Blackfoot news. (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1891-1902, 1899-09-02
RApcLIFFE. cANApA.s HANGMAN.

harrow the unfortunate murderers
soul while the hangman works out his
little problem In NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.,
distances and resisting forces7 Really,
it's monstrous, Has a murderer no
feelings? Because a man has split an
other mans skull open with an AK, Is
il 10 say mat he has no fine senti-
ments In his hosomg Naturally. the
British Columbia people are indignant,
Some Of them have addressed a me-
mortal to the dominion government
asking them TO bid Radcliffe mend his
manners
Radeliife's Is queer position. In
Michigan. where there Is no capital
punishment, there is no need of a
public hauwman. In New York. where
they do the trick with an electric cur
rent. anybody can press the button and
no disgrace attaches. In the south
! and west. where lynching and burning
/ are popular. an execution is not so
much a matter of cold-hlooded justice
as a hot-headed revenge. I venture to
4 say that no state In the union. what
ever it's form of capital punishment,
can point TO any man among its citi-
gems and say: There is our public ex-
/ ecutIoner." But In Canada Radcliffe
/ Is king. He has the whole dominion
/ from coast TO coast and from the forty
ninth parallel to the north pole for his
baiIlwick. There is none to dispute
his title. He has the proud record of
never having bungled an execution
since he went into business fifteen
years ago. All his subjeets-Radcliffe
speaks of them like medical man
have had their neoks neatly broken,
and not one of 'em has ever squlrmed.
When the rope settles down after the
first thud there is not quiver-to
which fact | can testify, for | have
seen Radcliffe do the trick half dozen
times. Radcliffe IL an artist In his line
no nun is meant-and If ever the
dear reader has need to be hanged ne
should ask nothing better than the ten
der mercies OF such an expert hang
man. Radcliffe, when he is at home,
lives quietly at Parkdale, a beautiful
suburb of Toronto. In the directory
he is cataloFued as wheelwright, and
dare say his next-door neighhors
have no suspicion of his ghoulish oc-
eupation. He Is quite jolly compan-
ion, who loves his pipe and his glass
but he is not roysterer. There is
hotel lust at the west end of the Kine
Street railway line, which Radcliffe
freauents when he wants pot of por'
ter or a glass of half-and-half Some
of the barroom hahitues know who NJ
,s Int the casual customer little sus
meets the public hangman In the jovial
lresh-faeed, stalwart forkshiremar
who is SO full of good stories. kaa
rlffe has all the domestic virtues. H'
loves his wife and children, and take
nride TN his bit of garden. Perhaps HI
appreciates them more because he is Sc
seldom at home. Every year he trav
oils many thousands or miles, fol
among 1000. 600 of people there is al
u,nvs a good grist of murderers await
ing his services. The judge, when n
nuts on the black cap, must run owe
padellfre's engagements In his min'
before he passes sentence. 1t woul'
nover do to fix date when Radclih
could not be present Radcliffe Is
very busy man. Take the last thre
months. for example, First there wa
n murderer to be dispatched ava
down in Nova Scotia; from there u
had to skip to Quebec, where he sen
two peopts--a man and woman--ine
eternity at one stroke OF the lever
rom ,hsre he went to London and say
per-I.eg Brown, the negro muroerc'
safely out Of being: then he went u
10 winnipeg and hanged two CAL