The times., 1898-08-02
GuIdensuppe's Slayer Is Fec
trocuted at Sing sing.
HE MEETs DEATH sTOLIDLY
But One Passage of the Current
Through His iiody Was Necessary
The Harbers' Association VIII
Take Charge of the Remains
Story of His Crime

today put to death for the murder of
William Guldensuppe.
Thorn had but little to say when the
prison officials went 70 his cell and bade
him prepare for his last walk on earth
the walk through the narrow passage
way to the death chamber.
From time to time he moistened his
lips with his tongue, habit he had
learned in the anxious days of the trial.
There was on his brow an unnatural
perspiration, which stood out against the
pallor of his prison tan.
All of the other prisoners in murder
ers' row knew at once when the hour
of Martin Thorn's death had come. There
is always something which tells these
forlorn men when one of their number is
to go out of his cell never TO return. And
when the prison officials began their FUN
bling with the locks of Thorns cell the
other murderers in the row crowded close
TO the tars of their cells TO see as much
as they could of the fate that awaited
them.
First of all, Thorn was officially in
formed that his last hour had come
The warrant for his death was read in
slow, measured words, every one of
which seemed TO sink deep into his un-
derstanding. Now and then he looked
down at the new suit of clothing in which
he had dressed himself for death, and
just before the reading was finished he
carefully plucked a speck of dust from
his sleeve. One might have thought that
Thorn was about TO go out into the
| world a free man.
Then came the time 10 leave the cell.
! Thorn glanced about him at the meager
furnishings of the walled, barred square
/ and turned once with an inquisitive look
! at the far corners, as If he expected to
/ see something. He was looking a last
/ time for his mouse. In all his calmness
/ of the last days Thorn had permitted h m
! self TO escape from his armor of reserve
for one thing alOne-that mouse. 1t had
/ been his trusted friend he had said, for,
as he expressed it, il could not talk a
few days before his execution Thorn
missed the mouse. Hunt as ne would, II
| could not be found, so the murderer was
robbed of the consolation the small beast
would afford him at the last
And then was begun the slow walk 10
the death chamber. Thorn seemed un-
willing at first 10 step from his cell, but
al word from one of the keepers he put
forth a resolute foot and faced the mar
| row passageway.
Awaiting him in the death chamber
were the physicians and newspaper men.
the States witnesses of the execution.
They were ranged about one end of the
| room in a wide semicircle on backless
stools. At the other end of the room was
the massive chair with the straps dang
ling from it and the snake-like wire
writhing down from the knobbed brass
pole. And behind the chair was the small.
room OF death, room fenced off from
the main chamber by head-high parti-
tion. Within this room was the switch
that was so soon 10 send the stiffening
current through the body of Martin
Thorn.
Thorn may not have known what wa.
behind the screen. although once upon {
time Mrs. Mack, his accomplice in th1
butchery of William Guldensuppe. wen
to Sing Sing prison and sat in the chair
and she may have told him all about it.
workings. AT any rate, Thorn's eye.
swept the chamber in a swift glance tha
took in everything there was there.
went from the semi-circle of witnesses t,
the chair, then 10 the high windows o
the room and their narrow show of SIX,
and living things of the outer world. Hi
eyes did not pause there. Thorn hat
| shown clearly that he welcomed dealt
rather than imprisonment for life, and h,
| looked perhaps longest at the sturdy o9ke.
chair toward which the attendants lie,
him.
The room was silent save for the shuf
fling sound of feet as Thorn and the at
tendants moved forward. Somewhere out
side there was a monotonous whirring
1t was the voice of the dynamo speedin;
in its work of preparing Thorn's dealt
current.
When Martin Thorn had taken his sea
in the chair there was slight movemen
among the witnesses as If some of then
wished to make whispered comment t
their neistlbors. But they had been en-
Joined to silence by the laws of the prison
so no one spoke.
In a twinkling for the attendants were
used TO their work Thorn's trousers had
been slit at the leg, and the straps fasten-
ed about his waist, arms, legs and wrists
Then the yellow leather cap with the
brass sponge cup, was lowered to his
head The buckling of strap 50 .fixed
the leather covering that Thorns face
was all but hidden. There was left tC
him, and 1t seemed an anomaly, small
space through which he might breathe.
All of these preparations required but
very few minutes. 1t was, in fact re
markably short time after Thorn entered
the death chamber that the current wa:
turned on and his body stiffened in death
Before the signal was made to tn,
switchman in the little room or close
behind the chair Thorn moved in the oak
en- seat as if he was not sitting com
fortably.
Then came the signal. There was
clicking sound in the closet. Thorns bod.
became suddenly rigid, the straps about i
creaking under the tension. A sigh,
; hiss some sort of sound, came from
the murderer's lips Another click wa
heard in the closet, and Thorn's bod,
sank back into the chair. For an instan
the body was limp. Then it stiffeneC
again. and again the straps creaked. Blu
this time there was no Kissing from tn
lips Thorn had been killed with the frs
passage of the current through his body
Paul Minker, the brother-in-law of tn
dead man. was present with an under
taker TO claim the body, but the warde
was undecided an hour or so after the eS
ecution what 10 do with it. 1t is said tha
Warden Sage feared that Thorn's rela
tions intended to claim the body, with tn
crewsome intention of putting 1t on eXh
bition for a day or so in some museum.
1t was announced later in the day tha
: Thorns body will be buried tomorrow
Calvary Cemetery.
The BARRIERS Association, of whic
4 | ~rf,o, a 70