The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-03-19
BECAME A TURBULENT MOB
PEOPLE WHO HAD CARDS TO
MOSHIK'S EXECUTION
How the John Day Smith Law That
Aimed at Secret and Mysterious
Executions Was Observed i'm His
Own TOWn-Jcsts and Small
Bottles Were the Other Features
of the Hanging.

If the hanging of John Moshik &C
complished any other good than the
cutting of the rotten life thread of the
murderer and freeing the public from
the menace Of his presence among the
living, it was not apparent to an OBJ
server in the Hennepin county Jail
Thursday night.
The event was simply an early morn
ing function THAT was much enjoyed
by an aggregation Of ward heelers, who
took advantage of a political pull to
exercise their ferOcious prOpensities.
And it utterly refuted the claim that
has been made for the John Day Smith
law that the imposition Of the extreme
penalty of the law under cover Of night
and in comparative seclusion has de-
terrent effect on possible evil doors.
The hanging took place in the pres
ence of a turbulent mob Of men, who
for hours had clamored and screamed
and fought for place.
Every man of them, with the eXcep-
ton of the few whose business forced
them to be present, seemed to be in
actual dread that something might oc-
cur that would prevent him from seeing
the thing that was to be enacted and
they ragged and reared until the DOOM
ed wretch, who was listening to the
uproar, became convinced that they
were seeking to get at him and tear
him to pieces.
With the single exception of the drop
ping of Moshik through the trap, the
whole affair was badly mismanaged
Some one said that Sheriff Phillips
was not to blame, for he was ineXperi-
enced in such matters. The fact is
that in this country there are few men
who are journeymen eXecultioners, and
the exercise of some common sense and
a refusal to admit the claims of peo-
J1a wi q
scenes in the Jail impossible.
There We're $50 men present at the
execution. 1t is possible that fifty had
some sort Of justifiable excuse for their
presence.
For the rest of them the affair was
sort of high function in low life.
If the object Of the John Day Smith
law is to surround the taking off of a
criminal with all the possible attri-
butes of horror, then the hanging Of
John Moshik served it's purpose, for
nothing more horrible and horrifying
than the conditions of his taking off
can well be imagined But the hor-
ror was in the stimulation of the brute
instincts of the mob who had come to
see Moshik die-not in the death of
the man itself
The execution took place in the jail
section of the magnificent new court
house-on the fifth floor of the build
ing. Cards Of admission were issued,
emitting the holder to pass into the
building, and then into the elevator to
be conveyed to the scene Of the hang
ing The only means of getting to the
floor on which the execution was to
take place was by means Of the one
elevator. The cards of admission in
Dictated that the doors would be open
between 1 and 2:30 o'clock By 1890
there were a hundred men in the low
er corridor of the Fifth street side Of
the building. There was no attempt
at police control, and as the people
came in they crowded about the ele-
vator door and fought for an oppor-
tunity to get to the front. The elevator
carried eight people at load, and it
was run with some regularity
AS the people were unloaded from
the elevator, they stepped into a cor
ridor opening into the condemned cell.
some fiftl feet distant. Moshik and
his sisters, or the priest, were together
all the time. and, when the mob first
gathered below and the elevator door
was opened, the condemned man heard
the roar from down stairs, and started.
1t was explained to him what caused
the noise. Simply a few people who
wanted to take q lesson from the man
ner of his death.
All night long, when the elevator
same dreadful roar, reverberating
through the marble corridors, and, ev-
cry time he heard it. the criminal
shivered. He tried to persuade the
sheriff to change the time set for the
hanging, and to hang him at once. But
the sheriff could not disappoint his
friends.
At o'clock 300 of the bowling men
had been hauled up to the Jail floor,
1r.oyx nQr hn
elevator shaft fom the balance, most
of whom had become convinced that
they were being done out of their share
in the show
Soon after o'clock the deputies pre-
pared to open the doors Of the death
chamber They fought their way to
the door, and the mob began scream
ing. some in actual suffering from the
crush, most of them from the COM
tents of many small bottles, and
frenzied desire not to be baked in the
rage to get a good place near the scat
fold.
Fifty feet away, Father Jajeski was
trying to recite the litany for the dy-
ing with the condemned man.
At this juncture, Tailor Duffield deliv-
other speeches later. This time he
raised his hand, and some one shouted
keep still; Mr.. Duffleld wants to
speak" And they howled:
'Duffield, Duff1eld, speech, speech"
Mr.. Duff1eld made a speech. He told
them the sheriff would see to it that
they were deprived of none of their
rights; that, if thy would be patient
for few moments, they would be al
lowed into the room. And they said
"hooray for Duffield," and proceeded
IN tear their clothes off again
There was nothing for it but to let
them into the place of death. AT 3:15
they were all in the enclosure, which
was brilliantly illuminated. They set
tied into place of vantage and amused
themselves with ventureSOme cat
which had somehow gotten into the
place and was walking about on the
iron Orders. The animal found its way
along a board to the scaffold and sat
down on the trap. Mr.. Moshik's party
INDUCED in cat calls and meows, and
the cat went off again and was cap
tured by a colored boy, who was
perched on a girder.
At 800 Mr.. Duffield took a stand on
the gallows and held up his hand for
silence. "Duffield, Speech" they shout
ed.
Gentlemen" said Duffield, 81 hope
you'll be gentlemen. I want to say
that there are 100 of our friends and
Sheriff Phillips friends down stairs
who have been invited here, as you
have been, and have as much right
here. Now, the sheriff wants to do
what is fair, and those men must come
up here before this affair can go on.
If you will be patient for just ten min
utes. you will not be sorry"
They clapped their hands, some of
them; others Kissed. But formalities