The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1894-01-26
i
CHASTITY HANGING.
The Rope Broke and Muir
derer Painter Fell to
the Ground.
DROP SPRUNG A SECOND TIME.
A Doctor Declares He Was Dead
Before the Second
Hanging.
'ROP SPRUNG A SECOND TIME.

CHICAGO, Jan. 26, 1S94.-The execution in
the County Jail this morning OF George Il.
Painter, formerly of Brooklyn, N. Y, for
the murder of his Mistress Alice Martin,
was attended by horrible scene. When
the trap was sprung, the rope snapped IN
two and the unfortunate man, who weighed
over two hundred pounds, dropped eight
feet to the stone floor of the corridor. His
head struck heavily as he fell, and the blood
gushed from his ears and nostrils. He was
picked up, unconscious, laid on the drop in a
recumbent position, and another moose
adjusted The drop fell a second
time without further accident. Painter
protested his innocence up to the time the
white cap was placed over his head. One OF
the attendant physicians expressed the
opinion that he was already dead when the
drop was sprung second time.
A murmur of sympathy went up from the
crowd as Painter came toward the
scaffold His nerve was wonderful.
He walked unsupported to the centre OF the
trapand nodded with a smile to bystander.
Prayer was offered by Rev. Moerdyde and
after the white shroud had been adjusted the
condemned man said:
HIS LAST SPEECH.
God forgive them No friend of mine would
come and see me die. 1t hurts me, gentle
men, if you're gentlemen, "a pause-''there
are few gentlemen that would look
at an execution-few. The brotherhood
of humanity has taught lots of men better
than this. There was a time when in India
men sought death through belief that it was
an advance to their future state. Today l
fear death. I do not want to die"
For moment the condemned man paused
as though his voice had failed him. His
auditors were breathless. The dropping of
pin would have echoed through The long
gloomy corridor Then suddenly gathering
strength Painter proceeded:
"Lsten-listen to this If | killed Alice
Martin, my wife, although in court" there
Painter again seemed as if he was about to
break DOWN; IF killed Alice Martin, the
woman loved, pray this
minute, my last minute on earth
that the eternal God will take me and put
me in eternal Hell, that he will keep me in
this eternally. If there is one man in this
audience that is an American-an American
citizen, on your soul say on your soul, see
that the murderer of Alice Martin is found" )"
The condemned man ceased The officers
approached to adjust the white cap An
other thought occurred to the condemned
''Gents," he said again, 81 see hundred of
my lit was difficult to determine whether the
next word was oppressors OF officials) here,
but few Americans" Then the whit cap
was drawn over his face, and the moose was
frightened.
THE ROPE BROKE.
1t was 7:53 when the procession reached
the platform, the preliminaries had occupied
seven minutes. At 1853 just as Painter had
uttered his last words the signal was given
and the trap was sprung. As the body
decended there was sharp
crack. The rope had snapped in the centre
between the iron eye in the cross beam and
the moose. With a crash-a dozen thudS
would hardly express 1.-THE body fell upon
the stone pavement eight feet below. As
it fell it half turned from its previous
perpendicular position and the head struck
the ground with tremendous force. In a
second the white cap was saturated with
blood and a cry of horror went up from the
spectators. The majority rose to their feet
A few were paralyzed and unable to stir.
HORRIBLE SIGHT.
ttSit down. yelled the bailiffs as they
emphasized the order by pushing the specta-
tors back into their seats. A dozen men
rushed to the foot of the scaffold and
picked up the unconscious man. The blood
was dropping from the back of the head
and running in a dozen rivulets down the
white shroud. The inanimate form was laid
upon the scaffold. Some intimation of what
had happened must have reached the
prisoners on the other side of the jail, a
lew yafQS QlSCaQp, ICT at UulS InOineQp
there was a succession of unearthly yells and
shouts, and a rattling of iron doors as though
the entire prison colony had broken loose.
Some of the spectators jumped to their feet
in alarm, but the guards again
ordered them to keep their seats.
Meanwhile the trap had been hastily
readjusted and another moose was prepared.
The moose was readjusted, but as soon as
they withdrew Painter fell back into re-
cumbent position. There was a hurried
consultation, and then the body
was stretched out on the trap door.
The trap was again sprung and the body
again went into the air. This time the rope
held its own, although the moose slipped
and it seemed for moment as
though the head would pass through
A doctor sprang to the side of the swinging
body and seized the left wrist. As he did so
he made the remark, 81 believe he was dead
when he was carried upon the scaf-
fold The drop fell the second time at
8:03 Is, an interval of four and one
half minutes from the moment of the fall.
As the body swung around. the blood con-
tinued to pour out of the head until not
vestige of the white remained about the
cap or the upper portion of the robe.
The sight sickened many of the
spectators and as soon as the body had fallen
a second time, they made break for the
open air.
Painter suffered death for the murder of
his mistress, Alice Martin, whose death oc-
CURED on May 6, 1891. She was brutally
murdered.