St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-01-08
WAITING FOR THE ROPE.
low Fight Condemned Negroes
w niIn \ -rrn-- Tho Tin,n

How Fight Condemned Negroes
While Away the Time.
CHEsTERToN, Nd, Jan. Flight
negroes. ranging III color from a light
tan to dead black. are confined in Jail
here. They are to be hanged next Fri
day for the murder of DR.. j. ii. Hill.
Nevertheless, iollier aggregation of
Hams descendants than they are would
be difficult to find. The fact that in less
than one week, Providence or the gov
ernor not interfering. they are to be
dropped into eternity does not seem to
disturb them. They shout and sing and
laugh and joke about the coming event
as though it were Il - 'pOSsum dinner"
Some OF them show slight signs of de-
preston at odd intervals. but the major
ity rather seem 70 feel proud that they
are to take part in SO notable Il perform
ance.
Fletcher Williams and "Buck"
Brooks sIllk at times, but the others are
always IN good humor. Williams and
Brooks are more directly concerned in
the murder than their companions. tor
il was the knife thrust by the former,
and the cruel blow with stone by the
other that caused the physicians death.
The others aided and allotted. The con-
demned men make merry, Just as they
sang and danced and ''patted Juba'' OH
the bridge that dark night in April
when they committed the murder.
The men occupy ground floor cells in
the jail. Moses Brown, the oldest, has
a cell to himself. Williams and Brooks
also have cell each. They are shackled
about the feet. In the large. steel
lined murderer's cell are Charles Sum-
ner Emery. Josh Brainard and trlsbY
Comegys, three of the boys, and in an
other small cell are Lewis Is. Ball and
Henry Hert. In front of the cells is a
corridor about eight feet wide, lighted
at each end by a heavily grated window,
and at one end is the door through which
they will walk to the galloWs next Fri
day. Each morning the prisoners are
allowed to go into the corridor for eXer-
else, the boys all at once and the men
singly. The boys make this time for
ali oId-fasnioned r0mp if no one except
the iailefs happen to be by. They run
up and down the corridor, wrestling and
tripping each other and indulge in
variety of the game of tag, in which
they run around on all fours and en-
deavor to playfully bite each other. The
men i'll their liberty hours" sit by the
stove, smoke and chat with the JallerS.
Then they have intervals OF piety.
The men and boys start to praying and
singing together in the peculiar manner
of the negro. One starts hymn in a
low minor key, and sings for some time
alone. Then, as the weird drOning con-
tinues, one ana another take up either
the air or the refrain. until all OF nearly
all are singing. Then one, usually
either Brown or Brainard. begins fer
vid prayer. These two men have deep,
rich voices. and they calculate few
words of the prayer at time, in a sing
song way, at each rest or long note of
the hymn. The men do not sing in
chorus. but seem to chant each on his
own account. though the whole makes
harmony. The voices range from the
high tenor of Comegy's to the deep bass
of Williams. They gradually work
themselves into almost a frenzy, singing
and shouting Amen" at the top OF
their voices. Sometimes they keep
their devotions up two or three houre In
the evening, only stopping from sheer
exhaustion. Moses Brown reads the
Bible good deal. Nearly all read the
Bible. Moses Brown reads it much of
the time in daylight, and reJOlceS be-
cause his cell is nearest the west win
dow. where he has more light and can
read longer than the other prisoners.
He seldom sings or jokes, but IS always
pleasant. Yet he is considered the
worst character of the lot. His face IS
almost bestial in appearance.