The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1906-03-01
SCaff0|d Was Erected in Prison
Yard This Morning
EXECUTION WILL OCCUR ABOUT SIX
YOUNG MURDERER SPENT THE
DAY READING HIS BIBLE AND
TALKING WITH GUARD.

Some time between and 6 o'clock
tomorrow morning kid" White, the
19-year-old murderer, will be hanged at
the state penitentiary unless his attor-
neys manage to secure stay of execu-
ton by appealing to the United States
oourt on some technical law noint =;
Warden KEGS this morning stated
that he did not believe any further at
tempt to save White from the gallows
would be made and preparations for
carrying out the grewsome task Of
hanging White went steadily ahead to-
day. The scaffold on which six other
murderers have been executed was
erected in the northeast corner of tl7>
prison yard this morning and the rope
thoroughly tested by means of sand
bags.
White Resigned to Fate.
White spent nearly the whole day
reading his bible and conversing with
the death watch. A priest visited the
penitentiary this afternoon and re-
manned nearly an hour with White,
praying with him. White is apparently
resigned to the fate that awaits him
tomorrow morning and he is expected
to go to the gallOws as bravely as did
lana
nese, Henry Arao. White will probably
be accompanied to the gallOws by
priest and Prison Chaplain LeCornu,
who has taken quite an interest in the
young murderer since he was brought
to the penitentiary. The exact hour
of the execution has not been made
public, but it will probably occur soon
after daybreak. White will spend the
night in the prison hospital and will be
closely guarded for fear that he might
attempt to injure himself. He will be
awakened early and given his breakfast
and then he will be prepared for the
execution.
Whites Crime.
The crime for which White pays the
penalty on the gallows tomorrow MORN
ing was the killing of Matthew Murphy,
an aged expressman, while White and
John Hilderbrand, now serving a life
sentence in the Walla Walla prison for
the part he played in the crime, were
engaged in holding up John Conway's
saloon in Seattle in September, 1904.
Hilderbrand, who is one of the worst
criminals on the Pacific coast took up
with Kid White and the two en-
gagged in a career of crime that as
founded the Sound officers. One night
in September, 1904, while Conway's
saloon was crowded with men, Hilder-
brand and White, masked and heavily
armed, entered the resort The men
in the place were quickly lined up
against the wall and compelled at the
point of a gun in Whites hand to keep
their hands in the air. Hilderbrand,
brandishing his revolver, looted the
cash drawer and emptied the pockets
of the men lined up against the wall.
Killed Expressman.
Mathew Murphy, an aged express
man, who was in the place at the time,
let his arms drop for a second, when
White, it is claimed, shot him down.
In the excitement Hiledrbrand fired
several shots, wounding the bartender
slightly. Hilderbrand and White rush.
ed out the back door of the saloon and
escaped. The pair were soon sus-
pected of crime and their arrest at
Tacoma followed shortly afterward.
In the subsequent trial of the two men
White confessed that he was the one
who shot Murphy. On the strength OF
his story Hilderbrand escaped with
life sentence while White was convict
ed of murder in the first degree and
was sentenced to hang. His case was
appealed to the supreme court, but the
verdict Of the King county court was
sustained and White was sentenced to
be hanged at the Walla Walla prison
On January 26, but Governor Mead
granted a respite Of 80 days in order