Evening bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1895-1912, 1904-12-15
LAUGHS AT DEATH.


Continued from Page ~
linen the usual muscular action set
in and for One-quarter OF an hour Dos
tors Moore, Sinclair and Pratt stood
around the gently swaying body. with
stethOsCOpe aud watches, waiting to
announce that death had claimed its
own. At the end OF the fifteen min.
utes, exact to the second. the physi.
clans. after careful examination, eX.
changed looks and condolences and the
verdict went forth that Matsumoto
MoritarO had passed to higher juris.
hiction from which there Is said TO he
I no appeal
! Then came four striped prisoners
bearing 4 board that looked like a sec
ton of a prison table; the rope was
severed near the knot, thv lifeless
clay was deposited thereon and car.
ried to the waiting CasRft. simple nj
fair to be sure. and the men Of medt
cine followed to take a look, tor
sciences sake. at the neck That mad
been the victim OF the hempen cord.
Long they looked and felt and
| Thought. "DisloCated, at any rate,
they said, III not broken" One Of
the gentlemen was OF the opinion thSs
there was break in one or the small,
er bones. In all events, what did the
dislocation or breakage signify, the
man was dead; be had suffered little
OF not at all; he had paid the penalty
OF his fearful crime; and, in the
opinion Of the prison officials, the eX.
eCution was neat one. And tho
opinion of the prison officials Is cor.
rect; It was a meat execution" as
neat as an execution can possibly be;
, there was no mistake; there was no
more disagreeableness than was all.
solutely necessary and great credit IL
due to High Sheriff Henry and tbs
4. officers OF the prison for the neatncss
with Sklch the business was dispatch
ed.
How did the prisoner act? Why, ho
WAS brave; he was stOiCai, he was
even CHEERFUL he actually laughed.
"Guru by" no cried, the muscles NJ
Ibis face relaxed into smile toward
all. "Guru b." he cried again in
his feeble English.
At such times ones emotions are apt
to conflict. On the one hand is the
atrocious crime committed by the man
I W W bli NV bNh'l manu- III
| the going out of a human life, not
In the heat Of passion or by unavoid'
able accident, but by the careful con.
sideration of the law made by men
to protect the interests Of men In so.
ciety. Bravery always excitcs sym.
pathy; and IL Is strange but true. and
being true is still more strange, that
coward who would do the demon
work confessedly done by Moritaro
can be brave Ut the last
All was in readiness at an early
hour this morning for the execution.
At 1890 o'clock this morning High
Sheriff Henry took hack 10 the Jail.
! Others mentioned were already on
hand. First came the reading of thu
/ death warrant to the doomed man
Moritaro stood close to the bars of
his cage in Cell No. 1903 in the cor.
ridor of the Waikiki wing Of tho
prison, while the High Sheriff and
the doctors and prison officials and
members of the press and Sheriff
Coney of Kauai and Chester Doyle,
| stepped near to the cell and the High
Sheriff read in English the death war.
rant.
His lips apart. touching his tongue
frequently to the roof OF his mouth,
the prisoner held TO the iron bars and
looked. as II in a trance. at the High
Sheriff as the warrant was read
Then Chester Doyle, japanese inter
prefer as well as detective and crimi
nalogist 10 the Attorney Generals dc
partment. read the same warrant In
the language of Japan. The prisone
displayed more signs of appreciation
during the latter reading. II cainot