The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1901-11-13
CzOLGOSz PUT TO DEATH
The Assassin Of President Mckinley
Executed by Electricity
TRIED TO JUSTIFY HIS CRIME

He Was Glad He Had Slain the Presi-
dent-NormaI Brain Revealed by the
Autopsy-Acid Used to Destroy the Body
Ouickly-The warden's Statement.
Auburn, N. Y.-Leon F. CzolgosZ,
the assassin of President Mckinley,
was put to death in the Auburn Prison
at 7.12 a. m. Tuesday. The electric
current, Of 100 volts, was turned on
three times before he was pronounced
dead. No fear was shown by the as
sassin, and his last declaration was
that he was not sorry for his crime.
His watchers said that he slept we'll
during his last night on earth, appar-
emily unconcerned at the approach of
death. Half an hour before the exc
cution the assassin stated to Superln-
intendent Collins and Warden Mead
that he wanted to make statement
"when there are lot Of people to
hear me-" When told that he could
not do that he said he would not talk
at all, but he later changed his mind.
There was no unusual incident to
mark the execution. The witnesses
gathered in the Office of the warden
at G.45 o'clock. DR.. Carlos F. McDon-
aid, of New York City, and DR.. Germ,
Of Auburn, We're the physicians.
Shortly before the party was taken
to the death chamber, and it's mem
bers, after being placed about the elec-
trio chair, were cautioned not to leave
their seats under any circumstances.
After test Of the apparatus Warden
Mead gave the signal for the prisoner
to be brought in. AS he stepped over
the threshold of the death chamber
the assassin stumbled, but the guards
held him up. He stumbled again on
the little rubber-covered platform
upon which the chair rests. He was
very pale. 5,
As he was being seated he looked
about at the witnesses with q steady
stare and said:
81 killed the President because he
was an enemy of the good people-of
the working people"
His voice trembled slightly at first,
but gained strength.
81 am not sorry for my crime" he
said loudly. as the guard pushed his
head back on the rubber headrest and
drew the strap across his forehead
and chin. As the pressure on the
straps frightened he mumbled: I'm
sorry could not see my father"
He had barely finished this utter
ance when the strappIng was complet-
cd and the current was turned on. It
was kept on full for forty-fve seconds,
cut off, turned on for few seconds
and then, after an examination of the
body by physicians, again turned on
for a few seconds.
It was at TIT that Warden Mead,
raising his hand, said: "Gentlemen,
the prisoner Is dead"
When the body of the assassin had
been removed to the autopsy table the
prisoners who had been kept locked
In their cells were released and work
was resumed. There was no excite
ment among the convicts and no un-
usual scenes about the prison.
The autopsy was made by DR.. Ed
ward Spitzka, under the immediate
supervision and direction Of DR.. Carlos
f. Mcdonald and DR.. John Germ, the
prison physician. The autopsy occu-
pied over three hours and embraced
careful examination Of all the organs
of the body. The examination re-
vealed a perfectly healthy state. Oh all
the organs, including the brain.
After the autopsy the body was
placed in q black stained pine coffin.
Shortly afterward it was taken to the
prison cemetery and an extraordinary
precaution taken to completely destroy
It. A carboy of acid was obtained and
poured upon the body In the coffin
after it had been lowered into the
grave. Straw was used in the four
corners of the grave as the earth was
put in to give vent to such gases as
might form. 1t was the belief of the
physicians that the body would be en-.
tirely disintegrated within twelve
hours.
After the execution Warden Mead
said:
81 went to Czolsosz's cell at $50 and
read the death warrant to him. The
guards said he had slept like q baby.
He half rose up as I read the warrant,
said nothing, and dropped back when
1 Q01SQeu. n Sludll piSahhoo'
given him and he ate sparinSly. He
asked for no priest, and that is why
there was no clergyman in attend
ance."
Czolcosz held his last two interviews
on Monday night. the first with Su.
perintendent Collins. and the second
with Waldeck Czolgosz, his brother,
and Waldeck Bandowski, his brother
in-law. Both the interviews were
brief. and the interviewers did most
Of the talking, until the question OF
religion was mentioned, when Czolgosz
broke from his seeming lethargy and
violently denounced the church and
the clergy and made his relatives
promise that there should be no serV-
Ice for him, living or dead.
It was Z o'clock when Superintend-
emit Collins went into the death house
and tried to get the prisoner to talk to
him. Although he stayed In the cell
some time, he apparently was not sue,
cessful in getting anything material
from him.
At g o'clock the brother and brother
in-law arrived and Superintendent Col.
Inns took them down to the condemned
mans cell. There was no demonstra-
tion when they met. Czolgosz merely
stepped to the front Of his steel cage
and said:
Negotiations With Bulgarian BriEAnd'
The State Department, at Washing
TON. Is informed that negotiations with
~. p,,Ioorion hrifaDdS who abducted