The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-08-08
THE SALT LAKE HERALD, SATURDAY AUGUST g. 1885,

murderer expiated his crime. It is
simply and strongly made of heavy
timbers from which the baroness has
been taken by a thick coating of black
Paint. The says are by lne1.s
and the main timbers s by 10. 1t is
made after the fashion of the latest
scaffolds, and several states have OPP
Grated it successfully.
At the end of a rope, which extends
Through a series of puileys, is attached
a 450-pound Lead weight. The lever is
pulled out and this releases the weight
throwing the body upward with great
impetus. The breaking of the con-
simultaneous with the fall of the
weight.
PREVIOUS EXECUTIONS.
Charles Thiede is the seventh muir
derer in Utah who has suffered the
extreme penalty of the law. The most
notorious of his predecessors was
Enoch Davis. whose case bears some
similitude to that of Thiede. The
others were Fred Hopt, who was exc
cuted in the yard of the penitentdary
John D. Lee, who suffered death for
his fearful crimes in the Mountain
Meadows massacre; Jason S. Luce
and Wallace Wilkinson, executed ON
May Is, 1878, at Provo, and a murderer
who was hanged in the early days ON
the north bench.
THIEDE'S CAREER.
The life of Charles Thiede has been
a checkered one. He was born in the
little Teutonic hamlet of Pommeraln,
and his history has been that OF an
active boyhood and rowing and ad-
venturous manhood.
In the family of Thiedes there were
in oil ain oh
there were four pairs of Irvine. -Four
of this remarkable family were born
within ten and a half months, and the
whole eighteen had come into the
world when Thiede had reached the
age Of twentyone.
From the beginning his existence
was more or less of a struggle. He
faced the conditions manfully enough,
and set to work while yet a boy TO
aid in the support of the large family,
of whom he was one of the older mem
bers. His ancestors for many genera
lions had been old tars in their day,
and Thiede naturally drifted into the
seafaring life He began the sea life
on a man-of-war. and served for
number of years in the naVies of En-
gland and Chill. 1t was during this
service that hostilities broke out be-
tween Chill and Peru. and he was in
the midst Of the fight during the whole
war. He soon found that this life,
however full it might be Of adventures,
was not adding to his earthly stores,
and he soon after returned to his ma
tive land with the hope Of lettering his
condition pecuniarily.
This step proved to be unfortunate,
for he had scarcely landed in Ger
many when he was enlisted in the
army at the ggarly salary allowed
the common soldier. He went through
the requisite time as a soldier, and
during this experience learned the art
of cooking, profession which he
chung to for a long time afterwards
Before the necessary three years of
this involuntary servitude passed,
Thiede's mother died suddenly
This took much of the attraction out
of his home coming, but soon after he
returned to his old Pommerain. Here
he became enamoured of Miss Mary
Frank, for whom he had always had a
boyish attachment, and in 1884 they
were married
The tragic end Of this welded life
came almost exactly ten years later.
Thiede had always had desire to
migrate to America, and within a year
after his marriage he and Mrs. Thiede
left for the United States and inside of
a year were located at Sandy. The
last three years of his life have been
dragged out in prison cells, as a pen
atty for the murder of the woman who
had shared his early joys and sorrows.