St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-03-12
HAYwARD,s NERVE.
1t Is Something Phenomenal, Says
Z Il Critic.

s Harry Hayward is the most remark
able human specimen ever saw.
During the past twelve years or more
it has been my good fortune, or other
wise. to see and perhaps talk with
nearly all the more important crim>
mails. and men who have been ac>
cused of serious crime, in M1nneapo-
lis. My relations with those GRIM
mails, and the circumstances under
which I have met them, were such as
enabled me to determine in a reasona-
bly, accurate way as to their real char
acter and disposition.
But Harry Hayward beats them all
in the respect of having peculiar and
perhaps unfathomable makeup. 1t
does not follow, necessarily, that be-
cause the convicted man declares his
innocence in a manner which causes
his nearer to stop for moment and
make the mental inquiry, Can it be
possible, in the presence of overwhelm.
ing evidence to the contrary, that this
man is really innocent?" that he pos
sesses any of the elements which go
to make up the hypnotist.
Now that a jury of twelve carefully
selected, honest and intelligent men
have passed judgment in this case, it
may be entirely proper to look upon
the condemned man just as he ap>
pears to one who was privileged to
visit him many times at the county
Jail during the progress of the trial.
Most of that which has been pub
lished in regard to Hayward has nat.
urally been of a condemnatory char.
acter. The tide of feeling and sentf>
ment which set in against the con>
demned man was so tremendous that,
perhaps naturally enough, there was
no time or disposition for the intro
duction of anything at all favorable to
him.
But there is perhaps no human being
however depraved and diabolical, who
is entirely without humane and praise
worthy traits. l have known Hayward
many years, and while never asso-
ciated with him socially or otherwise
have enjoyed his confidence. At his
repeated requests, and through the
courtesy of the sheriff, 1 spent half
dozen evenings with him behind the
bars. These visits were not specially
based OH sentiment, but rather made
because the prisoner had solicited
them. My visits to Hayward happened
to come at the more interesting period
of the trial. The first visit was i'm
5lmediately after the jury had been com,
pleted; the second just after Blixt told
his terrible story; the third after the
brother Adry's frightful arraignment;
the fourth after the accused had spent
couple of days on the witness stand;
Z the fifth after Wilson had given his
sensational testimony; and the sixth
| Immediately after Hayward's fate had
/ been sealed by the jury.
I 1t will be seen that these talks so
|. fell in point of time as to give the Wis
! itor an excellent opportunity to deter
mine what changes, if any, the more
pronounced and sensational and dam
Z aging features of the evidence had
|; upon the prisoner. But there was no
apparent change until the verdictcame.
There was not the slightest outward
appearance of any real disturbance.
Harry he did not give the slightest evil
dence of it. Not in appearance. nor in
demeanor nor in speech, was it posi-
BILE for the writer to see that the queer
mind was specially affected by the
changing and generally disastrous
features which followed one after an
other in the course of that great jul
dicial proceeding. The same cool, col
I-lected and apparently Indifferent de-
meanor characterized him throughout
trial which the longer continued,
must have impressed him with the
almost absolute hopelessness of his
case
Sitting in the very room and upon
the very spot where the Barrett broth
srs dropped to eternity; listening with