St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-10-18
FIVE DAYS TO LIVE.
Adelbept Goheen Sits in the
Shadow OF the GalloWs at
Fergus Falls.
He Is to Be Hanged Between
Midnight and Sunrise
Friday.
The Murder So Cold-Blooded
That People Give Him No
Sympathy.
Story Of the Awful Crime for
Which He Is to Pay the
Penalty.
Special to The Globe.

Special to The Globe.
FERGUS FALLS, Mimi, Oct. lin a
solitary cell i'll the Otter Tail county
Jail, watched every minute day and
night by lynX-eyed minion of the law.
sits smooth faced, hard featured
young fellow of twenty-one. who will
be hanged next Friday morning, the
23d, between midnight and sun
rise. This is Adelbert Goheen, and
his crime is the killing of Rosetta
Bray, murder so cold-blooded and
cruel that it leaves no room for COM
passion toward the wretch who is to
swing for it soon. And yet it is won
Ger that he is convicted man to-day.
If there is providence in such things,
this case has been providentially con-
Quoted. The evidence against him is
entirely circumstantial, and many a
man has escaped the gallows in spite of
q stronger chain of evidence than that
which surrounded him. The woman he
killed was at first thought to have frozen
TO death and the bullet wounds were
only discovered by accident. Goheen's
capture was chiefly owing to his own
blunder. AT his preliminary eXamina-
ton there were many who thought he
would be discharged, because the evil
dence against him was so slight. The
grand Jury held him largely because
the public demanded it, not because of
the evidence. AT the trial there were
few who thought he would be convict
ed. for the evidence against him was
weak in Several Particulars,
The jury discussed the question a
night ana a day before agreeing, and
had they stayed out two or three hours
more they would have been discharged
without an agreement. Finally, even
after his sentence of death, the petitions
OF the jurors and others. and representa-
tiOns of the states attorney ito the gov
ernor would have undoubtedly secured
a communication of his sentence to i'm
prisonment for life had he not accused
his own brother. who had steadily tried
to help him, of the crime of killing the
woman, and thus destroyed the last
spark of compassion anybody had for
him, and irretrievably cut off
his only chance for life. In
spite of the comparative weakness
of the case against him. a case in
which such things as Goheen's talk in
his sleep and his heaving a great sigh
after he had read newspaper account
OF the Bray woman freezing to death
were counted strong points, public
sentiment is unanimously against him.
1t is doubtful if there is man in Otter
Tail county to-day who believes him in
nocent. and even those who do not de-
sire his execution are few and
lar between. In this respect the
case is almost unprecedented; the
mans own actions are in a
large measure accountable for it.
As the day of the execution approaches
Goheen's defiant behavior does not
alter, though those who are About him
say there is slight but unmstakable
increase of nervousness and mental dis
tress. 1t is predicted that he will either
hight like tiger cat at the last or else
break down utterly and have to be car
ried to the gallows bodily as puppy is
carried to be drowned. He has no
friends in the Jail. His, temperament is
so ugly and vicious that those who
might otherwise pity him will feel moth
ing but relief at his death.
He Is Thorough Egotist,
selfish alike in large things aud small,
ungovernable in temper. willy as a
serpent, treacherouS, brutal and cruel.
lie brags of his past misdeeds, and re-
gales his watchers with stories of the
abominable crimes he would commit if
he could escape. An escape is con-
Stantly in his thought and he is ready to
take the most desperate chance that
offers. He talks much of suicide. and
has repeatedly assured Sheriff Bill
He has tried to work his jailers to get
him poison and weapons. 1t is not be-
lieved that he will try to take his own
life, at least until the last minute: but
every instrument that could be used for
that purpose has been taken from him,
and the watchmeh never relax their
vigilance. 1t is undoubtedly fact that
at the present moment he regards him.
self as one of the most abused of NOR
tails, an unfortunate against whom fate
and mankind alike have conSpired. The
last time his mother visited him he re-
viled her in the most outrageous Ian
guage, and told her she alone was the
cause of all his trouble. After that h
passed her a note, so Slyly that the
watcher at her elbow did not see it, but
another did. and after leaving the cor
ridor the woman was forced to give it
up. 1t urged her and some of his
brothers to come to the jail we'll armed.
intimidate or kill the guards, which he
Since then none of his relatives have
been allowed to come near him, and
none of them will probably see him
again.
The General Opinion
of those at the Jail was forcibly ex-
pressed a day or two ago by
one of the watchmen. 81 believe; -
said he, with solemnity which
showed how sincere was his con-
viction, ''that when Adelbert Goheen
dies the worst person on earth will die. -
This man will be hanged as soon as pos
sible after midnight next Friday morn
ing. Sheriff Billings has wisely de-
termined to get the job done as quickly
as possible on the day set. A corridor
which stretches transversely across the
Jail, between the cells and the sher-
ifs residence, will be the place
of execution. A hole will be
cut through the floor of the second story
and the trap placed there, and from a
heavy beam overhead the rope will be
suspended. The execution will he
strictly private, according to the pro-
visions of the present state law. The
prisoner has not yet named the three
witnesses whom he may choose. The
coroner and one other doctor will be
present, the sheriff and his men, and
the Catholic priest, Father Lange,
whom Goheen has chosen as his
Spiritual adviser. The rope is al
ready in readiness and has been
carefully tested, but the trap and other
paraphernalia will not be put in posi-
ton until the day before the execution,