The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1906-05-31
FRANK JOHNSON
GIVES A NEW NAME
BEFORE EXECUTION
THE MURDERER TELLS HIGH
SHERIFF. HENRY THAT HE HAS
BORNE AN ASSUMED NAME.

John O'Connell,-not Frank Johnson,
according to his own statement-was
hanged in Oahu prison this morning
for the murder of Simeon Wharton. All
the closing Incidents of his worthless
life tended to finally demonstrate not
only that he committed the terrible
crime for which he suffered, but that
his plea of insanity at the trial was
more of pretense than probably even
the theory of the prosecution contem-
plated, for at the last he made state
ment in which he dropped all acting,
threw aside the name of Frank johnson
and told of relatives in Ireland answer
ing to the famous name of O'Connell
He walked with firm tread to the gall
lows which ne was hardly expected to
do, and he went to his death absolutely
painlessly after a silent acqulescence,
by mods, in the prayers which the Rev
Father Clement offered for him on
the death trap.
johnson also confessed TO his MUIR
| der. He sent for Mrs Kentwell and
asked High Sheriff Henry to let Mrs.
kentwell, his former employer, come
and see him, and to her, according to
Mrs Kentwelrs statement, he admitted
his guilt of the murder To prison
guards he claimed to the last not to
remember what had happened on the
day of his unprecedented crime.
1t was two days ago that he asked
High Sheriff Henry to let him see Mrs.
Kentwell. He knew then that the
morning of his death was near, and he
wanted to see the woman who had long
employed him as servant and who was
a witness against him at the trial.
Last night Johnson-or O'Connell-
slept well up to midnight. At about
one o'clock he awoke, and from that
time on he remained awake. There
can be no question whatever as to his
sanity and his realization of his posi-
ton during the hours that passed from
this time up to the hour of his execu-
ton. He asked for food and ate three
times between two this morning and
the time of his death. At five o'clock
he asked to be given a drink of whiskey
and the prison officials allowed him a
drink
The Rev. Father Clement, the only
regular visitor the murderer has had
for days, called early this morning and
gave the last rites. The murderer was
attentive and seemed to appreciate his
state The Rev. Okomotu also attend
ed him and offered prayers. Before
eight o'clock the religious rites were
over and Johnson,-or O'Connell, was
left alone in his cell to await the hour
of eight, at which time ne might legally
be killed.
At eight o'clock High Sheriff Henry
in the presence of Father Clement and
a few Others read the death warrant to
the condemned and then the last pre-
pGrations for the execution We're made
Johnson stood absolutely silent while
being strapped. When the last mo-
ment came he left his cell with a strong
tread and he walked to the gallows un-
aided, accompanied by the Catholic
Father.
On the gallows the murderer spoke no
word. Father Clement offered a pray
err, to which the man standing over the
death trap listened with apparently
earnest attention. Then Jeanne the
grewsome black cap, wave of High
Sheriff Henry's hand, and buzz of an
electric apparatus, and the body of
Johnson, or ,O'Connell dangled at the
end of a rope, and never even trembled
again. AS far as consciousness is con-
cerned, his life was snapped out in a
second, but it was 1914 minutes, accord
ing to the doctors time, before life was
extinct. According to other watches,
|
and the doctors declaring the man
death was exactly eleven minutes.
Either figure make the death remark
ably quick. The physicians attending
were DR.. w. L. Moore, prison physician
and DR.. Ropenbach, of the German
Training ship in port.
There were few persons present at
the execution and most of them were
officials. Just as the murderer walked
on to the gallows a shower of rain be-
gan to fall, and it sprinkled the black
cap during the few moments between
the final prayer and the sign which set
in motion the machinery of death. By
the time the body was cut down a
heavy rain was falling and those in the
prison yard FASTENED for shelter.
| JonilSOH CRIME Was the hlllluB Vi III
tie Simeon Wharton a seven year old
boy, on January last. 1t was a crime
Of extraordinary atrocity. The little
boy was enticed into a small forest of
bushes and literally cut to pieces, All
the indications of the evidence were
that the murderer was a degenerate of
a repulsive type. His trial occupied
about four weeks. Attorney General
Peters and Deputy Prosser, assisted by
Chester Doyle, prosecuted, and T. NJ.
Harrison defended. The defense was
insanity. Through all the long trial
the defendant sat motionless and silent.
But the end of the proceedings showed
that somewhere i'm his dull brain was
an appreciation of the value of the "in-
sanity dodge" and that he had really
I l.. -