The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-04-29
WRIGHT'S NECK WAS BROKEN.
THE MURDERER OF AMOS MoY Ex-
PIATE HIS CRIME.

Drop Fell Mt 1905 O'Clock and Death
| Was InstantaneOus-The body Al
lowed to RemaIn Suspended "A
Half Hour Before Being Cut Down.
Wright Was Firm, Cool and
Collected Throughout the Or
deaI-BuOyed Up and Sustained
by Spirit of Religious Fanafi-
cism-IIis Last Hours spent in the
Company of the Negro Preachers,
Who Have Attended Him for the
Last Month.
In obedience to the mandate of the law
and IN exp.ation of the brutal ana arpro-
voked murder of his stepson, Amos Moy,
Frank Wright suffered the death penalty
in the common Jail of Chatham county yes
! terday morning. The drop fell at 1906
o'clock. the murderer's neck was broken
! by The fall and death was instantaneous.
| His heart continued to beat for fifteen
minutes and at 1875 the body was cut
! down.
The condemned murderer passed quiet
| and undisturbed night and ate with APP
parent relish the breakfast that had been
provided for him by the jailer Soon after
he woke the negro preachers who have
been his almost constant attendants dur
ing the last days that he spent on earth
came to the jail. and Wrights time, up to
the very minute of his execution, was
passed in their company and in religious
exercises. lie Joined with fervor and de-
votion in the hymns that were sung and
listened attentvely TO the reading of the
Scriptures. He was calm and composed
throughout the ordeal through which he
must have passed, and not by the tremor
of a nostril or the culver of lip did he
betray the slightest fear of the death that
overlook him a few minutes later.
The execution was in private, no one
being present but the jail officials, County
Physician r. 3. Chisholm, a Morning
News reporter and the negro preachers
who attended Wright in his last moments.
The death warrant was read to the muir
derer at few minutes before 10 O'Clock,
and at that hour precisely his cell door
opened and Wright came out. Rev. Prince
Black, Wrights most constant adviser,
and who indeed occupies this position 10
all of the condemned murderers in the
county jail, lead in prayer, Wright and
the preachers kneeling upon the floor of
the corridor while Black praying
The words of the black preacher were
really touching and well chosen and with
the added solemnity given by the occasion
and the circums tances surrounding it was
almost eloquent and impressive.
When the men arose from their knees
Wright was bound by one of the bailiffs
submitting quietly to the operation and
betraying absolutely no agitation. As he
was being bound, he said, addressing the
persons surrounding him in the corridor,
Everybody must pray to meet me over
yonder. l am going home. Don't grieve
after me-
He walked steadily into the cell, where
the moose was adjusted around his neck
and the black cap slipped over his head
without his losing one little of the stOi-
cal compoSure with which he had wit
messed the preliminary preparations for
his execution. He stood upon the treach-
erous doors of the trap, that were soon
to open and hurl him into eternity, abb
solute,y without a tremor. Religious faith
or fanaticism, or fatalism nerved him un-
til the. last and he went to his death with
a smile upon his lips and muttered
prayer for the people that had befriend-
ed him
AT 1906 o'clock the drop fell and Wrights
body hung suspended a dozen feet below.
His neck was broken and death lnstanta-
neous, but the body was not cut down I'M
ill half an hour after the fall Of the trap.
II was then delivered to the undertaken
and as it was not claimed by any of the
murderer's friends or relatives, was given
a pauper's burial in the Potter's field.
When Wright was spoken to by the coli
orsd preachers who attended him in the
early morning he reiterated the story that
he Told at the time of his trial.
that he supposed that he had killed Moy,
but that he was drunk all of the night
the crime was committed, and had abso-
lutely no recollection of what he did at
that time. He professed to have felt no
animosity towards the boy and said that
he certainly would have done him no in
jury, even a slight one, had he been In
the possession of his proper senses. He
added that he had made his peace with
his Maker and that he had no fears of
his condition in the life beyond the grave.
From the prisoners in the Jail there was
the usual outburst of wailing sorrow that
attends executions, when they were re-
moved from the corridors that run the
length of the building and locked in their
cells Outside the Jail only a small crowd
collected and apparently no one but those
whose duty demanded that they be pres
ent was aware of the fact that the hang
ing was taking place Later, when the
news tndt wright mao Deen hanged was
noised abroad, q crowd did collect which
was quickly dispersed by the police on
duty around the Jail.
The next murderer who will suffer the
death penalty in the jail is Toby Bowen.
who killed his wife some months ago.
Tho Supreme Court has refused to grant
the application for a new trial made by
Bowen's attorneys. and they have given
up all hope of saving his life. Bowen him.
arH1E hen.
bic.