Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1896-12-26
HARRY HAYES CASE.
4 INNS" Contributor Interviews
The Condemned Han.
SOME IMPRESSIONS RECEIVED.
Ncarly All Favorable to IIayes-Eyi
din.o Old aud N,W Considered
Capital ENLISTMENT Discussed

Hanging Is poor business ut the
best, and for the victim OF 1t IL often
very dangerous.
1t Goes more harm than good, and
always did.
1t !s au illuminating, unchristian-
like Practice born Uu Of name imag-
ined necessities at time when he wa.
stepped 10 bag barlansm anu saturated
with tupers.ition.
Its irq1out recurrence in COM
munity has the effect, as we OF Utah
have already obsp!oed, OF induratinE
the condolences, wrapping tho instincts
AMI Weakening the eouliuluees o mum
kind, withou, in the slightest return.
ing compeneating good; on the con.
trary, the practice lives 10y what it
feeds on; the more hangings the more
occasion for them. IL 1t not st2 AZ
the poem gays OF another evil:
Vice IL q monster OF such hldcous nI-4
To- he despIscd ncels only 10 be seen.
Hut once pehuld, familiar with he face,
We hrsI endure, then PITY then embrace.
Bot IT Is doubtless IN article regard.
| ing Harry Hayes and not a honlily on
the subject OF hanging that you want,
| although this two theses are quite
compatible, relating US they DO to the
same goueral outcome.
In cell probably ten feet square
every way, being doubtless comIUrtn-
ble enough at this timo OF the year,
but which must be somewhat Oppres.
| slve during the summer III onths, is tho
man spoken OF, who, unless tue board
| OF pardons 9hall intervene, will pass
| into eteru!ty Mt the emu OF rope GA
the 22nd OF next month. Tho cell 10
| steel, ana all around anu about 1t,
reaching quite 10 the ceiling, is "a
| strong itAusveTse grating oi the same
! material. The intersticgs are Just wide
| enough for an ordinary hand 10 TO
large that the prisoner himself
could effect an exit through them,
| II would DO him no good at
all, ne the death watch Oh the floor be-.
low has the coll II not the inmate in
| full view all the time, day ana night
In order TO obtain IN interview with
him the sheriff OF Utsh county, Mr..
| BTOwn--n very RHable ana efficient
| officer, by the by-must first be inter.
| viewed, and he Ia also silent anu
| patient participant in the other inter.
| view.
The way 1t all came about was this;
In Salt Lake City 10 "A more or less
| mythical society called the "AnnTch.
| let CLUB" IL has meetings at street
corners anu in the Knutsioru rotundn /;
| | never knew OF one being held else
where. One evening recently, Mt the
latter place, the subject OF Heyes's I'M
pending doom came up and the onelu.
zion was Immediately and Unanimous.
| ly reached that, In view OF the double
tict that there are grave doubts regard
Ing the mans guilt and we have had
about our quota OF executions during
tho last few months, sa effort should
be made to save-not altogether the
| person, but tho State--from the ig-
lomlny Involved I'D the execution OF
man because, as alleged, he was not
| properly defended. Tue Undersigned
was delegated to visit the condemned
for the purpose Of examining, cross.
examining ana otherwise obtaining, il
possible, any new light on the subject.
| Csndor compels me to say did not
| get very much that was absolutely
new, but the little that was got may
| iNAh W NAbG anu III lkHElI
| worthy OF consideration.
The sheriff led the way through the
| jail door, past the eating room
and up short flight Of iron
1 steps; arriving at u landing we found
ourselves almost in front OF the door
| of Hayes cell, which WAS open, He
| was In his underclothes, sitting on his
bed engaged in reading; on lbeinR
| called he Immediately adjusted his
rsiment and came into the open space
through the center of (which runs the
! grating spoken OF and through which
| the talking was done. Hayes is come.
what above the average height aud
slender: be has light beard and
scattering greyish hair; he gives his
age as ~, but he looks older. When he
| talks-wnich he does freely and entire
| ly without vehemence or questionable
shows double row OF teeth that are
| not, except In certain abstract
sense, the work of nature. A serles OF
| question ng elected from him the in.
leresting statement that his suspicious
rested upon one Gus Slads together
| with ON HOlmstead and the latter's
son, as knows mo 70 Of the Pelican
Point tragedy than the prisoner ever
did or could, their knowledge being,
according to Hayes, the result OF par.
ticiDetiOn while HE WAS purely and
wholly heaIsay. Tho prisoners wifeithe
himself have recently found out, as ia
claimed, that the other parties named
were at the point before the killing ana
were heard to make threats against the
boys; some young men named Cedar
str0m were there at the time, and the
boys who we're subsequently slain were
told that II they didn't get away from
there they "wOuld get something elso
after them" This may seem little or
| considerable; tho police or that portion
Of 1t familiar with the evidence as
| given at the trial, can weigh II in that
connection, ana deoiue accordingly.
But II 1t he q fact, as claimed, that
| such language was ueed In q threaten
ing tone, or At all, toward the victims,
and that 1t was nol previously known,
then 1t is entitled TO the greatest con.
| alteration. Aid to this tine claim Of
the prisoner, fortified by evidence apart
f50m his own, that on the night Of the
| 18th OF February, 1895, the date on
which the killing Is considered to have
| occurred, ana for several days
before ana alter, he was not at
hia ranch near Pelican Point
at ALL but la tho town OF Eureka
engaged in honest labor, sad there 10
not much chance that It Is best to call
a halt ere IL Is elernally too late.
Let me mere for "a short space use
Hayes's own language as 1t was given