The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-10-03

ever since, hanging ninety-eight men SEN
fenced by the late Judge Parker who, dur
ing his term of service sentenced PIG men
to death and sent 10 600 to the penitentiary.
Speaking of his calling, Mr., Maledon said:
AT one time l had twelve men on the
scaffoid-five of them were commuted and
seven dropped az one movement of the
trigger. Every neck was broken. Through
out my entire service | never strangled
man or drew blood on him. When the neck
is broken the arms and shoulders drop
down. When there is strangulation they
shrug up.
Ninety per cent, of the men I have hung
committed crimes because of whisky, eth
er directly or indirectly. One of them,
Booth Crumpton held up a glass on the
scaffold and said:
Young men, when you take up a glass
to drink look into the bottom and see if
there is not a hangman's knot hidden
there"
zone of the worst men I ever hung was
Cherokee Bill. 1t was known that he had
killed twelve men, and had doubtless muir
dered twelve others He was in the Fort
Smith jail, from which no man has ever
escaped. He tried to get away, and the
guards fired sXty-two shots at him with
out MORALLY wounding him. During the
fight he shot and killed a very popular
guard named Keaton. The people on the
outside heard of it and attempted 10 mob
murderer,
defended him. Cherokee Bill killed his
brother-in-law, and said he did ii to see
him kick as he was always kicking at
everything
Il have hung Indians, negroes and white
men, and nearly all of them weaken.
Some of them seem calm, but when your
hand was placed upon them you could
always feel the muscles crawling and
trembling An Indian has a great horror
of hanging. They would much prefer to
be shot | have had them draw a black
mark on their clothes over the heart and
beg me to shoot them while in their cells.
They are great drunkards, and viii drink
red ink or any other t1ued which has al
cohol in it.
Jack Spaniard was another bad man.
He was the captain of the Belle Starr
gang She was shot and killed in the Red
river country not very long ago by man
in ambush She was born in Vernon
county, Missouri Jack fought like a de
mon when he started to the scaffold, and
it was necessary to choke him down.
Or Alexander was a brilliant and high
" educated man, but had a bad temper.
He witnessed several of my executions
and then killed a man. He was sentenced,
and knowing him so well, ! asked if he
would prefer some other man to hang
him.
do it yourself he said. You know
how. Break my neck short Off
II remember when Cherokee Bill was
brought out to the scaffold. He looked at
the crowd and exclaimed: Look at the
people I wonder what's going to hap
penn
His neck was larger around than his
head, and there were those who said the
rope would slip off, but it didn't.
1.-THE last man | hanged was Casirago,
an Italian He was the handsomest man
who ever went to the scaffold and was
sentenced for the murder of three girls
and two men, One was his sweetheart,
and he was jealous. He shot them all
within a few minutes 1t was believed
that he had no ground for his jealousy"
Mr.. Maledon has all the ropes. with
which the hanging was done. One espe-
cially good piece has hanged twenty-seven
men. While talking he made hang
mans moose as a souvenir, and courte-
ously asked if he could confer a favor by
fitting Il to the neck of the writer. Mr.
Maledon speaks with a. slightly foreign ac-
cent. His eyes are black, and he carries
his sixty-seven years with great ease. He
IS stiM the federal hangman at Fort
Smith.