San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1894-05-25

Tor them and kept for several
days.
May never has made a confession
duplicating any one. Letters
found on him when he was
captured proved that he
came from near Cotulla and
that gang had planned
the affair, but nothing else has
ever become known. His trial and
conviction followed swiftly on his
his crime and last spring the
karnes county jury decreed that
he should be hung on the 25th Of
May, In expiration of his crime.
The verdict was universally ap-
proved.
May, during his incarceration in
the Bexar county Jail, where he
was placed for safe keeping after
his sentence was known, attempted
and nearly succeeded i'm commit
ting suicide by poison. He was re-
vived by the physicians after hours
of hard labor. Since that time he
seems to have accepted his fate re-
signedly.
After May was removed from his
cell in the BeXar county Jail, on
last Wednesday afternoon, and
was at the railway depot with
Sheriff Scale, awaiting the train
which took him to Karnes City, he
told LIGHT reporter that he had
nothing to say for publication
that he had something to say, but
would say it on the gallows. He
said he had left something in his
cell, which he would like to have
published, and gave the reporter
authority to publish.
The reporter in the afternoon
visited the Jail, walked In the de-
serted, open cell and found the fol-
lowing paper, probably the last
written words Of May:
SAN ANTONIO, Tex,
May %, 1894
will leave a few lines here in
regards to this Jail and the way 1t
is run, for l have been here some
time. When | first came here
Adolpho Vidal was head jaiior and
a very competent man for the
place, but since then Rafael Mar
tinez has been made head jailor
and | can safely say that he Is not
competent man, for he is very
dece.teful, and il am any judge of
human nature, he is a twO-faced
man all around, and he has treated
me very badly, just because the
county where | was convicted
would not pay man to guard me.
Just fifteen days before l was to be
hung he tried to feed me on Jail
grub, and just because | would not
eat it he got very mad at me, but
will say that Sheriff John Camp
bell has treated me very nice and
l think that he is perfect gentle
man in every respect. So l will
close. Yours respectfully,
JOHN ID. MAY.
HISTORY OF EXECUTIONS.
This is the fifth legal execution
In the new jail, and the seventh
one in BeXar county.
Capt. Il. p. Mccall, who served
many terms as sheriff, hung four,
as follows: Jose Cordova, Jake
Handline, Chas. Ward and Jim
Mccoy.
The, ex-sheriff said to a LIGHT
reporter last evening: Jose Cor
dova was hung for the murder and
robbery Of Bob Trimble, out near
Castroville. There were three
brothers captured, but the young
est was set free, on account Of his
youth, while the next brothers
death sentence was committed to
life imprisonment.
"Handline came next, and fol-
lowing him came the one.legged
negro, Charley Ward. He was
hung for rape and murder.
"Jim Mccoy was hung for muir
der of Sheriff Mckinney, Of La
Sale county. He also was one
legged man. At the time these ex-
ecutiOns took place l had about
twenty murderers in the Jail. 1
personally attended to all the de-
tails, pinioned the arms of each of
the condemned. Adjusted the moose
about their necks and put on the
black hood over their heads. When
1 gave the signal from the scaffold
by dropping my handkerchief to
the floor, the pin was knocked out
from the trigger and the trap was
sprung"
"Who sprung the trigger? Why,
Jose Penaloza for Cardova, George
Gleason for Handline, Bob Alex
ander for Ward and Jesse Bennett
for Mccoy. They were all my dep
uties, and did so because | could