The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1891-04-08
A Few Stray Notes.


A Few Stray Notes.
When ex-deputy Sheriff McMillen
went into Joe Nicely's cell Thursday
morning the prisoner grasped his hand
and led him to the rear of the cell and,
while hot tears streamed from his eyes,
begged forgiveness for the wounds and
suffering he had caused the deputy. He
said, 81 had always intended had |
gotten out of this scrape to make all the
reparation in my power and to have paid
you literally for the suffering and ex-
pense l caused you" The deputy as
sured him of his full forgiveness.
~
Wednesday evening Dr. S. S. Good, OF
Meyersdale, and DIR. w. IL. Gardner, OF
New Centerville, visited the Jail and
made an examination of Joe's condition.
81 said, let me see your tongue, Joe,
said DIR. Good to HERALD reporter
Thursday morning, "and the prisoner
put his out as naturally as any patient
ever had in my life. This, with other
symptoms observed, convinced me that
the fellow was shamming, and when l
learned this morning that he was rational
/ was not at all surprised"
81 have seen Joe Nicely several times"
said DR.. Gardner to our reporter, week
prior to the execution, "and if he is in
sane he is exhibiting phases of insanity
that ! have never heard of or come in
contact with. His eyes are clear, his
tongue in good condition; ne is regular
in his habits, eats heartily and sleeps
well. In my opinion, he is perfectly
sane"
~
so far as the HERALD has been able to
learn, and we have not been dilatory in
plying the Sheriff and members of his
official household and others who were
admitted to the Jail Thursday morning
with questions in regard to the matter,
no one spoke wo:d to Joe Nicely in re-
gard to his shamming insanity. ''It was
the pool fellows last morning on earth"
said Sheriff Good, and did net want
to say anything of an unpleasant nature
10 him." The same sentiment appears
TO have been entertained by nearly
every one who was permitted to see the
prisoners.
At twelve o'clock Wednesday night
one oftEe "demented prisoners counsel
received a telegram from Harrisburg
advising him that Gov. Pattison would
not interfere Whether or not this in
formation reached the prisoner that night
we are unable to state, but one thing is
| certain, and that is, that bright and early
the next morning, when all hope of a re-
spite was gone, Joe Nicely regained his
mental equilibrium with the same ease
that he would have taken off an old coat.
The HERALD never took any stock in
Joe's shamming, even in the face of ex-
pert testimony, and subsequent devel-
| opments have shown that our position
was the correct one. There cannot
| be the scintilla of doubt that the
prisoners shamming was preconcerted
last attempt to cheat justice after all
other attempts had proven futile.
-
One queer incident in connection with
the execution is that not one member of
the immediate families of the doomed
men came to bid them last farewell.
Is it reasonable to suppose that their
wives. who had proven their devotion
on more than one occasion, would have
remained away had they believed in the
entire innocence of their husbands and
the fathers of their children And how,
too, can the failure on the part of their
aged parents to press last kiss upon the
brows Of their sons who's welfare and
safe deliveranee from trouble have been
the burden of their prayers for more than
two years, be reconciled with innocence?
Joe's eldest boy, youth of intelligence
and promise, failed to ask for the bless
! ing of guiltless father. In his last
written communication to the wife of
his bosom Joe does not say: Harriet,
you know that | was home the night
Umberger was murdered and am inno-
cent of his DEATH" How easily these
few words could have been written, what
grains of comfort they would have prov
en- to his wife whom he exhorted TO "be
faithful until deatl," and what powerful
argument they would have been in the
hands of all those who believed in his
innocence. @ Finally, when in theface of
death, after all the farewells had been
said and when the moose encompassed
his neck, there was no protestation of in
nocence but simply an admonition to
those in his presence to prepare for the
inevitable.
~
After the last good-byes had been said,
and Joe Nicely was standing on the
death-trap, with the moose around his
neck, he glanced through the little
square hole that serves TO admit food for
the prisoners into the corridor, and catch
ing glimpse of the Jail jsnitor, Will
Good, cried out. " Goodbye, WILL" just
as the black cap W s being pulled over
his head.
~
A great deal of interest was evinced by
the sheriffs from other counties who wit
messed the execution, in the working of
the death-trap. None of them had ever
seen or heard of such an instrument of
death before. The Somerset one is be-
lieved to be the only one in the State,
and one of the very few in the east. 1t
works perfectly, is simplicity itself, and
costs nothing when the Jail is built by the