The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1905-03-05
of hls dying was d. psychological marvel mai q

9 Another fact Interested me IN MS case.
eswns fully set on making no statement M
ut the time Of his execution. lte 1, de-
Sciared that what he said must be \ Utter.
ed with dnlbcratton--t hat lle would z not
trust himself To tile nervous strain OF the =
denth.ho,lr. In this he ppeared %to h PC
anxious to guard himself from srca klng
Under abnormal excitement. And yet tls As;
q fact, no did request me to make q q
statement for him just fter the religion
services 8at tho gallows closed. \ Els re-
Quest was made without y tre1lorl and
was lin substance that ho desired sIit " 70
bcSundcrstood that III dying he harb.oiretd1 -. "a
no bitterness OF feeling agdtnst those Who
had brought him to his death. z "a
AS to His Guilt. .I$s
YOU Will understand that IN making ~
these references to the death Y Of q TINS
Inflated young man i do not touch the
question Of 8hiB guilt. With that my duty
as his spiritual 4advlsers had \ thing IS q g
dc, except8so farSnsi It bore upon IN " work *
I'M the Interest Of his soul. As a. fact
II did not concern yself seriously viii glii
that point. It lay Ia rgely gu lt SIDE O. my y,
him guilty, the Supreme Court saw no
reason to upset that decision and the sfts
governor after long and pei picking con
tsideration, declined to arrest cxe cution
of scntence. IT seemed not my dutys,to
9mcddle wltli@t the matter. 8 So far & as /. Is
can recall / have never pressed q 2 y de- q s
cided Judgment on the question s Q f4yhls Is
guilt. Indeed, I never thought y would ~
be proper for me to do 80. AS ~ slacl !a5cNs
4 never knew. Not IL + few3 we're tt1toler
ant In their bearing towards hose VINO no
did not agree with them in the case
Five years after@ Cluveriuss had met ms
&fata II was holding a II revival In Z one $o1
the border counties of Virginia, 4 a nd one
day stranger nppron ched me z On on q ti'e
church yard and asked for O. CONVERSE
$tioh with me. AS we DIRE away q rom O. 4
dent excitement: II wish to say TO ayo2!n 81
that I have hated you for five years.
AS he paused long after this fierce re-
mark, 7 finally told him that ~ nc would VIC
come down into my country ! would IN n
Stroduce him to several OF her men who q
pro badly felt the same way toysards me. e..
probably enough to form q elup,s y thcy
could got together II preferred norS 70 J. 9 De
too serious under the nWcsome 81 tuation n
53 AS started quietly to leave him, ne,
asked me ra therYa ggresslVelyif ~ desired
To- know " i1y he felt such " towards
me. 10 this 4 replied calmly tina 4 his
fury was on account t. OF any iyHron g, reai
Or fnncied that 4 had done him would
be glad 10 hearsswha = II wa Q n erWlse3
81 had no desire to alsno W. rhereupon ne
Syolun tcered, somewhat .Wea KY, s 70 ii ten
me that his hatred WAS owing e the Iiacl
that he was very sure Il hat tsI believed
that Cluverius was innocent, ,sg and z had
not tho courage and manhood 81 oil So Y @ S@so:3
TO this L replied that II wa 8 Gsorr that y
could do nothing to NIL tlEate his hatred
towards me, 81 sinc Z as Il "a ct. S8 ven
$IS3had believed without tsoubt that ~ !.
SCluvcrius was innocent ! sll ould hardiyl
have said so to the public, for the reason!
that Twas no my p art To- sayso and 7. =.
ration SHOULD llay been IRE So rded sas $a
sen i men ntaiist the Ynssal OK rny feeltngg
'Jratt,er% than hit he man N ilo TRneyv his
place and Sta yed In Il $T be assionate a
strange I II wen t or ~. iii ma signs Of
fyexation and diaa appoin ntmen IL
Two OF the most cmtne t 8$t turtst ts IN
Virginia have said to me that while they,
did not claim that Cluyerius was limo
cent hey felt 4 hat the case against him
was not mad G out. Cluverlus was s. asked
he was; q slawyer--ho how his conviction wa $
brought about, and his reply 2 was hat
the Richmond Dispatch created all T.
4,nospheric condition which rendered It i'm
possible for him to receive & q fair trial.
i3ss Stirred His Indignation.
I ought to have said IN another e CON y !.
about the question OF a confession. The
papers were frequently specuating as TO
the proba bIlity OF his making q confes-
sion. Detectives and some city officials
were 'exp pressing opinions to the effect
sthatEas the end came on he would tell
his guilty secret. The case Of Jeter
Philips was often quoted as showing
that criminals who had been rellg glously
trained always made conf essions at the
Inst. These things came Ito CluVerius' 8
ears and deeply stirred his ind ignatlon.
He X look u t Il III almost nortally ~ that
Sne should be mixed up with selfrconfessed
criminals OF the worst sort. # f 5sfi
Almost to sthe last this & extraordinary
Young man seemed to have va grant hopes
that some turn in q aftalrs. some linterVet-
Ing angel would appear for his deliver
ance.. Us Fl Q " showed little interest! in the
movement to secure a communication of his
sentence. He declared outright that be-
tween death and a life in prison he would
far prefer deaf Ii, 8H except that he be-
lieyed that the future would bring him
|sylndlcation. He was willing to$Swear the
stripes and bide his time until reluctant
Justice set him free. On no bjent did
he talk with quite so much VI igor and In
dignation as he did when he denounced
tho phophecies that he would in his
crisis stamp hmselfa a murderer by con-
fesslon. He insis ted that he had no con-
fessIon TO make. " rs IL
f Time the i revealer o + secrets, seems
slow to bring the 5vlndlcatton for which
this young man seemed to look with con-
1dencc. This need not BIO arrayed as an,
argument In favor OF his condemnation.
Thore Is no tribunal on earth before
which the necrets Of all hearts are re-
yealed # Not In this world will all tho
light be turned on,f$A |. IS ss,#2 ss RI
Senti1nent55'Was Divided.
In some cases OF. f.circumstantlal aevi-
5dcnce the public seems TO BIO a unit, The
verdict Is unanimous h In advance 4 Of "a
confession. 1twas not IN Cluverius's case.
Tho pubic was seriously, if not equally
Flow far the split was emo
lstonaliand 5howsfnrlI was judleihl At would
not he easy to say. ~ he gnllows Elong
l5ago scaled the sen,nnce pf the law, and
the young lawyer died the fslon' s death
! Let those hol him guilty who will, but
| 1T sis due to- him to say that lie went to
lShis fate savo@lng his tnnoeenc CO, fury,
ljudges and others many, said he. did Y,
but witt, death sla Ting to claim liln, he
declared again as he had said az the 5har