The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-11-08
.DR. M'CUE GROVELS
 IN HIS JAIL CELL
Former Mayor of Charlottesville
 a Wife Murderer
SENTENCED TO BE HANGED
Showed No Signs of Breaking Down Until Ills Little Girl Climbed in His Lap and Tken Burst
 Into Tears.

Charlottesville. Va, November L- fspecial)-In his cell, pr. Samuel Me Cue, with the awful words of the jury's verdict still ringing in his ears, lies. crushed and grovelling, the convicted | murderer of his own wife.
 Upon him the hand of the law has fallen and under the weight of the blow his iron frame. stalwart and straight to . the end. has sunk down, weary at last | and broken. Without a murmur, with out so much as the flicker of an eye, he l heard the verdict read, and then, pale as death. sat down again where for three long, agonizing weeks he had waited in hope and in fear. Not then was it that he shook and tottered. Like some rugged oak, shattred to its base, he stood for awhile before he fell, rigid and upright as of yore, the old old McCue unruffled, inscrutable, undismayed.
 He TrembIed..
 A moment passed a moment long and
 terrible and then into his hand were slipped five trembling, cold and tender
 fingers, and upon his lap climbed little
 form. It was the figure of a girl not
 more than twelve, down whose face
 streamed bitter tears, through whose lit
 tie body trembled grief unspeakable and
 horror undefined. Then did McCue, the
 prisoner, waver, then, and not till then,
 did the father sink down and over the
 curly locks of his child sob out his bit terness and his despair. Around him,
 bowed and shaking, were a dozen of those near and dear, his children his
 brothers, his realtives fast and true For | nearly an hour they sat while a court | room audience swept by a mighty pity, looked down upon their sorrow and their | tears.
 The Parting Moment. At last the parting moment came. Me- l Cue stood up again. To his friends and his relatives he bade farewell. Pale still, | but firmly moving, he started back to | his cell Beside him walked two red eyed, weeping boys, his sons. For mo-
 ment at the gate he paused One long,
 lingering look at the sunshine and the l bright world around him, one deep, quiv- l ering breath of the free and glorious air, 1 and then with final word to his chil- dren he strode on. The gate changed. An instant later McCue, the murderer, | had gone. McCue. the victim of the stern and unyielding law, Thou shall not | kill"
 NO Thus passed into history Virginia's greatest of all murder trials in a way | that scarcely man had foreseen; 1t had ended with the conviction of the ac- cused and his return to the cell from which not few had expected to see him ] issue free man.
 There was no demonstration. Under the firm hand of Judge Morris, not riple disturbed the peace of the court | session, even at the most exciting of all | moments when the verdict was read. | It is no secret, however, that this crowd was pleased, that while 1t was torn with l pity for the poor children and for the | prief-stricken relatives it desired above | all things to see the prisoner punished | to the full extent of the law for the | henous crime of which they all believed | him guilty. In the excess of this care | fully represented excitement many broke | down. Two or three of the court off | cers could not bear it. They rushed | blindly from the room
 Nobody Could Guess Verdict. | When court opened nobody could guess what the verdict would be. The nature | of the evidence introduced by the com
 monwealth led even those who hated Me | Cue most to believe that he would never
 be convicted. A few more than usually | brave expressed the opinion that the | prisoner would be condemned to die, but | as for the vast majority it risked many l bets a hung jury or at most a con | viction of murder in the first degree. No- ] body seemed to expect an acquittal. In 1 view of this uncertainty in the public mind, fact rumored some time ago, but | learned today beyond the preadventure | of a doubt seems all the more weird and | startling. The jury had practically | reached the verdict before a single ar | gument by either side had been made. | It was no easy task. It was no pleasant | task.
 Jury kneIt and Prayed. | Nearly every night the twelve men knelt and prayed in their room prayed not only individually, but in company. Then each would arise and speak. By this system of rehearsng the evidence from day to day the gentlemen were con stantly abreast of the case, and had their opnon formed as to nearly every point.
 When the evidence was through their
 minds were made up. The eloquence of Woods nor Ker nor Lee nor Coleman could move them. When they came into the court room they knew what they in- tended to do It took them little over twenty minutes in the jury room. A portion of this time was devoted to prayer, it is said
 The result was reached on the first ballot. There was not a dissenting vote. Then the men came back, and while
 their verdict was read tears stood in the
 eyes of not few of their own number From what can be learned the jury
 mca considered that a chain of oi-cs'n-
 .tat.tial evidence bound McCue in It's
 toils The sequence of events connecting