Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1897-06-19
Doomed 10 Death.

1saoor CaVanangh, indicted under the
name Of Charles Brown, who was con-
yicted on the 10th inst. upon the charge
Of the murder of Mrs. L. p. Stone, re-
ceived the death sentence Of the Law
renee county circuit court at Deadwood
on Saturday last, and will expatiate his
crime upon the gallows on Wednesday,
July l4th, between the hours Of 10
o'clock a. m. and o'clock p. m. When
called up for sentence, the criminal
betrayed no signs of emotion whatever,
and when interrogated by the court as
to whether he had any legal cause to
show why the law should not be pro-
nounced, promptly replied, none at
ALL" Addressing the criminal, the
court said:
II shall haye very little to say to you.
The crime with which you are charged
was horrible. | have serious doubts as
to whether you entered that chamber
with the intention of killing Mrs. Stone.
think you were after money with
which to continue the gambling that
you had begun earlier in the night.
But whether you went in there TO muir
der her, or, being in there, found that.
as you thought, the only way to avoid
detection, amounts to the same in the
eyes Of the law. You were in the act of
felony when you entered that cham
ber. The penalty about to be pro-
nounced upon you is the severest known
TO human law, not in the spirit of
revenge, but of necessity; not because
you are a colored man-not as punish
ment to you, but to deter others in the
taking of human life. To let them
know that they cannot take the life of
others except at the sacrifice Of their
own. The court appointed you two able
lawyers for counsel-men of wide ex-
periencs in cases similar to yours. No
excuse has been shown why you com
mitted this crime. No plea could be
entered in your behalf
1T is by the court considered, ordered
and adjudged, and the sentence and
judgment Of the court is that you, Isador
Cavanaugh, indicted rs Charles Brown,
be remaHded hence TO the county Jail of
Lawrence county, in the state of South
Dakota, the place from whence you
came, and that there you be Imprisoned
under the charge, custody and control
of the sheriff Of said county to and until
Wednesday, the l4th day Of July, A. ID.
1897, upon which day you shall be
thence taken and conducted by the
sheriff of said Lawrence county, to the
place of execution, in said county, as
designated by law, and then and there,
between the hours Of 10 o'clock in the
forenoon ard 4 o'clock in the afternoon
of the said day, be hanged by the neck
until you shall be dead and may God
have mercy upon your soul"
The doomed criminal has been placed
in solitary confinement where communi-
cation with other prisoners will be
impossible, where he will be kept pend
ing the execution of his sentence. The
death warrant has been delivered to the
sheriff, and death watch placed over
the prisoner, who manifests no fear OF
death, but on the contrary courts it, and
would prefer to meet the penalty Of his
henious crime at once. Referring to
the character Of the condemned man
the Pionesr-Times says:
"Brown is sharp and keen, but litter.
ate, and can neither read nor write
He is ono Of those persons not fire.
quentiy met with, who is entirely de.
void of all the finer sensibilities of the
human race. He has no compunctions
against committing crime, although il
need not be said that he enjoys the
sight of blood. Such fiends in human
form must be suppressed for the safety
of defenseless persons. When the trap
springs on the 18th of July and Charles
Brown is hurled into eternity this com
munity will breathe easier"