The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-02-17
WENT BRAVELY TO DEATH.
EARLY IN THE DAY HE WEAKENED
AND DROPPED HIS INSAN-
ITY.
PLAYED INNOCENT TO THE LAST.
On the ScaROld He Protested He Was
Gen. Brandenburg and Did Not
Deserve Death.

DuestroW, the ST. Louis millionaire.
who, on Feb. 10, 1894, shot and killed
his wife and child in that city, was
hanged here in the court yard Of the
county jail at 1855 today. A few hours
before the execution took place, Due
stroW threw off the mask of insanity,
sobbed like a woman, and admitted
that he killed his wife and child.
At 1890 Sheriff Puchta entered the
Jail to read the death warrant to Due
strow. The crowd all about was so
dense that it was almost impossible
to get near the place. A rope fenced
off space about twenty feet wide and
fifty feet long. Here the deputies,
twenty-five in number, patrolled back
ward and forward, keeping back the
crowd. When the newspaper men at
tempted to enter the Jail. they were
denied admittance. The sheriff had
promised that they might be present
at the reading of the warrant, but he
changed his mind at the last mo-
ment. They were even denied admis-
sion within the ropes. The sheriff was
SO excited that he did not know what
he was doing.
1t was but a few moments before
the hour of o'clock that the door
of the Jail opened, and the prisoner
accompanied by the sheriff and his
deputies, made their appearance in the
court yard. The prisoner looked like
| walking corpse, save for the light
In the brilliant, dark eyes that not
! even the confinement of nearly forty
| months could dim. He was clad in a
black suit, turn down collar and light
fedora hat. His head was erect The
| she11f looked really more perturbed
! AS they came to the stockade door. the
| deputies swung it back and the little
party passed in.
At THE SCAFFOLD.
Up the steps they went and behind
| them came the newspaper men, at last
accorded the privilege of seeing the
| execution. The work on the scaffold
was speedy. Duestrow placed himself
| on the trap. Sheriff Puchta bound his
| arms BEND him. his knees and ankles
| together. One woman passed him as
he stood there suffering She was a
| newspaper woman.
Have you anything to say?" she
| asked, almost ready to faint herself.
yes, let us have war" said the
| pintoned man.
The gruesome work went ON. The
ropes were all fast.
Arthur Duestrow." said the sheriff.
have you anything to say?"
Il am not Duestrow," was the quick
rejoinder, lowly spoken.
Have you anything to say?" repeat
ed the sheriff.
II say that we have war;" said the
man. II want to say that I am dying
| Illegally. l am not the man who killed
that woman. 1t is all a mistake. I
wish that some one would give my
kind regards to Gov. C. P. Johnson.
Say goodbye to him for me. Good bye
the Countess Won Brandenburg.
Il want to say furthermore, while
cannot comprehend all this, there must
be something wrong. 1t is beyond rea-
son. 1 have tried to do my duty all
my life: I have obeyed orders to the
best of my ability, and done what
seemed to be right.
Here he hesitated moment. and the
! sheriff made a move to put the black
cap on his head. He nodded a little
impatiertly, let the faint trace of
| smile flash over his thin wan face and
| cried out once more:
''Say farewell to Gov Johnson"
The black cap was adjusted. The
moose slipped around his neck by the
sheriff's own hands. Duputy Kreckel
took Ratchet in his hand to cut the
| rope that held the trigger.
Good bye Duestrow" cried several
men on the scaffold. There was no re-
| Spouse.
! Ready" cried the sheriff. Kreckel
raised his hatchet. Down it came flash
| ing in the sun; crash went the trap,
and Duestrow plunged through. The
rope frightened and stretched. The ex-
| ecution was perfect. Duestrow dying
| in twenty minutes from strangulation
After the body was cut down it was
| placed in a plain wooden box. Sheriff
| Puchta announced that he would turn
| it over to Hulda Duestrow, the dead
mans sister. and only surviving rela-
| tive, who will bury the remains in st.
| Louis beside those of his father.
| Before the hanging there was q SEN
| sational squabble to decide who should
| take the remains Of Dues'trow. Under
| taker George j. Eberle, of the firm of
| Eberle & KeyeS, arrived in Union last
| night with a letter from Hulda Dues
| trow, to the sheriff. She asked him to
| turn the body over to Mr.. Eberle. DIR.
| John II. Simon, one of the experts for
| the defense during the trials Of Dues
| trow, arrived this morning with a let
ter from Gov. johnson, the doomed
| mans attorney, to the sheriff, instruct
| ing him to turn the body over to the
| physicians. DueStrow himself was ap-
| pea1ed to to decide the matter, but
| haughtily declined to have anything to
| say Efforts were made by DR. Sim
| or get the coroner to hold q post
| mortern examination OF the body for
| the purpose of determining whether or
| not DuestrOw was insane, but tele-
| gram received from DR.. Schott, Of st.
| Louis, the Duestrow family physician.
inGtrnctinrr tho sheriff RI send tbo hodv