River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1891-09-10
BEGGED EaR MERCY:
Murderer Bulling Hanged at Savannah;
Mo, While Pleading Hard for Life
He shoots Himself In His Cell and Is
Dragged to the Gallows.


Murderer BulIing Hanged at Savannah:
Mo, While Pleading Hard for Life
He Shoots Himself In His Cell and Is
Dragged to the Gallows.
KANSAS CRY, Mo, Sept. 5.-LouAs
Bulling, the wife murderer, was exe7
euted at Savannah, the county seat OF
Andrew county, Mo, at 1921 o'clock
Friday afternoon under most horrible
circumstances. The story Of the gall
lows tells no more hideous story.
The murderer made desperate effort
TO commit suicide just prior to the
hanging and then died, yelling and
shrieking for mercy. The exe cution
had been twies postponed during the
day on Billings account; the last time
when the wretchen man fell in a fit
on being told to prepare for his doom.
Shortly before o'clock Rev. Mr..
Lavake, Billings spiritual adviser,
who had teen with him almost
continuously since Thursday night
again entered the condemned mans cell
They were left alone. Five min
utes afterward two shots were heard.
Sheriff Berry and his deputies rushed
into the cell. They found Rev Mr..
Lavake lying PROSTATE upon the floor
in dead faint Beside him in his own
blood lay Bulling. who had shot
himself twice. One ball had en-
tered the left breast just below the
nipple and struck rib and ran
partly around the body The other
had inflicted a wound in the left side.
Four deputies dragged the wretch out
of the cell. lie refused to walk and
they carried him to the scaffold He
would not stand and was placed on a
chaif. Then the iixor.cIde proved HIM
self the crave n-hearted coward:
He begged crled, screamed
and blasph sIned. He pleaded for
time, for mercy and for any
thing vsrything but death. FL
nally he was told to get up and stand
upon the drop. He refused and four
deputie; held him up while the rope
was al listed. Yelling and screaming
he shot through the opening ut exactly
1921 o clock, His neck was broken and
he died almost instantaneously. Ten
minutes after the shooting of Bulling
Rev. Mr.. Lavake was arrested, charged
with giving the pistol TO the condemned
man.
The scene on the scaffold previous to
the fall of the drop was piteous in the
extreme. a squad of soldiers from
Fort Leavenworth surrounded the Jail
all day and accompanied the doomed
man to the place of execution.
Take them away" he cried, incohe-
rently; they will kill me.''
As the rope was adjusted he asked
for drink. When given one he said:
''That's my last. ;" and then he began
to scream. When the rope was adj
justed about his neck he pleaded.
please! please don't, Wait, watt
Give me little more time, just a mo-
ment more of life; it is so sweet"
lie kissed the sheriff. but no black
cap was adjusted and Bulling died gap
ing at the horror stricken crowd
lBulling deserted his wife in the summer OF
1852 and Il ok up with another woman. The
abandoned wife sought employment at the
Herbert Il, use in Savannah. For some
cause, which has never been explained,
Bulling gained access to her room one
night in January 1888, and with an ak almost
Otherwise mutilated the remains in horrible
manner. For this crime h. was tried and sen
fenced TO be hanged ON March last. The day
before the execution he was respited TO April
Il. ana on the night of the 10th OF that month he
escaped by cutting his way out of the Savannah
Jail. A large reward offered for his cap
ture. The Pinkerton agency put men on his
trail, but their search was unsuccessful Ills
arrest was finally effected by the Chicago po-
lice after a desperate running fire with the
murderer and the wounding Of him IN the arm
At the time, however, the police did not know
the man they had in custody. Bull
ling had BEEN in Chicago for some time
under the alias Of Louis May, sometimes
going by the name Of Dillinger. His identity
was discovered the day after his capture
and he was once more plac ID in his Cd quar-
tiers in the Savannah (Mo) Jail on JulS
g. the night after his arrival at Savan
nah, he attempted suicide by taking a dose
Of morphine which he had by some means
managed TO conceal about his person. The
attempt was unsueces sful, however. and
on August he was again sentenced to he
hanged making the third time be had heard
the death sentence pr nounced upon bin. Last
week 1t was discovered that Baliing was plan
ming 10 again break jail and cheat the gallows
but his designs were frustrated by the sheriff