St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-12-08
sides of the question impartially, and

then reached his own decision.
1t is apparent from a talk with
Gov. Clough that he gives but little
credence to the theories of insanity.
He said last night: Harry may be
insane now. 1 don't know anything
about that. A man who has gone
through with what he has during
mind shaken considerably. If he is
insane now, do not see that it makes
any difference. He had a fair trial
before a judge and jury, strictly i'm
partial in their views. Then the ver-
dict was returned. 1 was called upon
to fix the day of the execution, and in
accordance with the laws of this
state, 1 named it. Then an appeal
was taken, and Hayward had
chance to make the last appeal. He
has resorted to every eXpedient fur
niShed by the laws Of the state and
failed to show that he is innocent.
My duty was plain. The laws of
Minnesota declare that the penalty
shall be hanging when convicted
under the crime with which he was
charged. There were no mitigating
circumstances, and while I have
the deepest and most heartfelt SYM
pathy for the father and mother, 1
could not let their pleadings stand in
the way of my seeing the laws of the
state executed, as it was intended
they should be.
1t would not be justice to the people
of the state of Minnesota, if 1 sat my
self up as a higher authority than the
courts of the land, and changed the
sentence to imprisonment for life.
There was absolutely no ground on
which communication could have been
made. The prisoner did not make the
plea in court that he was insane at the
time the crime was committed; there
was no evidence to show insanity at
the time and 1 do not believe it would
have made much difference if there had
been any evidence. The man was con-
victed of the crime, and under the laws
my duty was plainly to fix the date,
and let the law take its course.
What determined you in fixing the
date, governor? was asked.
Nothing that I know Of No one
was taken into my confidence in the
matter. 1 had decided that Friday was
just as good as any other day and that
a hanging could occur OH one of the
other days of the week just as easily
as on Friday. For that reason 1 Sc
lec,ed Wednesday. 1 do not believe in
fostering these public superstitions.
For that reason, 1 think that Wednes-
do nth C-ox- in,
better suited to the hanging.
Has the 11th any significance in
connection with the crime?
None whatever that I know of.
merely selected it because 1 thought it
nificance whatever.
Governor Clough gave some inter- |
esting information about the efforts |
made to impress him and get him to
change the sentence from hanging to |
life imprisonment.
Two petitions were presented to him. |
One of these was gotten up among
the business men of Minneap polls, and /
it stated that in view of the recent /
disclosures concerning Hayward and |
the general belief that he was insane, /
the petitioners asked judicial clemen-
cy and the communication of the SEN
tence to life imprisonment. This was
signed by 156 persons, and among the
number were many prominent bus
mess men of Minneapolis. This petit
ton In all probability had greater
weight with Gov. Clough than any
other argument, and the chief ex-
ecutive would not divulge the names
of any of the signers. This petition
was presented Friday evening and was
carefully considered by Gov. Clough
as soon as it was presented to him.
The other petition was from the
of this city. 1t contained
more than a dozen names and the
plea for Communication of the sentence
was made on the same ground. 1t
was presented early last week. The
petition was signed entirely by physic-
ians, and the most of those siging it
were persons who are specialists in
the matter of diseases of the mind.
Gov. Clough has also received any
number of letters from persons who
desire to have some say in the matter
of disposing of Hayward. Many of |
these letters are from persons of a re-
ligious turn of mind, who regard cap
ital punishment as much of a crime as
the murder itself. Quotations are
made from the Scriptures in some of |
these letters and every argument pos
sible is brought forward to convince
the governor that the law is wrong.
Some of these letters have tinge of
the crank in their written statements,
while others are strongly opposed to
the governor showing any mercy.
Some of them were unsigned, others
had anonymous signatures and few
were signed with the names of the
writer's. One of these received yes
terday was from Austin, another was