The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1903-11-21
BODY is BURIED
IN PRISON YARD
No Prayers Made For Soul of
Peter MorteaSen.
COHvICTS DIG THE GRAVE
INTERMENT IN THE CEMETERY
AT OGDEN IS REFUSED.

Without prayer or requiem, and in
the presence only of his two broth
! ers and of guards and convicts, all
that was mortal of Peter Mortensen
" as inferred in the ground reserved for
the feiOn dead at the Utah peniteu-
t.ar-.
AS the stolid men in stripes threw
the cIOds on the pine box that encased
the remains, not even so much as a
muttered appeal to the Most High was
uttered on behalf of the soul of the
man whose life had been forfeited to
/ the retribution Of the law.
No priest or minister walked with
the condemned man to the chair of
death; no priest or minister stood be-
side the shallow grave when the cOf-
1 nm was cast into it's last resting place;
no chant or hymn softened the tense
atmosphere, and no fervent voice of
supplicatiOn rose toward the lead-col-
ored sky as the last scene In the trag-
edy of Peter Mortensen was enacted.
Brothers at the Grave.
! Tears there were-the tears Of broth
1 ers. who stood, red-eyed and trembling,
/ beside the grave; the tears Of others,
awakened in sudden sympathy, al
I though their interest in the solemn
/ scene was but that Of men engaged in
/ a painful duty.
! Public cemeteries other than the Pot
/ ter's Field denied sepUlchre to the body
( of the man who died FOR the murder
/ of James r. Hay. MOrtensen's wish
/ was that ne be buried in Ogden near
/ the home Of the wife to whom he was
/ denied the solace Of saying, farewell.
/ This was also the wish Of his father
and brothers.
/ But the authorities at Ogden pro-
! tested and, at the last moment, an i'm
prOmptu funeral at the penitentiary
/ was arranged. The elder AIortensen
/ vas not present at the final scene.
/ Aside from the officers of the prison
K and the cCnvicts whose labor was
1 necessary, the only ones who were at
( the grave were Henry and David Nor
! Jensen, brothers of the dead man, and
Thomas Thomas, a friend Of the fam
4 lily.
Funeral Of the Dead.
I After the execution the body was re-
/ moved to the prison chapel, where it
/ lay until 3:15 p. m. About 3 o'clock
! a hearse, drawn by horses whose color
matched the dull gray of the sky, en-
tered the penitentiary enclosure and
/ drew up in front of the warden's Of
/ flee. About the same time Mortensen's
! brothers arrived. A short consulta-
4 ton was held with Acting Warden
1 Wright and then Joseph E. Taylor. the
undertaken, asked that guards be de-
/ tailed to act as pallbearers.
1 This grim duty fell to John Stowe,
/ the prison clerk, and Guards David
/ Hilton, Andrew Ure and Fred SchueZe.
/ DR.. A. G. Young, who was present as
1 a physician on behalf of the family.
/ accompanied the party into the chapel
| where the brothers of the executed
1 man were given an opportunity to take
/ their last look at his face Then the
| coffin with the body was taken outside
I the walls and placed in the hearse.
Four men iE stripes were sent by
! the acting warden to prepare the grave
/ and in the meantime the hearse stood
I on the hillside overlooking the penften-
\ tiary barn. A delay of twenty min
utes ensued- Then Mr.. Wright gave
/ the signal and the movement to the
prison cemetery began. No one but
/ the guards was permitted to accom-
/ pany the little cortege that traversed
/ the road to the grave.
Was a Simple Interment.
/ The scene at the burial was sim
plicity itself. The grave was inspect
/ ed by Henry and Dave Mortensen, and
then the command to lower the body
was given, after the coffin had been
/
] seconds the small party stood, with
barred heads, looking down into the
/ grave
Cover him up"
The words came in a choking voice
from Dave MOrtensen. And then. as
the cOnvicts threw the moist, fresh
earth over the body, the brothers sob
/ bed aloud. Their grief was pitifUI, the
more so for the obviously strong ef-
forts they put forth to control their
/ emotion.
Soon the last sod had been replaced
and a little mound marked the spot
( where had been buried the remains of
/ Peter M0rtensen.
/ Then the brothers left the prison and
( took their way downtown to where
I broken old man awaited their coming
to hear that the body Of his third son
was at rest.
] P-icT to the funeral the personal eff
fects of Peter AIortensen were turned
over to his brothers II was stated
that all his belongings, including his
/ papers, -wOuld be taken to his old home
/ at Forest Dale. Those who inspected
the papers declare that nothing was
| found that could in any way throw
the slightest light on the murder Of
Hay.