The Irish standard., 1896-01-04
KIND OF 4 man HE Was
Harry Hayward's Characters Care
fully Summed Up by
Father cleary.
His Execution Was the Result of
a Profligate and IT.
religious Life.

Glide Through the Gates
of Heaven.
The following article has been contrib
| ,lted to the press by Father J. NJ. Cleary,
pastor OF St. Charles church:
':Tlle public has been 'surfeited with
sensational tales bearing on the Hayward
case Will we never get to the end Of
this miserable affair? OF Course, have
| felt great reluctance to making any pub
lie: statement, in view of what appeared
at least to be my confidential relations
with the callcus criminal. At the outset,
/ wish to emphasize the fact that I had no
confidential relations, such as are usual
:. lp supposed to exist between a spiritual
adviser and criminal, ever existed be-
tween Harry Hayward and myself He
I never took me into his confidence. and
never made any kind of a confidential
confession to me. In yielding to the re-
| paated opportunities Of many, to give a
public statement of my opinion of Hay
L
no sense violating any confidence reposed
in me- The public, and especially the
newspaper reporters, we'll know how per-
sistently refused to be interviewed, OF to
/ make any statement for publication con-
cerning HayWard's' case. After. mature
reflection, / feel convinced that some good
may possibly result from giving publi-
cation at the present time to my view Of
! the terrible case.
Harry Hayward sent for me of his
own accord, without my name having
| been suggested by anyone, about the 11th
or 10Th of March last. | had never met
ham before and had seen him but once,
on the occasion of the only visit made
| by me to the criminal court during, his
trial. Why he should send for me natur-
ally was the first question that suggested
I itself He explained by stating that Miss
Cling had frequently mentioned my name
| to him, and he had always been inter-
ested in the Catholic religion, particular
| ly since his acquainta nee with Miss Cling.
He stolrtly maintained from my first n
| terview with him until the last, on Mon
! day afternoon before his execution, thai
| Miss Cling was one of the purest and
noblest women he had ever met, and he
professed to believe that her charming
modesty and wonderful purity were the
result Of her fidelity to her religion. He
professed a very earnest desire to learn
more about the Catholic faith and to be-
come a member of the Catholic church,
after clearly understanding it's doctrines.
! Like many others who live outside the
pale Of religious Influences, and who know
| little or nothing about the old church,
although they imagine themselves much
| wiser than all its members, he seemed
| to think it would tickle my vanity very
much to capture him as a, member of my
fold He also, like the large class men,
I toned, seemed to indulge in the delu-
| sion that all he would be required to do
would be to profess his belief in the
| church, to say that he accepted Christ
as his Savior and that the church then
| would make it easy for him to glide into
|. the other world, among the elect Of God.
! need scarcely add that I did not waste
much time in disabusing his fanciful
mind of all such superstitious hallucina-
! tions.
| ~ very plainly told him that while his
! conversion would bring JOY to the angels
hell hl; membership with the church
could bring no honor here on earth, and
| that were he to declare his profession OF
| faith in the doctrines and s;lcraments OF
1.-THE church. he not the church, would be
| the gamer His vain delusions vanished
! into thin air when I assured him that
sincere and heartfelt repentance was an
| Indispensable perquisite to pardon Tor
F! sin, and that no repentance could be sin
| cere while wrong committed by the Of
fender were not righted. that restitution
must follow repentance before Gods for
giveness could reach the sin-stained soul.
To a conceited young man who had so
I long fancied that he had fooled the world
and that he could fool God and his church
upon earth, this kind of practical talk
was rather surprise. Religion, he had
supposed was mostly sentiment, and the
exhibition of little we'll arranged senti-
ment would WIN for him all the advan-
tages that religion had to offer.
e.IIe seemed very much surprised when
assured him that religion first sought to
win the loyalty OF mans intelligence be-
fore it captured the affections OF MS
heart. that true religion was simply the
reasonable service which the !ntellec-
t1Ial creature should render to his Gre
ator For some time he manifested con-
siderable interest in religious matters,
read and discussed all the books Of n.
strliction which placed in his hands.
But never placed much confidence in his
sincerity, for the reason that he seemed
far more interested in plans Of escape
from prison, or in the result of the appeal
to the supreme court. He stoutly MAN
tanned his innocence Of the crime until
after the supreme court had given its de-
scision His dish honesty with me in tins
respect, very natural ly confirmed my
su uspicions Uf4 his sincerit ty "a left nothing
undons to convince h m OF my belief OF his
guilt, and repeatedly assIred him that lie
would be executed on the scaTold as sure
IL as ne had been convicted jury
of his peers, and that every intel i$6r
man in this community felt as certa1h h:af
his gull as the jury that connected HIN,
So sehooled was he, however IN decepti ion
TIL at lie still farpcied he had fooled the
Werld. After the supreme ce,lr had
passed upon his case, ne made no further
@pretense of innocence of the crime. Dur
ing d il nur acQuaintanee, he inyariabiys
treated NE with studied court sand reaaSj
sreet. curing our last Interview, on AIon-s
lay before shis3ex ecu Jon he pressed his
ffude again and again fot the Inter
lad ken fns ais bel..efa
I'm aiIle ana l11t ierIafs
sthafs He WDsIld die am slfe tAl
memo ao6n
3