The times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1882-1897, 1890-08-08

4
Warden Durston had spread luncheon,
and convict prisoners in white caps and
| aprons served coffee and sandwiches to
| the hungry assemblage.
a Curious Crowd.
| Outside the prison gates there was con-
stantly augmenting crowd which exam
ined each newcomerwith curious interest.
Across the street was group of newspa-
| per correspondents, two of them perched
on platform twenty feet from the
| ground in constant communication with
New York city by telephone, ready to
| give the world the signal that the execu-
tion had taken place. The consultation
| of physicians did not determine the pro-
| gramme of the autopsy. Its details were
left until the. last minute in doubt
Warden Durston told DIR. Southwith that
when Kemmler was dead he would deter
mine what was to be done with the body.
The warden had not announced the time
for the execution to take place but it was
the general impression that it was to oc-
cur before the prisoners had been let out
of their cells early in the morning.
Knew His End Was Near.
The prisoner Kemmler was supposed to
be in ignorance of the time fixed until the
warden should summon him from his cell
to enter the execution chamber. But the
little murderer was not entirely ignorant.
He knew from his guards that it had been
the intention to execute him eary In the
morning of some day in the first part Of
the week last April. He had felt from the
time that Monday came that the penalty
would be inflicted on Tuesday or Wednes.
day mornings. Monday it could not be,
because his good friend and adviser, Dr.
Houghton, had not been near him all
through Sunday and he knew we'll that If
his doom had been Immediately impend-
ing Dr. Houghton would have been at his
side. So when Tuesday morning broke
and the gray reflected light stole down the
little corridor and no summons came, he
felt that the last day of his life had begun
that he had twenty-four hours more in
which to prepare himself for the here
after.
His Last Day on Earth.
lie spent that last day much as he had
spent those Immediately before it-in
writing on cards and scraps of paper the
monotonous repetition of his name and in
talking with his keepers. Daniel Nc
Naughton, the keeper, who has been with
him from the beginning, and who first
led his thoughts in the direction of relig-
ion, was with him from noon to midnight.
Kemmler talked with him sometimes
about the Bible stories in which he has
taken such. an interest. "The good DAN
iel," as the murderer has been pleased to
christen him, was moved deeply by his
childish chatter. A strong friendship
had grown up between these two men,
SO different in their dispositions and in
their lives So "the good Daniel" and the
condemned man sat and talked occasion
ally about religion and sometimes about
more commonplace things until mid
night arrived, and then the keeper Joined
the watchers in the execution room, who
were giving the fatal chair the last
touches.
Description of the Death.
At 6:3s the door at the right of the exc
cution chair leading toward the execution
room opened and Warden Durston's figure
appeared in the doorway. Behind him
walked spruce looking, broad shouldered
little man, full-bearded, with carefully
arranged hair clustering around his fore
head. He was dressed in q suit of new
clothing. sack coat and vest of dark gray
material, trousers of mixed yellow pat
tern, white shirt whole polished front
was exposed directly below little bow of
lawn of black and white check pattern.
This was William Kemmler, the man who
was about to undergo the sentence of
death. Behind him walked Dr. w. E.
Houghton and Chaplain Yates Kemmler
was by far the coolest man in the party.
He did not look about the room with any
special degree of interest He hesitated
as the door.was closed behind him and
carefully locked by an attendant on the
-. 4 Al l.. 4
actly what to do.
Kemmler's Last Words.
"Give me a chair, will your" said the
warden. Some one quickly handed him
q wooden chair, which he placed in front
and little to the right of the execution
chair, facing the little circle of men.
Kemmler sat down composedly, looked
about him, and then up and down with
out any evidence of fear or of special in
terest in the event. His face was not
stolid-it was not Indifferent He looked
il anything, as though he was rather
pleased at being the center of interest.
Warden Durston stood at the left of the
chair with his hand on the back of it and
almost at the moment that Kemmler
took his seat he began to speak in short
quick periods. "Now, gentlemen" he said,
"this is William Kemmler. I have
warned him that he has got to die, and If
he has anything to say he will say it,"
AS the warden finished Kemmler looked
up and said in q high-keyed voice, with
out any hesitation and as though he had
prepared himself with the speech, swell,
/ wish every one good luck in this world,
and think am going to a good place,
and the papers has been saying lot of
stuff that isn't so. That's all i have to
say"
Kemmler Lends Assistance.
With the conclusion of the speech he
turned his back on the jury, took off his
coat and handed it to the warden. This
disclosed the fact that a hole had been cut
from the band of the trousers down, so as
to expose the base of the spine. When his
coat was off, Kemmler turned in the direc-
tion of the door through which he had
come into the room and began to unbut-
ton his vest. At the same time the war
den was drawing the interfering drapery
of his shirt through the hole in the trous-
ers and cutting it off so as to leave the
little surface of flesh against which one of
the electrodes was to press absolutely
bare. When his tie was arranged, he sat
down in the electric chair ~ quietly as
though he was sitting down to dinner.