Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1905-01-27
TO HANG TWENTY MINUTES

ouopcl pe aAioNeu TO hang not less
than 20 minutes. or until such time as
ne should be pronounced dead. The full
length OF time was allowed, &C the
end OF which Cooper was pronounced
dead. The body was cut down. the
stethescope ana other tests were tried.
but no evidence of life was found
There was but little change i'm the
features of Cooper and practically no
evidence of any suffering. His death
must have been nearly painless. The
body was taken inside OF the jail and
later turned over to his family.
When the body was rendered Coon.
er' S relatives they refused TO accent IL
and it was buried at the expense of the
county }. Albert Adams Inferred the
remains IN Potter's field, known as
Strangers s Row. The body was fol
lowed by but few of the old friends
OF the executd man.
GOOD ORDER MAINTAINED
Lieutenant @. T.. Hummel. a deputv
shreiff. represented the Sheriff's Office
of Baltimore city at the hanging.
There were also several other persons
from Baltimore aud Washington in at.
tendance.
Good order was maintained about
the Jail and in the Jail yard The 81
lence was deep and oppressive during
the few minutes which marked the
time that Cooper was on the trap
awaiting the movement that would
hurl him into eternity.
STORY OF THE CRIME.
1t was for the cold and deliberate
murder of one who had once been his
close friend that Cooper yielded un
his life today, that forfeit which so.
ciety demands of one who kills fel.
low man. In spite of the many efforts
which have been made in certain quar-
ters TO secure Communication of the
sentence all who have been identified
with the case in any of its phases
agree that the crime was one OF mur-
der in the first degree.
The crime was committed on the
night of July 10, last year. Julius
Cooper and George Harris, his victim.
had spent the greater portion of the
evening in the saloon of Michael
Owens. They had been drinking
heavily and while not in a quarrelsome
mood it was thought that they would
come TO blows. Finally Cooper left
the saloon. He went TO nearby Bawn
shop and secured a revolver which
had been left there by friend. Then
he purchased a sufficient number OF
cartridges with which to load every
chamber OF the weapon. Then he re-
turned to the rear of the saloon where
Harris was still seated.
Without word of warning. with
no indication of the deed he was about
to commit, he walked toward Harris.
nn cof in Il - ~.
and obliyious to his impending fate.
Cooper raised his revolver and fired
but one shot at his victim Harris
rose to his feet, staggered blindly to
one side of the yard and then, recover.
ing himself, walked without any ap-
parent pain to the street He was pick
ed up and taken to the hospital, where
he died three hours later.
After firing the shot Cooper walked
out onto the street and into the arms
OF an officer, who had been attracted to
the scene by the single shot. He was
placed in jail and finally indicted.
On November last he was placed on
trial in the Circuit Court The evil
dence, from the very first, was of a
most convincing nature. On November
2 he was found guilty of murder in
the hrst degree, after very able de-
fence had been put up by his attor.
neys, as far as the facts and evidence
at hand would permit They tried to
secure verdict of second degree mur-
der, but the evidence was against any
such decision.
On November 3 he was sentenced to
be hanged and later Governor Warfield
set the date of execution for today.
Many efforts were made to secure a
combination of the sentence. Judge
Magruder interested himself in the
case and tried every means in his
power to stop the execution. Yester-
day he filed in the Circuit Court an
injunction against Governor Warfield,
Attorney General Bryan and Sheriff
Hardy to prevent the hanging. 1t did
not issue, owing to the fact that he
was unable to secure the necessary sig
nature of judge of the court. Cooper
had early given up all hope of a com
mutation of his sentence and passed
his last days in a sullen gloom which
remained with him up. to the time OF
his execution.
OTHER EXECUTIONS
Some of the recent hangings in
Anne Arundel county we're:
Henry Norfolk, executed December
81, 1877.
Ernest Forbes, executed April 3.
1891.
Walter Wyatt, executed July 27,
1900.
Froggy Johnson was to be executed
on January IS, 1901, but was reprieved
and his sentence commuted at the last
moment.