Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1891-03-12
REEVES DIES ON THE aAL1oWy.

tne ocduOiu--he Dleu N1tnOut n Iremor
in About IL Minutes.
Stan Correspondence of Gazette and journal
New CASTLE, March 6.-The colored
man, Shakespeare Reeves, was hanged
in the New Castle county Jail yard, at
1888 O'Clock this morning He died
without a tremor and death ensued
within 10 minutes after Sheriff Simmons
had sprung the fatal drop.
II was successful execution in every
particular. There was an absence of the
usual crowd, the sheriff limiting the
spectators to the requisite jury, physi-
clans, and officers, about 80 in the aggre-
gate. Scores of people were refused
admission to the execution, among the
number being. the father and uncle of
the girl upon whom the assault was COM
mitted.
The scaffold was erected in the west
corner of the south yard of the Jail and
stood ready and awaiting for its occu.
pant. The moose used had done service
of similar kind before, and was of the
finest Russian hemp. The drop was
five feet and two inches, leaving the
suspended victim clear of the ground by
six inches.
Reeves was ready and waiting for the
fatal summons. He was up before sun
rise praying and singing, and expressing
his good will and good wishes for every
one. He ate hearty breakfast Of beef
steak and boiled eggs, the sheriff's wife
had especially prepared for the doomed
man, and this he supplemented with a
short cake concocted and Drowned under
the direction of Sugar Awful, fellow
prisoner, whose culinary efforts met
with the greatest favor in the doomed
mans eyes and appetite. Reeves craving
for food has been inordinate and even
the shadows of the gallows has failed to
effect his appetite. He has eaten almost
constantly the past two weeks, interlud-
ing his spreads with song, prayers and
devotion.
Last night he was restless, but with
the dawning of day and light he was
more composed. The first streak of day
light that penetrated his cell disclosed
the doomed man making peace with
the hereafter on his knees, and his
offerings " prayer were prolonged and
fervent. His invocations seemed not so
much from a man in dire extremity as q
culprit who was making his peace with
the future. His voice never faltered,
and rang through the furthermost re-
cesses of the jail, every fellow-convict
retaining the utmost silence lest he dis
turb the devotions of the man who stood
on the threshold of eternity.
Frank johnson, doing life sentence
on the charge of killing a man, was
Reeves constant companion The bond
of sympathy existing between the two
men, one in the shadow Of death and
the other doomed to pass his life within
the four walls of the prison, was pathetic
in the warmth and sincerity of the de.
votion it expressed. johnson has been
Reeves constant companion for many
days, and the two became strongly at
tached. As final pledge of the friend
ship this close intimacy had established,
johnson was given permission to wit
ness the death, and he stood back of his
friend on the scatfold when the fatal
trap was sprung, and tears coursed down
his dusky cheeks over the separation the
law had made.
Reeves showed not sign of fear until
he reached the gallows when he evil
| IDENTIFY hesitated before stepping in the
trap that was to launch him into the
great unknown. After breakfast he had
stayed his voracious appetite with some
delicacies supplied by the sheriff and
was in close converse with his boon
companion, johnson.
At 10 o'clock the Revs. II. r. Ed.
munds, pastor of Union NJ. E. Church
j. r. Brinckle of Mt. Salem M. +.
Church and the Rev. Charles Acworth
of the Wilmington A. ME-. Church were
admitted to the doomed mans cell. The
curtain that has guarded Reeves from
the gaze of the curious was again with
drawn and the four men were left
alone. Together they prayed and
chanted hymn of comfort, and the
prisoner prepared himself for the final
and trying ordeal. Half an hour later the
clergymen quilted the cell after admin.
istering comfort to the dying man and
announced that they were ready for the
law to take its course,
Sheriff Simmons read the death war.
rant which the prisoner listened to un.
moved. He protested an entire willing
| ness and readiness to surrender his life
to the law, but maintained that he was
| innocent.
Warden Tucker opened the door Of
the cell, which was on the lower CORR
dor, and revealed the culprit standing
with his hands shackled at his bach
awaiting an escort TO the instrument o.
death.
No man ever marched more bravely
to his end. There was not thu
slightest hesitation in his walk and h,
never faltered once. The hope o
future deliyerance illumined his eyes
and made easy his pathway to the gal
lows. 1t would have been cruel to hay,
denied the dying man this comfort
Onward he strobe to the gallows. Their
was no murmur of dissent; no hesita
ton; nor was fear portrayed upon hi
cOuntenanCe when lie was brought int
full view of the instrument that was t,
take his life. He assembled the steps Il
the scaffold with head erect as if solicit
ing the admiration of the spectators. /
was the embodiment of the illustration
OF the triumph of religious feryor owe
physical fear,
AT the trap he hesitated a moment a
if in apprehension, but after a surve
of the death-dealing instrument he hes
itated no longer The Rev. H. r.. Ed
munds intoned the hymn, "Safe in tn
arms Of Jesus, and the doomed ma
added his voice to the rendering with
tirmness that betrayed not the slightes
emotion. The same clergyman oiTcre
fervent prayer for the safe deliyeranc
of the soul Of the doomed man, and Ii
joined the "Amen" response in "a fir
voice.
Just before the black cap was ad
iusted the prisoner called for DIR. Blac
and the latter mounted the scaffol(
Reeves asserted to the physician that
had testified against him at his trial, br
that he had no hard feeling toward hii