The Hope pioneer. [volume] (Hope, N.D.) 1882-1964, 1906-02-22
WILLIAMS DIES
UPON GALLONS.
MURDERER OF JOHN KELLER is
HANGED IN JAIL At
ST. PAUL.
EXECUTION WITHOUT HITCH
MAN is PRONOUNCED DEAD FEW
MINUTES AFTER THE
DROP FELL.

st. Paul, Feb. IA. William VIII.
Jams was hanged at 1921 this
morning in the basement of the
Ramsey county jail for the murder of
John Keller. The execution was car
ried out without a hitch, and a few
minutes after the drop fell the ply
sicians proclaimed the man dead. The
doomed man maintained his compos-
are to the last, except for a slight evil
dencs of nervousness as he mounted
the scaffold.
The Execution.
Sheriff Anton Miesen entered the
death cell at IL. G5 o'clock this morning
and informed Williams that his time
was up. Williams hands were placed
in handouts behind his back and he
was led to the elevator between Dep
Hties Hans Hanson and F. G. Picha,
with Sheriff Miesen in front and
Chief Deputy Frank Robert in. the
rear. Rev. Thomas Cushen, assistant
pastor of the cathedral, followed the
officers.
They were lowered to the first base
ment in the elevator, when the final
march began in the same order. The
party descended the iron stairway to
the sub-basement and moved through
the door into the death chamber and
up the thirteen steps to the scaffold
platform.
Chief Deputy Robert adjusted the
moose about Williams neck, while
Deputies Picha and Hanson adjusted
the straps around his chest and arms,
another about his thighs and a third
about his ankles.
Puts on Black Cap.
Deputy Robert then placed the
black hood over the condemned mans.
head, turning the front up so that the
pale face was visible. Then Sheriff
Miesen gave Williams the opportunity.
to make his last statement.
He said: Gentlemen, you are wit
Messing an illegal hanging. I am ac-
cused of killing Johnny Keller. He
was the best friend 1 ever had"
AS Williams kissed the cross held
by Rev. Cushen, Deputy Robert
lowered the front of the death mask,
drew the cords, tightly under the
moose and tied them. Then grasping.
the moose he frightened it and placed
the knot directly and firmly behind
the left ear.
He waved his left hand to the sher-
if, who was standing at the lever di-
rectly behind him and next to the
wall.
The sheriff pulled the lever,
the trap, dropped, and with a
snap the body hung suspended.
After waiting five minutes after the
drop Coroner A. w. Miller and Dr.. G..
A. Wheaton stepped to the hanging
figure, and after a short examination
pronounced the man dead.
Williams Crime.
The crime for which William Will
Jams paid the penalty of his life upon
the gallows this morning was the
murder of sixteen-year-old John Kell-
er. at No. | Reid court shortly after
midnight on the morning Of April IS
last. The crime was a double murder,
as the boys mother, Mrs. John Keller,
was shot at the same time and died
at the city hospital a week later. Will
Jams was indicted for both murders
and was convicted on the first trial,
in which he "a charged with killing
the boy.
The murder was committed in the
fiat occupied by the Kellers, and was
the result of trouNe between Will
Jams and the Kellers regarding the
boy. Williams wanted to take the
boy with him to Winnipeg, but Johns
mother objected. There had been
trouble on this account before, and
the opposition of the boy, added to
that Of his parent, at last SO angered
NLilliapac that ho- ca,aht 4ha;. lie. ~