The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-06-14

Yesterday morning Charles Thiede
was sentenced by Judge Hiles to be
hanged by the neck until dead be-
tween the hours of 10 a. m. and p. m.
on Friday, August Z. for the murder
of his wife at Murray in May, 1894.
The occasion when a condemned
man receives his death sentence is al
ways a solemn one and no matter how
heinous the crime he has committed
and how deserving of his fate he may
be, he is in a certain sense to be
pitied. 1t is SO with Thiede The crime
for which he is to suffer, the murder
of his wife, he a strong man and she
at best a weak, small woman, the
barbarity of the manner in which she
was sent out of the world and the
general circumstances of the killing all
go TO make the tragedy peculiarly re-
voting. Yet among the large crowd
which assembled in Judge Hiles' court
room yesterday morning there We're
many who felt very sorry for the I'M
fortunate man whose last hope is
practically gone, every mems known to
the law having been exhausted to save
him from the death penalty but with
out avail.
Thiede was brought in from the pen
itentiary, which has been his home for
the past eighteen months by Deputy
Sheriffs Gibbs and Guthrie and a little
after 20 o'clock was ushered into the
court room. He took chair in front
Of the judges bench within the bar
and held q whispered conversation
with his attorney Judge Cherry.
Judge HileS took his seat on the
bench a few minutes later, Bailif Ma
han proclaimed the court in session.
and an ominous silence fell upon those
who were present
LOOKED PALE AND NERVOUS.
Thiede looked pale and nervous but
of health He had ON the long prince
Albert coat which he were all through
the trial and was neatly dressed.
County Attorney Whit.emore was
the tirst to break the silence by NOV
ing That the sentence be pronounced in
accordance with the law and the man
date of the United States supreme
court.
Judge Cherry, on behalf of the de-
! PENDANT, entered a formal objection
which was overruled.
Judge Hiles, addressing the prisoner
| said Charles Thiede, you will stand
/ up. Thiede at once obeyed and his
honor briefly reviewed the case from
| the beginning, stating that the jury
before which Thiede was tried had
after duly considering the evidence
brought in a verdict of murder in the
first degree without a recommends
ton to mercy, which they might have
/ done had they thought the circum-
stances of the case justified it.
The prisoner in the meanwhile
moved uneasily from one foot to the
other and kept his eyes fixed on the
ceiling and leaned his arms on the
railing in front of Clerk Stanton's
| desk.
THE CONDEMNED MANS PLEA.
Have you anything to say why SEN
tence should not be pronounced?" ask
ed Judge Hiles
IF your honor please said Thiede
in his marked German accent, and
then he stopped. He bent his head
over and supported himself upon the
railing, while his body shook with emo
ton and the muscles of his face
twitched nervously. Everybody thought
he was going to break down entirely
and would have felt relieved had the
prisoner taken his seat and said no
more. But by an effort he drew him
self together and continued:
IF stood here before you from
now till tomorrow morning and went
| over every detail of this case my talk
would be in vain. 1 would like you to
consider my great bereavement, the
loss OF my dear and beloved wife, my
long confinement in prison. If the
! sweet spirits of my darling wife and
child could speak they would tell you
that l am innocent. I have been con-
victed OF this crime on manufactured
evidence. No effort was made to right
the wrong done me. Everything was
covered up. There is great danger OF
condemning a, man on that kind OF
evidence, but there is no prospect fol
me but the gallows.
Il plead to all of you" exclaimed
Thiede, as he turned squarely around
and faced the audience. for my limo
cence. Those who know me best know
that | am not guilty of shedding in.