St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-07-06
BRINK OF The CRAVE.
That Is Where the Four New
York Murderers Stand
This Morning.
They Will Be Sent Into Eter-
nifty by Electricity in a
Few Hours.
The Death Watch Placed
Around the Prison Walls
Last Evening.
Reporters Driven From the
Long Trestle by an
Armed Guard.

SING SING. n. Y. July 5.-All of the
Preparations for the execution of the
four murderers who are under sentence
of death here were completed to-day,
and although no intimation has been
given by Warden Brown of the time
when the execution will take place, it
is the general opinion that the men
will be executed after o'clock tO-mOr-
row morning, although there is no
reason why the the executions should
not take place before or after that hour,
if the warden thinks best. At Auburn,
at the time Kemmler was executed, in
August last year, the power used to run
the dynamo was the power used in the
shops of the prison, and it was neces-
sary that the execution should take
place before o'clock, so that the con-
Victs could be put to work at the regu-
lar time. Here there is no such neces-
sity. The machinery is independent
of the power used for the dynamOS, and
the execution can take place at any hour
without interfering with the work of
the prison. What makes it seem likely
that the execution will take place after
z O'Clock is the fact that none of the
witnesses had appeared in the town up
to 9 o'clock tonight. The fact that
none of them had come made it seem
altogether likely that they had not been
told to come before tomorrow morning
and that they would arrive on the early
trains. Warden Brown remains as un-
communicative as ever. He says that,
although
The Death Certificate
with the signatures of the witnesses is
to be placed on file at Albany and made
public at some time hereafter, he will
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 for
Warded to The state capital. The war
den attended chapel service this morn
ing in the prison. Then he sat down in
his Uflce 10 read morning papers, While
his family drove into town to attend
church. The prison was closed all day
as usual Oh Sunday. but until 6 O'Clock
this evening no difference was made
between this and any other Sunday.
The Warden's Office remained open, and
Warden Brown and Headkeeper Con-
naughton talked about the present con-
dition of the condemned as freely as
usual. The four men were in better
spirits this morning apparently than
they had been in several days. The
Japanese JugigO was dusting his cell
when Keeper CennaughtOn came in.
"Cleaning your cell, are yOu?" said the
keeper, pleasantly, and the Jap looked
up and smiled as he answered, Yes"
All of the prisoners ate well all through
the day, and the keepers on watch re-
ported that they had slept well last
night. They did not speak Of the
approach of the execution to any
one except to their spiritual adj
visers, who were with them a greater
part OF the day, Chaplain EdgartOn
went down to the condemned cells
shortly after the service in the chapel,
and remained through the greater part
of the morning, He was
with JugigO
part of the time, but most of his time
was with Smiler. Father Creeden vent
down to the cells after mass and re-
manned with Wood and SlOcum for quite
q while. He reported them to be in
good spirits. Wood does not look for
any repreye now, and he seems glad
that the long suspense is almost over.
At O'Clock this evening death watch
was placed around the prison walls, A
regular patrol was established along the
side that runs in from the prison aud
along the sides of the prison about ten
yards from the walls. The guards placed
on this duty wore uniforms and were
armed with repeating rifles with in
stTuctiOnS to shoot any one who ap
preached the prison within the line
without authority. A guard was placed
atthe end of the long treSle that runs over
the lime kilns just south of the prison.
From the top Of the treStle full view
of the windows of the execution room
could be had, and, although they were
covered 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 idea by the raising or
lowering of the lights within when the
execution was about to occur. The lime
company, which leases this property
from the state, has sublet it for this ac-
caSiOn to a New York evening paper
whose reporters were to be stationed on
the trestle, but tonight a guard with a
loaded rifle stands at the end of the
trestle, and the little group of reporters
sit watching him and waiting.
The Reporter Ran.
One of the reporters on the trestle
came near being shot early in the even
ing. lie came with a lantern TO have a
wire connection made, and when the
guard told him to halt he kept on. The
guard cooked his rifle and pointed it at
the reporter, who took to his heels. The
head keeper explained matters to the
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 news
paper reporters are the most active
people about the prison tonight. The
warden is not here. He took his
family and went to Newburgh at
O'Clock this afternoon, and the last
train from the north went through
Sing Sing shortly before II o'clock, and
did not leave him on the platform.
There is only one way in which he can
reach Sing Sing tonight, aud that is by
taking the express for the South, and a
local back again. But the general feel
ing about the prison is that he will not
be here before morning. This is an
almost certain indication that the exc
cution will not take place before or
O'Clock tomorrow morning. Att O'Clock
tonight, shortly after Keepers Partridge
and Baxter went on duty in the con-
demned mems cells, the head keeper
visited the four men. No one has been
near them since. He found them In ap-
parently good spirits. They had eaten
a good dinner of roast beef and vegeta-
bes, the Jap eating some of his favor
ite as well. Dinner and supper are one