The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1894-03-17

"Well the time is drawing nigh and l
| guess I'll have to get it ready"
The speaker was Uncle Jimmy Potts, the
honest, handy, hardworking Scotchmsn
who heats up the Jail and court house,
runs the engine, paints the cells, patches
the windows and does ali the odds and
ends about the Jail.
When reporter for the EAGLE saw him
| through the bars of one of the dusty base
ment windows he was standing over what
seemed to be a pile of wood with dust
brush in one hand and monkey-wrench
in the other. At intervals ne would shake
| his head, then scratch it, then look at the
pile of timbers and then shake his head
again. 1t was easy to see that he was
bout to tackle a job he didn't like.
The object that seemed TO be pile OF
wood was no more nor no less than the
timber of the galiows of the SedgwIck
county Jail. Uncle Jimmy finally put the
tip of his boot under the END of the upper
beam of timber and il rolled off onto the
cement floor with a sickly sound that
would give man the jimlam The ac-
cumuated dust of five years being dis
turbed raised towards the ceiling IN
cloud of fantastic figures in which one
could imagine he saw the outlines of Lee
Mosier and the Tobler brothers
who were hung till they were dead
from this same galiows. Uncle
Jimmy tipped another beam over with his
foot and it came down with a rafting
sound like some demon laughing over the
prospect of another hanging. Uncle
Jimmy brushed the beams off little, said
the monkey wrench down, took chew OF
touacco and then said TO himself: Well.
after all maybe they wont use this scanoid
at all; If they do l can set 1t up on short
notice" and so saying Uncle johnny put
the monkey wrench in his pocket, place.
the busting brush under his arm, shrug-
ged his shoulders and returned to the en-
CINE room.
Now, then, the question is why did In
Gle Johnny abandon the work he set out TO
do: what put the ides into his head so sud
denly that the scaffold may not be needed.
L=t the philosophers of the hidden mysCer-
les of the human mind answer. At the
very moment that he abandoned the work
of preparing the scaffold Tor the execution
of Clyde MaJtox message was flashed
over the wires from Washington to Kansas
announcing a stay of execution IN the
Clyde MatJoX case. The attorney general
telegraphed TO United States Marshal
Medley of Leavenworth that Justice
Brewer OF the supreme court had ordered
a stay of execution on the application OF
the attorneys for MattoX for q WITT or
error.
THIS prevents the execution of Mtttox
in the jail of this county next Friday.
This demonstrates also that he is one of
the luckiest men alive. He seems to bear
charmed life, for any man but him would
have been hung long ago considering
the crimes he is alleged Co have committed
and the number of times he has been on
trial TO, his life and sentenced to death
There are not a few who think he viii
never be hung, and if their predictions
turn out correct the official gallows of the
county Jail will have to remain hungry
for long time before its appetite can be
appeased with victim. The county Is
about thirty-siN miles square and OF this
vast extent of territory there Is only
space of about 123 feet square
upon which a crime punish
able with death can be committed
aud that is one of the quarters of the
block in which the EAGLE Office Is located
viz: the postcifice lots which are said to be
subject to the laws of the United States.
Ii Il murder is committed in any other por-
ton of the county the death penalty would
not be inflicted for the offeuse under the
law and civilization of Kansas which are
against capital punishment IL can b.
easily seen then, that the chances for
hanging ara not very great sincs the In
dian Territory has been given jurisdiction
over its own crimes.