Waterbury Democrat., 1901-08-05
Edward Skagen. He is now one of liar lem's most progressive ministers.
 MT and Mrs Timothy Kelly, Sr, en- tertained out-of-town guests last week.
WANTED LlA lAEKAkY ERILLS.
The Condemned Negro Was Not Sat- isfied with What the Tele-
 graph Would Tell.

ssNature is very kind to us,' said the old reporter, rela tessthe New Orleans Times-Democrat. 'sand makes it easy for man to submit toFthe inevitable, even if the inevitable is death. This submission is frequently confounded with courage by the historians of exc cutions. With them the condemned always die game,' when, as a matter of fact, most criminals are towards, and don't make scene simply because they submit to what they know they cannot prevent. When was young in the business I frequently fell into this common error, and, now that I come to think of it, I cannot recall writing up an execution where I did not devote considerable amount of space to de scription of the nerve of the principal actor. The last execution I reported was in one of the adjoining parishes. At that time much space was devoted to executions. The crime had to be rehashed, the particulars of the trial warmed over and served smoking hot, and the last night of the condemned done up in the most narrowing man. ner. This last night business afforded opportunities for descriptive writing. The reaches playing catch on the pris- on floor, the crafty jail rat, gray and rheumatic, eating lunch from the con- vict's hand, and the jailer's rusty key that always. grated harshly in the pom derous lock, were never overlooked and the dawn. When I remember those descriptions of the awakening of the felon on his last day on earth I can almost weep. The little rays of sunlight that chased each other through the barred windows and over the bare floor, lingering caressingly on the brow of the man who was so soon to die, and who slept so peaceful ly, were sure to be in the message. I was very fond of those rays, and worked them in whenever it did not rain.
 Well, on this particular occasion l devoted most of the night to writing the description, and must say I was well pleased with my work. According to the death warrant, the execution was to take place between the hours of II a. m. and two p. m., and the sheriff a kind-hearted man, so as to let his charge live as long as possible, had fixed the hour for the actual hanging at 1:30 o'clock. This was unfortunate, as the train for New Orleans passed at one, and the carrying out of his pro- gramme meant my remaining another night in the town and the cutting of my report so that I could send it by wire. I tried to get the sheriff to ad- vance the execution a bit, but he would not move an inch, and in a moment of desperation I appointed myself committee of one to discuss the propo- sition with the condemned Wetalked the matter over very calmly. The man who was so soon to die was perfectly reconciled to his fate. He knew he had no show of a respite, was proud of the fact that I had been sent from the great city to detail the particulars of his taking off, but for all that he could not see why he should give up an hour of his very valuable time. His argu- ment was unanswerable, and I was about to give up, when an idea occurred to me. read him my report of the ex- ecution up to and including that de- scription of the dawn of his last day. He was as proud as Punch, and his van- ity was. tickled to the last degree to think that he should be the central fig ure in such a big affair. Ithen proceed ed to explain that if his execution took place at the appointed hour it would be necessary to telegraph the report, and, in that event, all the descriptive part would have to be cut out and the bare facts only wired, whereas, if the execution was advanced an hour I sould bring in my own copy and write an additional column or two descrip- tive of his death and the courage he displayed at the crucial moment. That settled it. The sheriff was called, and at the urgent request of the con demned the execution was completed in time to permit me to catch the train. That negro wentdown in history as the earnest man who ever trod scaffold.''