Middletown transcript., 1893-01-14
DR.. HILLS NURDERERS.

DR.. HILLS MURDERERS'
PAY THE PENALTY OF THEll
CRIME ON THE sCAFFoLD.
Tho Dron Falls at 1925 Yesterda.
Afternoon, and Four Negros Are
launched Into Eternfty-The
Tragic End of One of the
Most Brutal Murders
Ever Committed on
the Peninsula.
Four negroes were hanged in the
ward of the Kent county Jail yesterday
They were:
Charles Brooks. twenty-seven years
Moses Brown, twenty-eight years.
Fletcher Williams, twenty-four
years.
Frisby Comegys, seventeen years.
They we're arrested for the murder
of DE- James Heigh Hill near Milling
ton, on Saturday night April 20, 1892,
and convicted at the October term OF
court.
Tragedy and comedy were blended
in the scene in and about the jail,
and ChestertOwn was filled with a
motley crowd of persons who came
from near and far to witness this last
act. Morbid coriosity prompted The
gathering of many, while The antlcl-
patton of justice being cheated at the
last moment, attracted many people
from the immediate vicinity.
The last night OF the convicted men
was passed in prayer, singing and
writing farewell messages.
Notwithstanding the great pressure
brought to bear 10 have them make
confessions the prisoners went to the
scaffold protesting their Innocence.
Duriug the evening the venerable
IatDeT Oh tH6 inuIuCtVu nHu ''1
each Of the condemn. d men and suppli-
Gated with them to tell what they knew,
but his only answer from each was, Il
am innocent"
To preserve order, and protect
the prisoners and the jail,
Sheriff Plummer had summoned two
hundred men 10 act as guards. They
were on hand, but the cider" they
get in the local option towns of Mary
land seemed tangle the feet OF many
of them, especially those that came
from MilliDg,on, and some of the more
sober ones refused 10 do guard duty
with them.
There WAS u time during the night
when even Sheriff Plummer had fears
for the safety Of his prisoners, and
each ring at the bell seemed to indi-
cate that The anticipated moment had
arrived. But abolt two O'Clock every
thing quieted down, and the prisoners
sought their couches for their last |
nights rest. With the exception of
that Of Moses Brown, their rest was
broken. but they ate hearty break |
fast after their morning devotioDs.
Brown $ slumber was undisturbed. and
he did not awake until long after the
others.
The morning was spent in prayer,
singing and exhortatian, and it was a
solemn sight to see The four men With |
bowed heads kneeling by the side Of
iron bedsteads sending sending up their
supplications for forgiveness of their
sins.
About - O'Clock Sheriff Plummer
saw that his scaffold was all in readi-
ness, and informed the prisoners and
their spiritual advisers that the time
had come. Each mans hands
were handcuffed in front of him, and |
pini0ned to his side, and at 1926 the |
march to the scaffold was taken up. |
The condemned men walked upon it |
without tremOr, and as they were |
passing out of the Jail door Brown
was heard to mutter that he was inno-
cent. With this exception no words |
were uttered by the men, and except |
the Sheriff and his assistant no one
was allowed on the scaffold. |
The pl plsoners we're arranged in
a line on the four traps, the black caps
and nooses adjusted and at IL 28 Sheriff |
PlummeI turned the lever, the traps
shot out from under them and the fonr
condemned men shot downward dis |
tance of five feet. Brown, Williams
and Brooks died almost without a
tremor, their necks being broken, but
in Comegy's case The moose had slipped |
and the boy was slowly slrangled to
death. He was conscious for fully five
minutes after the drop fell, and suffered |
greatly. After hanging for 20 minutes
the bodies were cut down, and upon
examination by the doctors it was
found that the necks of the first three
were broken, while Comegy's was only
dislocated.
Not being claimed by their
friends, the remains OF the four
murderers were put in collins
and placed in two Dearborn
wagons, whence they were taken to
the Almshouse graveyard and inferred. |
1t was to be a private execution, but |
when the men were brought out to the
scaffold, the crowd, numbering several
hundred, who had gathered about the
Jail to see the ''necktie party" as they
styled it, were not to be Balked, and
broke down the fen:e and soon the iail
yard was filled. But among them all
there was No disturbance, and after it
was over they began to disperse.