The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1906-06-01
A MURDER
EXP|ATEO

Frank Johnson. as he was known in
the community and TO the law. was
duly and decorousiy executed at Oahu
Prison yesterday morning for murder.
William Henry. High Sheriff of the
Territory. superintendent the execution.
His most painful duty. personally. was
the reading OF the death warrant to
the condemned man before the latter
was brought out to the scaffold.
Kealakai, an experienced prison
guard who had ofiiciated on many pre-
vious occasions of the same kind and
never Numbered, attended to the last
mechanical details. Johnson's passage
from consciousness must have been
instantaneous, for there as not mus
cular tremor noticed after the drop,
and only the short period of twelve
and a half minutes elapsed before DIR.
w. l.. Moore, the prison physician, de-
clared him dead. In the official exam
ination of the suspended body DR..
Moore was assisted by DIR. Rorkenbach
of the German training ship Herzogin
Sophie Charlotte Drs. Hoffman,, Oya-
ma and Nimura We're also present.
Statements We're voluntarily made
of nature calculated to still any mis-
givings on the part of the jury that
convicted him regarding the business of
his fate under the law. A few days
ago he sent for Mrs. Kentwell, whose
family once employed him. and at first
denied to her that he was guilty but
he soon broke down, weeping, and told
her that he killed the Wharton child
and that his doom was just. He gave
his watch and other small belongings
to Mrs. Kentwell.
Johnson slept well on Wednesday
night until o'clock in the morning,
when he awoke and called for his pipe
and did not go to sleep again. At five
O'Clock he asked for whisky, a drink
of which was given to him. He ate
a light breakfast at o'clock. After
he awoke he talked for some time with
High Sheriff Henry. He told him that
his true name was John O'Connell and
that he had married sister and three
brothers in Ireland. He had shipped
on a vessel named the Frank Johnson
and deserving from it here adopted its
name as his own. Being unable to read
or write he had never kept the run
of his age. The High Sheriff placed his
years as at least forty.
A few minutes before eight O'Clock
Father Clement spent few minutes
with the condemned man. High Sher-
if Henry had compared his watch with
other timepieces. A distant clock was
heard from the prison Office striking
eight and moment later the High
Sheriff called upon the press represen-
tatives to attend his party at John
sons cell. Then there was a loud
clangor from the prison bell as the
company descended the steps to the
basement corridor.
johnson leaned his weight upon his
left arm, grasping the edge of the door
frame with that hand while the High
Sheriff in a voice tremulous with emo
ton read the death warrant to him.
Dressed in a new black suit over a
striped shirt, with a black necktie and
highly polished shoes, johnson held a
print calico handkerchief in his right
hand. His features had become con-
siderably bleached since his trial and
his demeanor was solemn almost to the
tragic. as If he fully realized that his
last moments of earthly existence had
arrived. AS the reading came to the
command that the High Sheriff laying
aside all excuses" execute the courts
sentence between the hours of a. m.
and p. m. on May 81, johnson glanced
appealingly upward as if in mute
prayer.
Immediately the reading was con-
Guided High Sheriff Henry threw open
the door of the cell and officers enter
I'D nd into Inh will
straps. Then he was conducted at a
smart pace up the steps and over the
sloping gangway to the scaffold out
side He walked firmly without sup
port. Arrived upon the scaffold his
legs were strapped together and Father
Clement repeated three sentences of a
prayer. to which Johnson strongly nod
ded assent at each pause, Then the
black cap and the moose were quickly
adjusted. and at about seven minutes
after eight o'clock the trap was sprung.
The crime for which Johnson was
executed was the killing of Simeon
Wharton. the seven-year old son of
MIR. and Mrs. Henry Wharton, at Wal
alua on January last. He shockngly
mutllated the body of the little victim
and buried IL at the edge of a cane
field. on his trial before Judge Robin
son his counsel assigned by court, T.
NJ. Harrison, produced the defense of
insanity but II was not accepted by the
jury. Much horror having been caused
by the peculiar atrocity of the murder
the government was very earnest In the
prosecution, both Attorney General
Peters and Deputy Attorney General
Prosser appearing throughout for the
Territory
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