Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1891-07-06
SING SING PRISON.
Four Murderers Awaiting Death
by Electrothanasia.
THE PRESS GANG ON THE QUI WYE.

The Prison Invested by the Reporters,
Who Look with Longing Eyes on It's
Walls which win Tell No Tales of the
Terrible Doints That May Take Place
at Amy Moment-The Game of a Gotham
Paper Banked.
SING SING, N. Y, July 6.-All of the
preparations for The execution of the four
murderers who are under sentence of
death here were completed yesterday, and
although no intiuation has been given by
Warden Brown OF the time when the exc
cution will take place, it was the general
opinion that the men would be executed
after O'Clock this morning. At Auburn
at the time Kemmler was executed, in Au-
gust last year, the power used to run the
dynamo was the power used in the shops
OF the prison, and it was necessary that t. e
execution should take place before
O'Clock so that the convicts could be put
to work at the regular time
Independent VI achinery at Sing Sing.
Here there is no such necessity. The
machinery is independent of the power
used for the dynamos, and the execution
can take place at any hour without inter
fering with the work of the prison. What
made it so likely that the execution would
take place after Z O'Clock was the fact that
none of the witnesses had appeared in the
town up to O'Clock last night. The fact
that none of them had come made it seem
altogether likely that they had not been
told to come before this morning, and
that they would arrive on the early trains
Warden Brown remained as uncommuni-
cative as ever He said that although tie
death certificate with the signatures of tie
witnesses was to be placed on file at
Albany, and made public at some time
hereafter, he would not make it public
here, and therefore it is likely there will
be no complete list of the witnesses of the
execution published until this document
is forwarded TO tie state capital.
The Death Watch on Guard.
At O'Clock last evening a death watch
was placed around the prison walls. A
regular patrol was established along the
side that runs in front of the prison and
along the sides of the prison about ten
yards from the walls. The guards placed
on This duty were uniformed and armed
with repeating rifles with instructions to
shoot any one who approached the prison
within the line without authority 4
guard was placed at the end of the long
trestle that runs over the lime kilms Just
south of the prison.
Rough on the Gotham Paper.
From the top of that trestle full view
of the windows OF the execution room
could be had and although they were COW
cred with canvas the warden was afraid
that some view of the interior might be
obtained from the trestle, or that some
one watching the windows could obtain an
Ian lYx~ = iNa ofls
lights within wlen the execution was
about to occur. The lime company which
leases this property from the state has sub
let it for this occasion TO a New York even
ing paper whose reporters were to be sta
toned on the trastle; but last night
guard with loaded rifle stood at the end
of the trestle and the little group of re-
porters sat watching him and waiting.
Nearly Shot a Reporter.
One of the reporters on the trestle came
near being shot early in the evening He
came with a linen an to have wire con-
nection maze, and " hen the guard told
him to halt he kept on. The guard cooked
his rifle and point ed it at the reporter, who
took TO his heels I he head keeper explained
matters to tie guard, and under
authority from HIM, the wire connections
were made. That was the only incident
worthy OF note up to midnight IN fact the
newspaper reporters, were the most active
people about the prison last night. The
warden is not here He took his family
and went to Newburgh yesterday atsec-
noon.
The Reporters Still Waiting.
Ats a. m. the only signs of life about
the prison were the passing of the guards
and the presence at the prison door OF the
N nf
Browns son arrived at the prison about
! a. m, but did not say where his father
was. DR.. Carlos Macdonald, of the
state board of lunacy, who is one of the
witnesses selected, is known TO be at the
hotel at Poughkeepsie, and it is thought
the others are there and that Warden
Brown has gone II meet them.
LATER.-It is learned that a writ of
habeas corpus has been applied for at New
York in the case of Wood. According
the decision of the United States supreme
pOurr this saves Wood for.