o.,o ~. .