The record-union., 1897-04-24
Was Very Cool, and Met His Fate With
Apparent Indifference
Not a Culver of Pain or the Slightest
Struggle After the Trap Was
Sprung by the At
tending Physicians the Most Sue
cessfuI Hanging Which Has Yet
Taken Place at the Prison.

SAN QUENTIN PRISON, April %
The day dawned bright and clear at
San Quentin this morning. 1t was the
date set for the hanging Of Frank
kloss, who brutally murdered William
Deedy in San Francisco on April Is,
1895. KIoss spent a quiet night. He
did not fall asleep until early this morn
ing, but that was not an unusual oc-
currence, as he was usually awake I'M
Ill nearly dawn.
For the past week he had been re-
ceiving the religious ministrations of
Father Lagan of San Rafael, and the
guards said that he was prepared to
die as a Christian.
No visitors were allowed to see the
condemned man this forming. He re-
manned in his cell in the company OF
the death watch.
Kloss babe his mother farewell sew
eral days ago. His brother called yes
terday at the prison, arranged for the
funeral and returned home.
A number of physicians, Sheriff
Whelan and Chief Jailer Sattler of San
Francisco, newspaper men and the pris-
on officials comprised the sole specta-
tors of the final exit of Frank Kloss.
At twenty minutes past 10 O'Clock
Warden Hale went to the cell of the
condemned man to read the death war
rant The prisoner was talking to
Father Lagan, his spiritual adviser, at
the same time smoking a cigarette.
He told Warden Hale not to read the
warrant The Warden asked him if he
waived the reading, and the prisoner
said, Yes"
The guards at once strapped Kloss'
hands to his sides and put a leather
belt about his ankles.
Fathers Lagan and Egan stood, one
on each side of him, the guards
grouped themselves about, and the
march to the gallows was begun, while
the priests chanted the prayers for the
dying.
At exactly half-past 10 o'clock Kloss
was placed upon the trap. Father La
gan stepped forward and requested the
attention of the spectators. He said
Kloss had asked him to deny the asser-
ton which appeared lately in some of
the newspapers regarding brutal treat
ment of his mother by the murderer.
Father Lagan asked the newspapers
to do justice to a man who denied with
his dying breath the story of his I'M
filial conduct
When the clergyman had concluded
the rope was put around Kloss' neck
and the black cap drawn over his
head.
Through it all the man was perfect
master of himself Just before the cap
was pulled over his eyes he recognized
Chief Jailer Sattler of the County Jail.
He smiled and nodded as though he
We're passing a friend on the street.
His eye then lighted on another &C
Quaintance, TO whom he bowed.
Then the black cap shut the world
from his gaze forever. When every
thing was adjusted, Warden Hale
raised his hand, the three men hidden
in the box cut the ropes, the trap fell
and the body Of Frank Kloss was shot
into the air.
There was not a culver Of pain OF
the slightest struggle. The rope
swayed for a moment and then the
body hung like the motionless pendu-
1um of stopped clock.
Doctor Lawlor, the prison surgeon
and his assistants for the occasion
Drs. Wickman and Jones of San Ra-
fael, and Mattner, Cook and c. H
Douglass of San Francisco, felt the
pulses and listened for the respiration
All action in the body ceased at the
end of twelve minutes. A second after
the trap opened Kloss was insensible
and practically dead.
The physicians, all of whom have at
tended the previous executions at the