Evening star., 1898-10-18
Three Condemned Murderers in the
District Jail.
APPEALED TO j. s. SUPREME COURT
Eight Others Accused and Now
Awaiting Trial.
EXECUTIONS OF THE PAST


District jail. This Is the largest number OF
convicted and accused murderers, with one
exception. that have been confined in the
Jail at one time since 1871. The exception
was in 1898, when no less than nineteen
occupied cells in the Jail. Murderers' Row
as the north corridor is called, was not
large enough TO accommodate them all,
and quarters were given some of them in
other parts of the building.
The present occupants Of Murderers Row
are constantly under the watchful eye of
the guards, and, owing to the nature of
their alleged crimes, they are under greater
restraint than their fellow-prisoners. They
are allowed to exercise in the corridor SEN
arately, but no more than one is ever per-
nitted to leave the cells at the same time
In another part of the building the grim
old gallows, always ready for its fearful
work, awaits the three convicted men
whose chances for life now rest Oh the de-
clslon of technical point Of law by the
United States Supreme Court. This is their
only hope, except the remote possibility of
executive clemency and consequent life i'm
pr1sonment. Two of them are hopeful. re-
pentant and ready to clutch at the faintest
suggestion of a possible escape from the
knotted rope and trap door. The other.
gloomy, morose and almost friendless seems
to hold death lightly and chafes at the
delay caused by the raising Of a legal uues-
tion, the decision of which may mean an
other chance for his life. This is Edward
Smith, colored, and the guards at the iail
in all their experience have never had under
thelr care case as peculiar as his.
Smiths Crime.
The character of Smiths crime and the
lncidents surrounding it, coupled with his
total Indifference to his fate, are remarka-
bic in the criminal annals of the District.
He regretted the appeal of his case to a
higher to-
mlnious death. His crime WAS most revolt
ing. While the husband Of Edmonia Jack
son was serving Jail sentence for some
minor offense Smith was living with her
IN Schute's alley. AS the time when jack
'on was to be released approached Smith
became sullen and gloomy. Finally, q few
days before Jackson's nsence expired
Smith entered Edmonas S room late at night
and with hatchct cut the we1T.ans throat
She must have struggled and Smith to
complete his horrtd work. chopped and
hacked her head viciousIy. For four days
afterWard Smith remained In the room with
his victims body, sleeping on the floor by
the blood-stained bed. Hs was arrested
and after a short trial adiudged to be clli1ty
and sentenced to death.
By the act of June -, 1897, juries We're
given the right to qualify verdicts in capital
odenses by recommending life imprison-
ment. On the ground that the jury had not
been Instructed as to this law, Smiths case
was taken to the Court of Appeals where
the verdict was affirmed. Justice Shepard
dlssenting The case is now before the
United States Supreme Court and will be
decided during this week. The decision in
the case Will also affect the cases of the
other two convicted men, William Strather
ana Charles Winston, both colCred
Wives Arc Victims.
Strather was a newsboy well known in
the city His crime was not unlike Smiths
except it appears to have been less premed-
horrors. Strather with a hatchet, ended
the life of Rose Talbot, a woman who pass.
ed as his wife. After his conviction the
newsboys, feeling that the case was hope
less and an appeal useless, held meeting
and decided to raise an amount of money
sufficient to save their comrades body from
pOtterS fields.
sonablc, caused Charles Winston to put his
neck into moose. His wife. Emma, whose
duties as chambermaid kept her away
from home at night, was his victim Early
one morning Winston shot and killed his
wife and, turning the revolver on himself,
attempted suicide. For several Gays he lay
between life and death at the Emergency
Hospital under guard.
Those Held Oh Charges.
OF the eight men held on charges of mur-
der In the Jail, only two have been indicted,
the other six being accused by verdicts of
coroner's juries. Those indicted are James
Riley and George w. Horton. Riley is held
accountable for the death of James Ma
honey, who was stabbed and killed in a
saloon May q last. The case of Horton,
an ex-policeman, is still fresh in the public
mind. Late in the afternoon of June "A he
slashed the life out of Jane Nicholson in
Seaton Park, in the presence of half
dozen people, because she threatened to
sever the relations existing between them.
Horizons wife visits him occasionally at the
jail, despite the circumstances leading up
to his crime.
Samuel Williams, coored, is held to an
swer for the death of Frank Douglass, a
boy, during the same month 1t is alleged
that the boy lost his life as the result Of a
beating received at the hands Of Williams.
William Webster is accused of being the
cause OF young Joseph Shoemaker's death.
Shoemaker was kicked in the stomach at
an Anacostla entertainment, and the coro-
ners jury laid the blame to Webster.
Peter Holmes and Margaret Scott. both
coiored, had quarrel August "A, and a
ignt followed. The woman was beaten and
kicked and died soon after Holmes is ac-
cused of causing her death
Lizzie Logan, colored, was walking with
a man near 1st and M streets southwest
September 4. when she met William X.
Reed, coiored. Reed objected TO Lizzie
Keeping company with others, and he en-
phasized his objection by cutting her throat
He was captured at his home near Freed
mems Hospital, and later accused of mur-
der by the coroner's jury.
Two Recent Cases.
A dispute over a bowl Of soup in a
southeast saloon ended fatally for Eugene
Queen, colored, October 10. He was stab
bed and killed with butcher knife and
Morgan Brown, colored is held to answer
the charge Of murder
The same date Patsey Lee, colored, was
Killed on o street near 7th street. He was
stabbed and recognized his assailant as
Eugene Powell. Powell was captured next
day near Fenwick, Md, and locked up at
No. police precinct station few hours
later he escaped. but was recaptured, and
is now in jail awaiting trial for Murder.
Past Executions.
There have been twenty-three legal exc
cutions in the District since 1870. OF these,
seventeen We're in the present Jail and six
In the old prison, which was located where
the pension bureau now islands. There
have been two double executions. both in
the present Jail. They We're Edward Quee-
nan and Babe Bedford, November 10,
1880, and Louis Summerield and Richard
Lee, alias Dick Sparrow, April 30, 1886
Heading the list of executions since 1870
Is James Grady, who was hanged March
"a, 1871. Several years before Grady had
been sent to the penitentiary for seven