New-York tribune., 1890-08-05
KEMMLER'S LAST HOURS.
INDICATIONS THAT THE EXECUTION WILL
TAKE PLACE TONIGHT.
THE PRISONERS LOSS OF COURAGE-THE WIT.
NESSES SUMMONED-wIIO THEY ATsL-HINTS
AT FURTHER sTAYs-RESULT OF
THE wARDEN's MANNER.


Auburn, Aug. At is now Esctty generally
settled that before darkness has come again Will
lam Kcmmler. the Buffalo murderer, will he dead.
Nothing now seems to stand in the way Of his eX-
ecution at the hour which Warden DurStOn will
set and the punishment which the law says shall
be administered to those who take the life OF
their fellow men shall be meted out TO him. The
courage, bravery and fortitude which kemmer
is credited with exhibiting before, when the death
week came have altogether deserted him, and
to-day hr is nothing more than an ordinary brute
with human instincts and human form. The
machinery is now ready for use at moments
notice. but the Warden has yet given no sign
Of the exact hour when the execution will take
place The chair in which the prisoner Will be
fastened has to be pat in shape There Is some
thing wrong with the adjustment Of il. The
sponge i'll which the electric wire carrying the
death-giving currents ends does not touch the
base of the brain al the right spot. Upon this Mr.
Durston has been working all day. His recently
cmployed electrician from Bulalo has not yet
come 10 Auburn. and II is said that tie warden
has cmploycd another TO take his place The
prison pcoplc are understood 70 be considerably
muddlcd a, TO what they shall do to adjust the
chair Dropcrlv Warden Durston is not a man
OF qrcat intelligence and the delicate task OF
getting the apparatus in position has been 100
much for him. lie is just now the autocrat ol
the hour, aud his every action since he
has had the keeping of kcmmler has Dcrh
that of n man absolutely unable 10 appreciate the
position which he is just now occupying. IT. has
been this autocratic and dictatorlal manner oil
his which has driven from him the experts VINO
inst NJ this time could and would be of great
,-olue and service 10 him. Suggestions and hints
NJ remedies have been taken in his narrow
minded way as diotation. About the most S'tS'
factory thing which lie has done yet was 10 an
uouncc this afternoon that kcmmlcr would have
an least t,ycnty-four hours more in which 10 com
munc with himself and abuse his keepers ana
cell-matc. condemned murderer like mnSeIt'
But the warden has said so many things which
he HIS either denied absolutely or coutroVor"'
entlrely tLat the newspaper correspondents mere
have hcgon 70 have positively no confidence III
what he says. and their watch on -" PRISON since
bc toll them to-dav that the execution would
not t,kc place within the succeeding t"rnt%-tonr
hours has been more strict. Tn" only reason Tor
believing that what lie sad Was true
is that none Of the witnesses TO me
death who. under the law, must BE- here
has yc, arrived The most Of them cannot now
reach Auburn until tomorrow morning The"
coming Will De- the signal tnat the mysterious
hour +, drawing near 1clc-rlms which have
been received here from Buffalo announce that the
officials of that city who are 20 attend the cNecn-
ton have been informed that they are - report
TO the Warden in Auburn at o'clock tomorrow
evening AZ the Jail. This is believed 10 indicate
tina, Eemmlcr's death will occur between
I'D = ,,cl,c, 20 roorro,v evening. The
Warden has declared oil along and with
n show of sincerity Tint he would not
execute Kcmnlcr during the working hourN
Of the convicts They would know what
led occurred from the moucntarv stopping OF the
machinery 20 adjust the belt which applies The
power TO tie dynamo, and lie fears that evil
effects would follow. ~ p IN. the oonvc'S
Will have been locked mp in their cells for some
,.mc and only few Of them will hear IN" ma
chiucrv as l. starts anew and kno" that hemmier
had been executed.
Auburn people sbale their heads when the
probability Of the law finally takns It's cours"
i, mentioned. and as hlrd-hclrtcl rs II is, many
have made bets that he would escape the p"raliy
after ALL They have seen him once before al
,,,,f within what was supposed good author-
~ 10 hc the very hour of his death, when STAY
Of execution was Obtained and % delay of tni'"
months made. They am therefore extremely
reluctant 20 ~ cyc that he will be- the hr't To hr
lccally cNccutrd hy an electric shock. Hints al
further STAYS have been thrown ont. and no one
would be surprised should a judge al TINS l't'
date see tit TO continue the suspense and cApen~"
Tonight the Warden gave o.t the list Of men
Sho arc to witness the execution. and 1t IS pos
iiIycly known that they must report mt the J'li
Lc.c tomorrow evening ~ : o'clock. Inc N"r"ch
has the privilege of inviting t~cuiy-onc PERSONS
T., witness tie execution. llc mus, have five
anyway. They are the judge before whom the
criminal was convicted, the district-atiorncy Of
n,II
sheriff of that county and two physicians. o.
the sixteen remaining, twelve are TO De jury oil
citizens. and the rest tour assistants.
The men who have now received invitations
are Dr. Carlos t. Mcdonald, State CommlS-
,ioncr OF I.uuacy; DR., ). Is. Ward, OF Albany
d. 4 L. >uuthNick, OF Buffalo; Dr l.. I.
Sprzka OF Ncw-l or.l, the brain expert pr "r"fsc
J. fcl, oi bunaIo; Dr !, VI. DaniriN' oI h'l"a", '.,
Dr. Charles Powell, OF iiunalo; Deputy coroner
Jenkins. OF NcN-lorI; Dr. Louis Bich, ol ~
bany. secretary 0f the state Board oi liralth Dr
" j. Wells, of Albany Dr Henry \. Argue, oi
torniuo: John D. lIlnlicld, Tracy Bec.>cr. the
referee who took the testimony III Ptorrcilns'
brought by ". bour@c Cochran, "i NcMl"Lh
Rohcn Dunlap. of Sew York. George J. QulmbN,
District Attorney OF Eric County; oliver \ Jcn-
kIn,. Shcrln ol Erie County; judge lirHrA \.
Childs, Of Erie County cA-Hch1tor y. II. H'-
MILAN. Of Buffalo. Inc remaining three arc 10
has hren selected 40 Que. Who the other TWO
men are Warden DurSton wlIl not s'E' II u
to,s br that representative OF noun 'iic -io9"
ciatrd Pres. and I uitcd Press VIII also at'rhd
under the title of assistant ., ,
Warden Durston SAID tonight that al ClIk oi
Kcmm!or's insanity has been without c'u~' anu anu
.rtir.l,. ,,rouuolcSs He is S1nc as ne WIS
niiccn months ago, when he first came under 'le
warlcns care and is just rs rsht IN ms illhu as
any man who has death 50 near al nan" can WI.
hc Who Will cpnduct tie autopsy on lhr p",N
will bc left entirely to the doctors To de-
Hut II is generally supposed that Dr. SptIka
viii have charge , -, .. ,,i,b, chat
local ,trpS will Ice taken 10 prevent ne AUTOPSY
heinz held il is known that kcmmler received
registered letter from his brother latr th's amer
noon. and il is supposed that IN II was me as
suroncc thai care lad been taken T. prevent the
cntring np of the corpse. At any, rate, Durs'on
has suppressed the letter. and Will h0' give an
linz ~ ,vhn1 IL cnnIninS. Inc W1rleN, 700 -