The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1896-12-04
MURDE RER FRANK JOHNSON
EXpiates His Awful Crime With His
Life.
He Was Firm and UhmOved to the Last
And Died Contrasting His Sin and
Begging For Mercy.

1 4,
was hanged last Friday morning. A
more disagreeable day-or a day
more in accord with the sad event
could not be imagined; all day long
the rain descended in torrents, add
ing gloom to the scene and a canny
kind of feeling to those who wit
messed the execution. The scaffold
upon which Johnson was hanged
was situated just behind the county
Jail, within an enclosure made for
the purpose.
A few hungry sight-seers gathered
without the jail-yard, stan ding
about in the rain and mud, and en-
6eavored to get peep at the sorrow
full sight; the execution was strictly
private, however, only about
eighteen or twenty persons witness
ing it.
Johnson spent his last night on
earth in tranquil rest and sleep. His
Thanksgiving dinner-consisting of
all the dainties usual for such fes-
tive occasions-was eaten heartily,
and his last breakfast was consumed
with as much uncOncern as if it had
been his wedding feast.
At 8 o'clock on the morning of the
execution, Turnkey Frasier went
TO Johnsou's cell and told him to
put on his hanging garb and pre-
pare for the execution. Shortly be-
fore 10 o'clock, Mr.. Frasier, accom-
panied by Deputy Sheriff Sam
Glenn, returned to the cell, hand
cuffed the doomed man, and carried
him out to the scene of his death
He assembled the steps leading up to
the scatfold with tread that was
firm and steady, almost TO spright-
illness. Johnson talked freely on the
scaffold and knelt down and prayed.
He said at the very last that he was
the only person who had anything
to do with the murder, and was very
sorry for it. He told the jail officials
to tell all the boys in the Jail good
bye for him, and to lead a better
life in the future than the past. The
sight presented while Johnson was
spending his last few minutes on
earth was enOught to bring sorrow
to any heart. Sheriff Webb, Messrs.
John Bellanfant, Sam Glenn, James
Forgey, John Frasier, Ben Harris,
Dalton oliver and Rev. Joe Elder
(col.) }, pastor of the Baptist Church,
occupied stands on the scaffold ;
while in the center of all, with the
cold rain descending upon him, only
waiting for the trap-door to fall and
usher bis soul into another world,
stood the miserable murderer, meek
ly confessing his sins before man,
and pleading to God for mercy.
One minute before the trigger was
sprung, Sheriff Webb told Johnson
that he had but one more minute to
live, and the doomed man replied
that he was glad it was so, and that
he was ready and willing to go.
He was firm and unmoved, so fal
as facial appearance showed, until
the very last moment, and, even
when the black cap was being
adjusted and the rope was being
tied about his neck, every lineament
in his frame was strong and steady
and he maintained the remarkable
composure which he had held ever
since bis incarceration.
At 10:l5 O'Clock, Sheriff Webb
pulled the trigger, the trap door
sprang back, and JohnsOn's body
shot like flash through the open
ing. The fall was about six feet
and his neck was broken. At the
end of four minutes, DIR. Joseph
VOORHEES,, the physician in attend
ance, pronounced the body dead
and it was cut down and given over
to the undertaken, j. M. Morton
(coD. His remains were inferred in
the negro cemetery in Columbia.
Thus did Frank Johnson quit hi:
earthly habitation; and thus did his
soul. burdened and blighted with
the revolving crime of murder, bu
sorrowing and penitent, go before
its Maker; tried by the courts O.
earth, found guilty, sentenced and
executed, his soul had taken an APP
peal to higher Court Of Justice
whose Judge is ever merciful.