The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-04-12
(. 4 Carl SMITH ROMANCE ;



When Carl Smith, the Fired at Ran
dom" man of the Chicago Record, was
| here last month. the newspaper men en-
tertained him at the Vienna, and one OF
the boys told of his experience while doing
1 the Coughlin execution This brought
out the remark from the hester of the
| fraternity that at one time in Utah ter
| ritory man under the death penalty
had the choice of three modes of exc
cution-to be shot, hanged, or beheaded
Carl was observed making a few ca
balistic notes on his ivory tablets when
this was mentioned, and the sequel was
told in the following story in the Chicago
Record:
Sanpete county is located in Utah, and
Utah is the state where they sometimes
shoot murderers instead of hanging
them.
But. although custom supports death
by the bullet, there was a time when the
territorial laws were more liberal. They
offered a condemned man a full menu of
death. One sentenced to give up the
ghost for capital offense was allowed
to choose between hanging. shooting and
decapitation. AT least so it was written
in the leather-backed books, but only
one man is known to have chosen the
sicing process. and it is of him that this
story is written.
Gridley. who had no first name and
whose surname was a matter of con-
venience according to the part of the
country in which he was residing, had
tracing to bring an irrigation ditch into
the Sanpete country and to spend some
money among the people. Previously
Gridley had assaSsinated a few odds and
ends of SuperfuouS men, and little had
been thought of it. but on this occasion
the disappointment of the people thus
suddenly and wickedly deprived of their
ditch and the prosperity which its con-
struction would bring. surmounted Gus
TOM and Gridley was arrested, and, to
his intense surprise locked up. tried and
came down one day when he had nothing
better to do and calling the convicted
Gridley before him. told him that ac-
cording to law he could select either to
the end of a rope or to be bisected in
the neighborhood of the neck.
well. Judge said Gridley. IF it's
all the same to you. I've always kind Of
.hankered 10 have my head chopped off.
1t seems such a firSt-claSS an bon-ton
way of shuffiin' off. Most any Teller can
go over into Colorado or Nevada an be
tied to a beam. but this here looks like
a sort of exclusive thing. Chopin it is
Everybody in the court room was sur
prised and many were eminently dis
pleased. 1.-The Gridley hangin' had been
curSions from other camps had been ar
ranged for, and it was a serious question
with the reception committee whether or
not anything but hanging would suit the
tastes of the expected guests. Especially
was James b. Hartwenter, the sheriff
disturbed by Gridley's decision. Hart
Wenter was q humane man, and he had
been putting in several days OF practlc-
inc a crew of marksmen and a gang of
scaffold experts with the view of max
ing Gridleys exit as comfortable and eX-
peditious as possible when it came TO the
day of the passing out Hartwenter him
self had no liking for the business of
methodically killing men by programme,
but he felt that with lot of unknown
rifiemen aiming at culprits heart there
could be no after remorSe, because no
body would ever know whose bullet had
killed. and to some extent the same con-
ditionS prevailed in a hanging where the
cord was cut by a man unknown to those
present But a decapitation. There was
no fashion of concealing identity in such
a case-no comfortable way of believing
that nobody knew just who had done the
killing. And as he. the sheriff, was the
official directed to perform on the
day, he felt intensely wor
ried. He went to Gridley in his cell.
Look here" he said, what kind of a
fool notion is this of yourn? Don't you
know you'll spite your clothes an waller
around in disgustin' way analogous to
chicken killed fer dinner? What sort of
a dignity is there to the demise of man
by use of butchers cleaver?
What you want to do is to git up there on
a scaffold like a man with some idea of I.
etiquette. an be swung off like the Swan /
Creek people expect you to.
Gridley nred up. who is furnishin the |
goods fer this here entertainment" he
Me or Swan Creek? The /
judge passed the thing up to me, an l |
made my bet, an it was fer the cuttin'-"
But doggone it all, don't you see m /
an interested party? l don't want to /
stand out there in the sun an chop at /
you like man workin' on stove-wood. L |
amt used to it, an, moreover, you ain \
used to it, an wen make blamed botch |
Of it,
Gridley leaned back independently and /
ouffed twice at his cigar. Jim he said. /
Il voted fer you. an I'd do most any /
thing fer you. But look here. !
10 me. This is a paramount case | amt /
maxim no kick on the KILN, but bein'
The star boarder so to speak, | demand /
ny rights Look here. Who was shot
asst month? Hunko Pado, a blamed
Mexican that you an me wouldn't rec
,'nize socially. An who was hung in
June? Old Bill Grason. a miserable crit
hats the way it's been since l been here.
Not decent. high-toned gentleman has
sver been hung or shot. Do YOU think L m
goir' to start it? No, sir There's some
him renowned an blood-stirrin' an dig
lified in bein' beheaded. an them's my
.hoosin's. Why they'll TELEGRAPH about 1t
Ill over the east, an I'll be notorious like
~. It's the great moment of my life.
There is a tide in the affairs of men, you
now an this is my tide. Who remem-
)ers Hunko Pado or GraSon today? No
me- But fer years this camp'll talk about
low Gridley stood UP and took his KILN
Ike a man in a picture, an. you'll none
# you fergit me-