The age-herald., 1898-09-22
SOME GRUESOME STORIES
HaDBman'S SCafiOId Which Has Stood in
 Jail Yard Since 1890 Torn Down.
HAWES ONE OF THE NOTED VICTIMS
Foul Murder of His Wife and Babes Formed One of Birmingham's Darkest Criminal Chapters.
 Byer's Another Fiend.

A casual observer would scarcely cast more than a passing glance at pile of old lumber, stacked under the east window of the sheriffs office at the county court house; nor would a careful examination divulge to more inquisitive person other than that the rotten timber was once shaped to serve some useful purpose.
 A gruesome history, however, is connect- ed with the inanimate pile, which is in- teresting neverthelesE
 The decayed beamp and warped blanks are the remains of lhe scaffold on which twelve men have bein launched into eter- nifty. This rude instrument of death was erected in January, 1890, and has since re- mained in the jail yard until few days ago it was broken to pieces and stacked away to be burned in the furnace when the fires are lighted this winter.
 The scaffold was erected during Sheriff Joe Smiths term of office, and the first man to mount it's uncanny steps was Gill; bert Lowe a negro murderer who was executed on February 2S, 1Ss0
 Hawes Was Its Victim
 The next man to suffer death upon it was the noted criminal Dick Hawes, who was hanged in the same month, having
  two children.
 The Hawes murder, riot and execution form bloody chapters in the history of Birmingham and are often referred to un- til this day.
 The third man to swing was Ben Ezy, who was also convicted of murder.
 Ali Cooper, who killed Jeff Googer an- other negro, at Ensley City, was executed I, fo1J TrI
 Sandy Jones was the fifth man to mount the gallows He murdered Policeman Manning at Bessemer and was given a quick trial and condemned to death
 Bill Scroggins, a white man, who mur- dered an old Jewish peddler, War rior; Bob Sims and Sam Smith, negro mur- derers, followed in the order named, coV- ering a space of several years
 The Noted Eugene Byers
 On February s, 1895, Eugene Byars was executed for the murder of his cousin, Gu- gene Walker, who a non-commissoned officer in the United tSates army stationed in Nebraska. Walker came to Birmingham in the latter part of 1894 a furough en route to his home in Winston county to visit his parents. Walker had been frugal and had saved his money and had quite a snug little sum with him. He fell in with Byers, who induced him to the woods near Dehrens park, in the southwestern part of the city, where he murdered him and rob- bed the body of the money which was afterwards traced to several stores, and played an important part in his conviction. The only double execution which took place upon the scaffold was that of Lee Harris and Abe Mitchell who were hung on June ', 1885, For this occasion the scaf- fold almost rebuilt, extra supports be- ing placed under it and a double trap sub- stituted for the single trap of the old scaf- fold. It was also moved from the rear of the stone jail to point almost in front of the jail kitchen, directly opposite the jail yard gate.
 Harris and Mitchell were partners in crime as well as in death They were con- victed of the murder of Pleas Merriwether, an old negro storekeeper, and at the time of their conviction there were other crimes against them, which would undoubtedly have sent them to the gaows.
 Convict Murder
 The last man hanged upon 1t was John Walton, who murdered fellow convict at Coalburg by striking him in the head with a miners pick.
 Walton was executed on May s, 1896, just previous to the expiration of Sheriff Mor- rows term of office.
 SheflH . Brlen has not as yet been called upon to execute a prisoner, but the old scaf- fold was allowed to remain in case of emer- gency
 Among the prisoners executed upon the seaffold, Dick Hawes Bill Scroggins and Eugene Byers were white men.
 In case the governor refuses to interfere in the case of Y c. Hughes, the negro who was recently captured after having been at liberty five years, under sentence of death, new scaffold will have to be built
 F. B. KEISER,