West Virginia daily oil review. [volume] (Sistersville, W. Va.) 1894-1902, 1902-06-14

Singing Nearer, MY 0ou W
Thee" and with smile on his lips.
Perry Christian. the murderer of
G. w. Dent, of Fayette county,
marched up the scaffold 10 his
death at the penitentiary last eve.
ming.
The execution, which was sue.
cessful In every particular, occurred
earlier than usual to enable his
friends to catch a train tor their
homes in Jackson county, Ohio.
At sos pm. the gates were opened
and the witnesses, about sixty In
number, marched to the execution
building. AS they passed In Chris
tian, Chaplain Ruble, Archdeacon
Spur and State Henry could be
heard singing together.
The march to the scaffold began
at s:12. Christian marched up the
steps between Chaplain Ruble and
Archdeacon Spur. They were
singing Nearer My God to Thee"
and the voice of the doomed man
could be plainly heard. The sing.
Ing ceased as the rope was adjusted
about his neck. Rev. Ruble babe
him farewell to which Christian re-
sponded:
Meet me there. and may God
bless you for your kindness to me-"
The cap was quickly adjusted
and the Chaplain said amen" to
the brief invocation, Captain Daw-
son pressed the button which rang
bell In a room los feet away
where two men were standing.
They pressed a set of buttons, one
of which threw the drop and at
5:13H Christian passed into eter.
nifty. It was ten minutes before he
was pronounced dead by the ply
sicians present.
Christians history Is the old
story of the young man who was
ruined by bad associates: His pa
rents reside near Wellston, O., and
are eminently respectable. They
have made a hard fight to save him
and spent practically all they pos
sessed In his behalf. On Thursday
his mother and sister were at
Charleston and made an earnest
plea for executive clemency for the
erring son and brother, but Cover
nor White who had reviewed his
case, declined to interfere.
Christian was once prisoner In
the Ohio penitentiary at Columbus.
He was convicted Of a murderous
assault upon an old man. When
at Columbus a riot occurred In
which deputy warden was over
powered by some convicts. Chris
tian rushed In and at great risk &c
himself saved the officials life. For
this act he was subsequently pa
rolled.
About two years ago Christian
went to the mining regions In Fay
cite county. Here the crime with
which he paid the penalty with hi:
life was committed.
The story of the murder is as
follows:
1t appears that G. W. Dent:
house had been stoned by some par
ties. A few days later Dent became
involved In a fight with some o
Christians friends, who were beat.
Ing him up when he succeeded II
freeing himself and started to rur
away. Then Christian rushed on
of a near by house and fred three
shots at the old man. One of til,
bullets touched a vital spot anG
Dent fell dead.
Christian was arrested, tried ant
convicted In the Fayette county
criminal court. He never denied
killing Dent, but claimed that Den
and his friends made an attack or
him. He said that he was drunk
when the murder was committed
His case was appealed to the cir
cult court which refused new
trial. The Board of Pardous ha.
acted upon his case two times anc
each time refused to interfere.
The Condemned man enjoyed 8
good uigi,'s sleep on THURSDAY
: night and rose early YESTERDAY
morning. He was In good spirit:
and ate heartily of his breakfast.
He spent the early morning sing
ing and praying with Chaplain
Ruble and the other inmates of the
: execution building. After break
fast he was given letter writer