Custer County Republican. (Broken Bow, Neb.) 1882-1921, 1903-03-19


Niegenhnd dropped through the jaws
OF the Scatfold yesterday into the
NAV of justice there to be digeSted
at the morbid pleasure of the public.
lie died like man or a brute, which
may be much the same, and expressed
no more than half hearted repentance
for the double murder which he com
mitted on the little farm in Pierce
county. Five or ten minutes before
O'Clock he stood alive, grim and
stolid on the gibbet, casting furtive
glanceS at the horror-Stricken specta-
tors grouped around him. A few
moments later he was cut down a
grewSome corpse with the smell of
the tomb upon him.
Glimpse of Death
At the signal a black masked fig
ure shot noiSlessly through the trap,
Or ught up with jerk, and remained
motionleSS. Not a muscle of the
sufferer moved after the drop except
those Of the blCodless fingers which
closed as feebly as if clutching the
air. The body turned half round and
was still. The long pointed black cap
covered the mangled neck and head
which a moment before was set
squarely on two broad shoulders.
The point of the cap rested iauntily
on one side, the head was twisted by
the fatal knot until it turned upward
at an unnatural angle like that of a
deformed dwarf making Sickly grim
ace for the pleasure Of a company.
The cap added to the clownish pos.
ture and covered what one might i'm
agine to be the grin of a murderer
who thought he had cheated death.
M1n11G hn 81, 4
through the black mask and formed
1t was blood, but the spectators were
spared the look which the man last
assumed when the gloomy light from
the sky was shut out and he stood on
the terrible abyss. In this way JUS
tice was appeased, the verdict of the
court and jury was carried out and
criminal was removed from the earth.
With brute force he DESTROYED two
lives and with brute force his own
vas taken.
A stormy Life
An ignorant young farmer, Niegen-
find spent most Of the Twenty-Five
gears OF his life at hard labor. He
married Mrs. Peters, a young widow
with four children, the daughter of
Albert Breyer. The father-in-law
was harsh, the young man had much
of the animal about him and he re-
Sented the manner in which the old
man ordered him about. He thought
ne was treated as a slave. The last
quarrel in the family resulted in the
old man coming to the farm and TAX
Ing his daughter home with him, to
gether with all her belongings. For
fourteen months Niegentind went
from place to place like wanderer
who felt that the brand was upon
him. He brOOded over the matter
and finally returned to the scene,
made efforts to see his seven-monthS-
old child, which he had never seen,
was repulsed harShly by the old man,
and returned finally with murder in
his heart. He declared he was at
tackled by his father-in-law, pitch
fork being the weapon used. When
driven into corner he shot to kill
Then in frenzy he shot his wife.
With tiendiShneSS in his heart he
emptied every shot in his revolver
into her body. A stray bullet struck
his mother-in-law, inflicting a Slight
wound.
The murderer slept quietly That
night at the house of a neighbOr 1t
occurred to him to flee but he was
soon close pressed by a posse of armed
men. He exchanged shetS with his
purSuerS but was captured after hay-
ing been wounded a dozen times. He
had thought to put a bullet through
his own brain but found that he had
used all his cartridges. This in brief
IS the story of his crime.
His Last Day
Niegenfnd's day without a morrow
was not without incident. He re-
Ceived some flowers, the death war.
rant was read to him, he had short
conference with his minister, Rev
George Allenbach, who was invited by
Chaplain G. w. Martin to administer
to the spiritual wants Of the con
demned man. This was deemed lit
ting because the prisoner and the min
lister both speak German and the
former was at one time Il commune
cant of the German Lutheran church.
The minister arrived at the prison