The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1897-06-10
GK1DLEY'S CHOICE.
1T WAS A WISE ONE, AS SUBSEQUENT
EVENTS PROVED.

! san Iele county is located In Otah, ana
/ Utah is the state where they sometimes
shoot murderers instead of hanging them.
But, although custom supports death by
! the bullet, there was time when the ter
! ritoral laws were more liberal. They
/ offered n condemned man full menu of
/ death. One sentenced to give up the ghost
/ for IA capital ofiense was allowed to choose
/ between hanging, shooting and decapita-
/ tlon. At least so it was written in the
| leather backed books. But only one man
/ Is known TO have chosen the slicing proc
ess, and IL is of him that this story is
written.
Gridley, who had no first name, and
whose surname was "a matter of conven-
/ fence according To the part of the country
in which he was residing, had injudicious-
| " killed man who was contracting to
bring an irrigation ditch into the San
! Pete country and to spend some money
among the people, Previously Grldley had
assassinated few odds and ends of super
fluous men, and little had been thought of
il, but on this occasion the disappoint-
inept of the people, thus suddenly and
wickedly deprived of their ditch and the
prosperity which its construction would
bring, surmounted custom, and Gridley
was arrested, and to his intense surprise
locked up, tried and convicted of murder.
The district judge came down one day
when he had nothing better to do, and
calling the convict Gridley before him
told him that according to law he could
select either to be made into a target, to
be dropped at the end of n rope, or TO DO
bisected in the neighborhood of the neck.
"Well, judge" said Gridley, eff it's all
the same to you, I've always kind of han
kered to have my head chopped off. 1t
seems such first class an bon ton way of
shufflin off. Most any Teller can go over
into Colorado or Nevada an be tied to u
beam, but this here looks like sort of ex-
elusive thing. Chopin it is. .
Everybody in the courtroom was sur
prised and many were eminently dis
pleased. 1.-THE Gridley hangin" had been
talked of for two weeks and several ex-
cnrsions from outside 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, dis
turbed by Gridley's decision. Hartwenter
was humane man, and he had been put
ting in several days of practicing "a crew of
marksmen and gang of scaffold experts
with the view of making Gridley's exit as
comfortable and expeditions as possible
when it came to the day of the passing out.
Hartwenter himself had no liking for the
business of methodically killing men by
programme, but he felt that with lot of
unknown rlflomen aiming ut culprits
heart there could be no after rcmorse, be-
cause nobody would ever know whose bull
let had killed, and to some extent the same
InI Ia, -I,r..
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 believ
ing that nobody knew just who had done
the killing. And as he, the sheriff, was
the official directed to perform on the
slaughtering day he felt intensely worried.
He went TO Grdley in his cell.
''LooB here, - he said "What kind of
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 for dinner? What sort of a
dignity is there to the demise of n man alb
breviated by use of butchers cleaver?
What you want to do is TO git up there on
a scaffold like man with some idea of
etiquette and be swung off like the Swan
Greek people expect you to-"
Gridley fired up. "Who is furnishin the
goods fer this here entertainment, he de-
manded, "me or Swan Creek? The judge
passed the thing up to me, an made my
bet an it was for the outtin."
"But, doggone it all, don't you see I'm
an interested party? i don't want to have
to stand out there in the sun an chop at
you like man workin on stove wood. /
amt used to it, an, moreover, you amt
used to it, an we ii make u blamed botch of
it."
Gridley leaned back independently and
pulled twice at his cigar. "Jim," he said,
81 voted fer you, an I'd do most any rea-
sonable thing for you. But look here! This
matter of your desires amt nothin to me.
Thisis u paramount case. amt maxim
no kick on the KILN, but bein the star
boarder, so to speak, l demand my rights.
Look herel Who was shot last month";
Hunko Pado, blamed Mexican that you
an me wouldn't reco'nize socially. An
who was hung in June? Old Bill Grason,
miserable critter without lineage nor
posterity. An that's the way it's been
since l been here. Not decent, high
toned gentleman has ever been hung or
shot. Do you think I'm gon to start itp
No, sir There's somethin renowned an
DlOOu Stlrrln an ulBfllueu III Dcln DcHedu-
| ed, an thems my choosins. Why, they'll
| TELEGRAPH about it all over the east, an I'll
be notorious like the president of the
! United States, an so on. It's the greatest
moment of my life. There is n tide I'm the
affairs of men,, you know, an this is my
| tide Who remembers Hunko Pado or
Grason today No one. But fer years this
camp'll talk about how Gridley stood up
an took his KILN like man in pictur,
an you'll none of you fergit me. p"
! Hartwenter was sad and gloomy. He
had no taste for his forthcoming job, and
he argued and entreated Gridley to be
obliging, but Gridley would not. 1t was
the chance of his lifetime, and he did not
mean to throw it away. Hartwenter offered
to paint tho gallows in three colors and
have some flowers for distribution as SOU
venirs. in vain. The heartsick sheriff on
the night before the day set for the execu-
ton visited Gridley for the last time with
his final appeal. But Gridley, growing
eloquent concerning the unique character
of his impending decease, positively re-
fused all proffers of rope or bullets. Hart