The daily morning journal and courier., 1897-07-13
KLPPIE HANGS TOMORROW
CONDEMNED MURDERER AWAITS
 HTS DOOM AT WETHERSFIELD.

the Rev. John T. Lynch, the spiritual
 adviser of Murderer Ripple, who Is tc be hanged at the state prison after midnight Wednesday morning, will no- tify the condemned man to-day of the
 hour of his execution.
 1 Cronin and Hartlein, the two previ-
 ous murderers executed at the state ! prison, were not informed as to the | hour of execution until aroused from l sound sleep and told to prepare for the I last scene. Owing to Nipples disposi- ! tion it has been thought best to in- form him of the hour of execution well in advance.
 Warden Woodbridge has invited Dr. Joseph E. Root of this city to assist Dr. Fox, the prison surgeon, in exam ming Nipples body after death. The others who will be present at the exc cution as authorized by law, beside the warden, deputy warden and such guards as are necessary are the state prison directors, Sheriff Spiegel, two Roman Catholic clergymen, J. Birney Futile, Kippie's lawyer; reporters of each of the four Hartford daily papers and representatives of the following New Haven papers: Palladium, Reg ister, News, Union and Journal and Courier.
 Ripple has been measured for the suit in which he will be hanged. At first he objected, saying that the suit of clothes he wore, prison gray. was good enough for a man to be hanged in, but on being told by Colonel Wood bridge that 1t was usual to give 8 man a new outfit before execution he con- scented to be measured.
 A firm of Hartford undertakers will take charge of the body. and Deputy Baisden will accompany 1t to the place of burial as soon as it Is light We'd
 nesday morning. Nipples relatives
 have declined to take the body. His brother George, who lives In New Brit ain, has not visited him yet, and if he does he must come to-day, as Warden
 Woodbridge will not permit Ripple to receive visitors tomorrow.
 Father Lynch will tomorrow admin ister the sacrament to Ripple, instead of, as In the two previous cases. waiting until just before the execution.
 There Is no change in Nipples condi- ton. He Is still the same unrepentant, depraved man, and shows the same spirit of bravado and indifference to his fate which has characterized him ever since he was sentenced.
 KIPPIE IN PRISON.
 Thomas F. Ripple under sentence of death for killing his wife In this city, will be executed between midnight and 1 o'clock in the morning.
 The prisoner continues to eat heartily and sleeps fairly we'll. He is not of nature that worries. His weight has increased during his six months con- finement In prison, it now being 161 pounds. twenty pounds heavier than when he entered. The long hours of each waiting day are divided between pacing the steel cage and reading the papers. His interest Is manifested in anything relating to amusements. The articles on the building and operating of "the chutes" he kept trace of from day to day, and expressed a desire to the warden to see it. He told him, if permitted, he would give 1t a trial. Af- fer reading Mark Twain's "Innocents Abroad" in which he said that he was greatly interested his comment was that the author had shown up the shams of the ministers with forcible effect. He seems less morose and dogged than at first, welcomes eagerly any Interruption, however slight, such as brief salutation from Warden Woodbridge, who visits him daily. or the placing of his food before him.
 Ripple displays no unwillingness to talk, but on the contrary converses free iry,ca own ground, that is in straight forward, fearless way, about his situa- tloh. Any attempted conversation of sympathy he rejects at once. His de- meanor and talk indicate that he wants 10 De considered as a man without fear
 a man accepting a situation which he cannot prevent. And so after few words, he will Invariably branch off lnto an argumentative mood in his own crude way. He has never fainted away, he says, and Is not likely to, he reasons, when the time" comes. Still, Ripple went on to say that 1t Is impossible to tell what mans feelings will be when he comes to face the music, and he ar gued Very forcibly that he could tell better what his feelings would be when he began his march. They might be entirely different from what he had im- agined they would be- One thing he felt very certain of, and that was that he would not faint, nor would his knees knock together. The braggadocio and bravado of Ripple are strong charac- tertistics of the man. He seems to be determined to maintain them until the end.
 Nipples health has not suffered and his disposition is fairly cheerful, al- though he sometimes shows signs of de- pression and anger on account of his situation, which he attributes to iquor. claiming no knowledge of his crime. These tits of anger are only temporary. and 1t Is more than probable that his nerve, of which he seems to have a plentiful supply, and enforced fortitude will carry him to the gallows without hinching.
 new rope will be used at the execu- ton of Ripple, taken from the same coil that furnished the hemp for the hanging of Cronin and Hartlein. It is manila hemp, five-eighths of an inch in size, and has been thoroughly tested and stretched. Before the execution of John Cronin, Warden Woodbridge pur- chased of MT, Church a piece of rope sufficient for use In the automatic gal lows. This was also used at the hang ing of Caspar Hartlein. Some months