Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1901-10-28
READY FOR GD)[G|)a'
Everything Prepared For the Elk.
ecution Of McKinley's MUIR
derer Tuesday Morning.
Noise of Preparations Rouses
Czolsosz From His Stupor.-
Shows Great Fear.
Believed That He Will Be Prac-
tically Senseless When
Taken to the Chair.

\
1 Auburn, N. Y, Oct. 2S.-With no more
feeling than an animal, Czolgo1 SUM
bered in his cell last night, less thar
thirty-six hours from eternity. He
showed no interest in anything tina,
transpired around him in the death
house Sunday. He saw no persons 9TH
ler than the guards who watched his
every move He did not utter twenty
words during the entire day.
He ate but little of the extra food
brought to him. He did not ask to see
the brother who had come from Cleve-
land al his request. His sole indication
of interest was at the noise made by the
workmen in the chamber of death,
twenty five feet from where he sat in
sullen silence.
1t was just before his dinner was
brought. He had been sitting for three
hours without saying word. Clarence
Egnor, another condemned. man, who
occupied the next cell to him, was read
| ing aloud from one of the prison books.
Suddenly there came the sound of a
hammer, and the voices of nnen moving
in the death chamber. 1t was State
Electrician Davis, who, with an assist
ant, was testing the apparatus. arran-
cling the death chair to his satisfaction,
and connecting the wires. AS he gave
directions Egnor stopped reading and
said to the guard in front of his cell:
They're getting the chair ready, amt
they?"
The guard made no reply, but the
question aroused Czolgosz, in the cell
next to him. He got up and paced the
eight feet from door to wall. feverisl-
ly. sat down again, and then walked, or
rather, staggered, to the door. The
guard came to the grating.
We'll" he said. what's the matter?"
Nothing" said Czolgosz. doggedly. II
thought heard something"
The guard made no reply. Czolgosz
hanging on the door, looked lnoodily out
at the outside wall. He said nothing
for a minute.
What do you want?" asked the
guard: anything"
Mo- stammered Czolgosz. not look
ing up. :. Thought l heard something,
that was all. What was 1t? What did
he mean? What did he mean, that man
in there?.'
HE said they were getting the chair
ready" said the guard.
Czolgosz staggered away from the
door, and the other condemned man
heard moan as he sank back on his
couch. He had to be called twice before
he obeyed the command from the guard
TO eat his dinner. He ate sparingly and
smoked only an inch or so of the cigar
that was handed him. Davis and his
assistants were occupied In preparing
for the execution of the assassin for an
hour. Davis. who is a why little man
with red mustache, was very business
Ike in making his report to the deputy
warden. He said: Everything is all
ready"
His work consisted Of comparing the
measurements of czolgosz to, see il any
changes were necessary. He found that
no alterations would be required. He
looked over the electrical apparatus
| prepared the batteries, and arranged the
wires. He said tonight: AS far as
am concerned. everything is ready.
won't be lcng Job. /,
Davis did not see Czolgosz He viii
not see him until he is led or dragged
from his cell to the death chair on Tues
day morning. An extra battery was
brought by Davis and will he placed In
position tomorrow. Every precautior
will be taken to make the work OF death
as swift and certain as possible. The
officials OF the prison think that within
three minutes from the tirne Czolgosz
is brought from his cell the current will
be turned on and he will be dead man.
They do not anticipate any scene in
the death chamber. He will not at
tempt to make speech. unless he rail-
/ lies from the state of collapse into which
he has sunk The guards believe he will
not realize his proximity 10 death until
he has been strapped in the chair. From
his condition today 1t is not probable
that he will revive sufficiently to at
tempt a harangue.
Albany, N. Y. Oct 2s.-Tha method to
be employed in the legal execution of
Assassin Czolgosz at Z a. m. on Tuesday
morning. at Auburn prison. is thor
cughly in keeping with the progress OF
the centuries. He is to die by the
latest and most approved form of capi-
tai punishment, electrocut.on. A current
of electricity is to be shot thru his body.
raralyzing the heart action instantly
end causing death in fraction of a
second. In the familiar phrase of the
street. ''he Will never know. what struck
him" after the electrician. concealed in
an inner room, moves the fatal switch
which will send 1000 or more volts of the
mysterious current thru his body.
More than ten years ago the agitation
looking to the abolition of hanging was
begun in New York state. After several
magazine and newspaper articles had
been published expressing the opinions
OF eminent physicians and criminolo-
g!sts on every phase of the subject, a
commission was appointed by the legis-
lature to make an exhaustive inquiry
into the subject. This investigation
dragged along for several years, during
which time the matter was thoroughly
exploited in the newspapers. and at last
favorable report was submitted rec
ommending that electricity be substi-
tuted as death agent for the time
bonored ropes end. which had been
Used in most English-speaking countries
for hundreds of years. "A bill was passed
BY the legislature authorizing the
change in 1897 and it was ordered in the
law that all executions should take place
in the state penitentiaries. Electrocu-
ton chambers were constructed at Sing
Sing and Auburn. equipped with the