Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1898-01-12

cold, bare room adjoining the place of
execution, but not until nearly 1890
sharp did the iron doors that separated
the scaffold from the larger apartment
swing to admit the visitors.
The ceremony was very simple. The
audience had no sooner entered the room
than a silence fell upon the gathering.
The door of the condemned cell clanked
and in a fraction of a minute thereafter
Warden Hale entered, closely followed
by Father Lagan and the prisoner led
between two guards. The priest stepped
aside and Durrant, in voice emotion
less and apparently unaffected. made a
short speech. There was seemingly no
sincerity in the mans words. They were
cold and paSsionless.
There was no scene at the gallows. Mrs.
Durrant did not witness the execution.
She remained in room in the lower part
of the prison and showed unmistakable
signs Of grief, tempered with logged
desire to create the impression that she
was too proud to weep.
Durrant's father and friend left the
party and walked around the gallows to
the 'front.' while the condemned man and
his escort climbed the thirteen steps that
led to the platform and the waiting trap
At last Theodore Durrant stood upon the
gallOWS. He gave no signs of weakening.
His light figure was as erect as though it
had been his marriage morning. The
broad leather strap that bound his arms
to his sides allowed his wrists some play
and his fingers rested lightly on the strap.
Rope Placed Around His Neck.
Five minutes later when his body was
swinging like a pendulum beneath the
trap, the finger9, now all blue and chilled
looking, still rested where he had placed
them as he left the cell. Instantly upon
arriving upon the gallows the rope was
knotted about his neck The murderer
hold his chin hiul in thp air n n lyp room
for the stiff new line, knotted in the pc
culiar fashion Of the hangman. BY an
unusual privilege the condemned man was
permitted to wear low collar, opening
in front, and a white satin tie. His face
was pale, but it was not the ashy paleness
of terror. 1t was the face of a man who,
knowing that he has momentous thing
to do, is resolved to do it like a man.
The hangman turned to get the black
cap, when the erect head turned and Dur
rant whispered a request to be allowed to
speak. 1t vas granted.
Then with his feet on the trap, the cord
about his throat tied fast to the cross
beam on the gallows. the holy water of
his baptism in the Catholic church On his
head he said these final words:
81 desire to say that although [ am an
innocent man, innocent of every crime
that has been charged against me, I bear
no animosity towards those that have
prosecuted me, not even the press Of San
Francisco, which has bounded me to the
grave. If any man thinks l am going to
spring a sensation, 1 am not; except it is
a sensation that I am an innocent man
brought to the grave by my Prosecutors
But l forgive them all. They will get
their justice from the great God who is
master of us all and there [ also expect
to get justice that is the justice of an in
nocent man. Whether or not the perpe-
traitors Of the crime of which l am
charged are discovered, it will make no
difference to me now, but l say this day