Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-08-19
BUT ONE WEEK TO LIVE
JOHN hurley MUST PAY DEATH
PENALTY NEXT FRIDAY.
Saws He Will Be Hanged ''for Fun"
and Complains of His
Race.

Between the hours of IL and O'Clock
next Friday John Burley, colored, Will pay
the death penalty for felonious assault on
a child. 1t has been only a snort tinie
since the law provided for the imposltioh
of such a penalty for a crime other imam
that of murder, and Burley Is the III
one to be convicted and sentenced to pay
the extreme penalty for the CRIME 1t 10
the general belief Of people who nave come
in contact with him that his MIND Is Tar
below normal and that he is In no condl-
ton to fully realize what is to occur IN the
1ail one week from today
IF they hang me-" he said they VIII
do 1t Just for fun. and 1t will be infamy.
He declared to Star reporter at the
iail that he Is innocent of the crime tor
which he was convicted, and claimed that
the offense was fastened upon him In order
TO exonerate two others.
''Niggers put me here" said John, put
II they had treated me the way the wmte
folks did l would not be here today. l
wouldn't want to live two hours II hao
done what they put on me-.
Burley's fellow prisoners all smile when
asked what they think of his mental con-
dition The condemned man seems to enjoy
the conversations about him, regarding
much that Is said as merry Jest. lie
speaks of the guards and prisoners as MS
''buddies" and wants to know If the guard
who puts the rope about his neck is gong
to laugh when he does 1t.
II don't like to get hung just for fun,
he said, land l want the President TO give
me a new trial. 1 sent him letter, but
he hasn't answered it yet. Tell him l don't
want a pardon, but just want chance to
show the nggers that they can't hang me
for fun
His Mental Status.
John makes no claim that he is mentally
irresponsible, but says he had a funny feel
ing in his head when his case was tried
and he was unable to collect his thoughts.
That feeling he states, was the result of his
having been dubbed at the time of his ar
rest. Coored people he says, got him into
trouble when he was sentenced to twelve
years in Albany for an OffenSe similar to
that for which he Is so soon to be executed.
At that time, he says, he refused pardon
because he had good paying position In
the prison.
Il was born in Maryland near Annapolis
Junction" Burley said to a Star reporter
in response to a question, land my mother
had forty-six children Two or three were
born al time, and I'm a twin brother"
He says he is nearly fifty-three years old
and has two children living in the country.
When he returned from Albany he had
money and he spent most of 1t on the chill
dren. Ten years of his life were spent in
the navy, he stated and five in the army.
Burley maintains that he is Christian,
and says he was converted to the Catholic
Church when he was boy. but was after
ward drawn to the Baptist denomination.
The Catholic and Baptist religions, he said,
are both right, but he thinks some of the
others are crooked.
John says he walks his cell almost every
night, and that the Lord tells him that they
can't hang him for fun While he says he
thinks they are going to hang him next
week for fun, he knows the Lord won't let
them hang" him in infamy." The con-
demned man, 1t is stated, has a number of
relatives in this city and Maryland but
they do not visit him.