St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-07-09
SMILER WAS BURNED.
An Enterprising Reporter in
New York Views His
Corpse.
He Reports That the Body
Presented a Horrible
Sight.
Warden Brown Is Peculiarly
Cautious as to What
He Knows.
Doctors Are Mum, but the
Newspapers Talk Very
Plainly.

NEW YORK, July Sine following is
printed in an extra edition of an even
ing paper here: The body of the muir
derer Harris A. Smiler was brought to
this city this afternoon by Undertaken
Hulberg, of 265 West One Hundred and
Twenty-fifth street, on the train which
left Sing Sing at SO o'clock. The body
has been claimed by Smiler's widow, the
woman he married and deserted for the
woman whom he afterwards murdered.
The body was taken off the train at
the station at Fourth avenue and One
Hundred and Twenty-fifth street. 1t
was then conveyed to the undertaking
rooms at 265 West One Hundred and
TWenty-ffth street. Three or four
hundred people we're gathered to wit
ness the arrival of the body. By pre-
vious arrangement with the undertaken
a reporter was in waiting at the rooms
to see the body of the executed
murderer. The coffin was taken
into the basement by the under
takers assistants, and the lid was
quickly taken off, exposing the dead
mans face. The reporter stood close
by and was Mortified at the sight that
met his eyes. Smiler's face had been
Burned and Scanned
by the electric fluid until it presented
the appearance of having been brOiled.
The hair on the front of the head, of
the mustache and eyebrows had been
singed and burned off. The face was
furrowed and SCARED as though with
a hot iron. These marks were not
those of a Scalpel or diSSectlng
knife. They were palpable burns.
Pressing closer to see the dead face
palmer. the reporter attracted the at
tention of the undertaker's assistants,
and they seized him by the shoulder
and compelled him to leave the place
before any other portion of the body
was exposed. TO repeated requests to
be allowed to see the body, the reporter
was informed that no one but the UNI
dertaker and his assistants would
be permitted to see it until it
had been fully prepared for burial.
at was learned through one of the
undertaker's assistants that Smiler'S
left leg was burned to the bone through
the calf. The eyes were badly burned.
though the eyeball-was not destroyed"
Following the above is printed Sing
Sing dispatch from a correspondent
who had been directed to question War
den Brown about the alleged condition
of Smiler's body. This dispatch is as
follows:
Brown VIII Not Talk.
Warden Brown said when asked as to
the burning of Smiler's body: Il still
adhere to my determination to make no
statement whatever. l will neither de-
nv or confirm the report. No influence
can be brought to bear upon me to i'll
| duce me to say anything whatsoever re-
garding the eIectrocutiOn beyond the
simple statement that on July z Slo-
cum, Smiler, Wood and Jugiro were eX-
ecuted according to law" Father Cree
den is quoted by priest from another
village who rode down town with the
reporter to-day as saying that when the
whole story came out it would be dis
closed that all the doomed men were
burned by the electrodes, but that they
| had been so mutilated by the surgeons
knives that it would be difficult of
proof. The priest, who particularly
desired to keep his name out of print,
said he had been told the same thing by
layman who had seen the bodies
presumably a prison employe. Con-
| firmation of the above is not at hand.
A Contradiction.
The following comes from the usual
| local news sources of the Associated
Press: The body of Harris A. Smiler,
| who was electrOcuted at Sing Sing yes
terday, was brought to this city to the
| undertaking establishment of Fred
| HurIburg, at No.265 West One Hundred
| and Twenty-Fifth street, this afternoon.
Smiler once worked for Hurlburg and
his relatives accepted Mr.. Hurlburg's
offer to bury him at his own expense.
The body was put in casket and was
viewed by Smiler's sister, brother
| friends Mr. HnrlhnrO
stated that no examination of the body
had been made by any person with
view to ascertainiag about the burns
said to have been inflicted by the cleo
trodes at the time of the electrocution.
He did not think it right to let anybody
but the family and few friends see it.
| Tomorrow morning at IL o'clock the
body will be buried.
In Dishonored Graves.
SING SING, July S.-The unclaimed
bodies of the three electrocuted MUIR
derers-Slocum, Wood and Jugno-
were buried in the prison cemetery at
o'clock this afternoon. Nine con-
victs lowered the collins, one after an
other, into the graves. which were then
quickly filled up with qulckline and
leveled off with earth. There was no
ceremony, religious or otherwise, at the
graves.
Warden Brown was seen at the prison
this evening and asked as to the re-
ported burning of Smiler'S body. He
still adhered to his determination to
make no statement whatever, and that
he would neither deny nor confirm the
report.
Rev. Father Creeden. who was pres
ept at the executions in his clerical ca
pacity, is quoted as saying that when
the whole story came out it would be
disclosed that all the doomed men were
burned by the electrodes, but that they
had been so mutllated by the surgeons
lances that it would be difficult of proof.
DR. Wards Opinion.
ALBANY, July S.-Dr. S. b. Ward,
one of the witnesses yesterday of the
electrocution, was shown the Evening
Worlds report of the burning of Smiler.
He was asked il he could cOrroborate
the report. The doctor looked per-
picked, and walked up and down for a
few moments IN deep thought and then
said:
II am considering just how much or
how little l ought to say. L am not
bound by oath but by honor, which to
me is the same thing, not to divulge
anything connected in any way with
the details of the execution. Therefore.
cannot answer the question. l will
not say Smiler was not burned"
"Will you say he wasp? queried the
reporter for the United Press.
DIR. Ward, without the utmost courtesy.
renlied. ~ will saw nothing about il"