Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1891-07-30
THE DEATH SCENE.
The Last Hours of the Condemned Man.
The Funeral.

Just as q GAZETTE reporter was leaving
| the iail about $50 yesterday afternoon Il
| gray-haired feeble old lady toiled YEARLY
| up the iron steps, and in j voice qUivering
| with unshed tears and vibrating with the
| keen thrill of anguish that none bur a
mother can feel, and whose polgnancy is
known only TO herself and her God, asked
feebly:
How is WHIP
Hes about the same" said Jailer FL
| lott, and called a deputy to take her to the
| condemned mans cell. Little rocked
She or any OF the attendants
that this was tue last interview
that mother and son would ever have in
| this life and that whether it was a parting
only for time or for all eternity that God
whom she worshipped and with whom she
had so long pleaded for the soul Of her son,
alone knew.
1t was too pitiful The gray-haired old
lady, bent with her years and her load Of
sorrow. entered the cell where her son lay,
ing the near approach of another
night. But, though the interview had been
known TO be the last on earth. the laws de
mands were inexorable, and the keen ewes
of the death watch followed every move
mcnt.
1t is doubtful if he fully realized that his
mother was there The labOred breathing.
the heaving chest proclaimed the end was
near and the black wings of the death
angel We're already towering over the couch.
The mother love in her heart told her with
that unerring instinct that never fails.
that the sands of life were ebbing fast
and that aercIful father had
spared her the keenest blow mortal
can know. She sat down on the edge Of the
bed and the death watch withdrew from
hearing distance. The county physician,
DR.. Mclean, accompanied BY another ply
sician. arrived about & O'Clock and though
they did all in their power they could not
stop the passing soul. For brief time the
death struggle was sharp. but about :
O'Clock he seemed TO feel easier. and
with his head upon his mothers
arm he quietly passed through the mystic
veil into the UNKNOWN eternal just as the
sun sank behind the Western hills as softly
and peacefully as a little babe upon IFS
mothers breast sinks into the 81" nbers of
childhood.
For time the attendants feared for the
mothers safety but the storm of grief
passed, and with a fond embrace the
bent and feeble Woman passed slowly
from the iron bound cells and
from out the cruel forbidding walls, leaving
still in the charge of the memorable law The
remains of the only relative she had on
earth, and went forth intozthe twilight
shadows alone, 10 larry her
crushed and bleeding heart to
the sacred precincts of her home.
The last scenes were too mUcn for even
those strong men used to scenes of shame
and crime and sorrow. and many bold eye
dimmed with tears, and many strong lip
quivered as the owner turned away that
they might not witness the mothers woe.
Before she left the Jail she was told that
the demands of The law had been satisfied
and that she could have the body of her
only son to administer to it the last sad
rites.
As she went away through the twilight
shadows the officers spoke of the interpo-
sition of higher power to check the exc
cutioner's hand, and an expression of relief
was plainly visible and even expressed
verbally. Not an officer in the sheriff de-
partment. not an attendant in the jail, but
would willingly have given his right hand.
if by that means the fiat of the law could
have been complied with, and the execu-
tion OF the sentence averted, and they did
not hesitate to express a feeling of relief