Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1907-01-17
IRONTON. MO. Thursday JANUARY z.

hibition of feeling, it would be a
relief. But that stolid face; that
dull, hard voice-it's the persona
tication of extreme misery and un-
utterable agony"
Finally the time came when the
woman must have her resolution
presented. There were twenty six
names On the petition and not one
of them could be said to be other
than that of one of the solidest
men the assembly. Cook of Ray
county presented it. Back in the
lobby the old woman waited. The
resolution was seconded; then a
member suggested that the matter
should be presented in bill.
Then the resolution was referred
to committee, and If there ever
was hope of saving Bill Spaugh
from the gallows, through an ex-
preston from the legislature, it
was gone.
"What does that mean?" asked
the old woman of a man standing
by. "It means-it means-oh, it
means that there is still hope" II
hope there is," said the stolid
voice. Then she went to her
lodgings.
Bill Spaugh will hang for an
atrocious murder Thursday. Then
the mother will, no doubt, soon
join her other son in the penitent-
iary--no, not join him, but go
where she will be very close to
him so close that she can almost
hear his voice, but where she will
eTer be denied that privilege and
the privilege Of seeing him.
The Spaughs, in the language of
their neighbors, were ever "a bad
lot" They killed the popular
sheriff of Iron county in a brutal
manner. Polk went to arrest them
and the two boys fred on him
through the door. After they had
fired three charges of buckshot
into his body they hacked it with
some sharp instrument. Shortly
after their Imprisonment a mob
broke into the Ironton Jail and
poured shot into the bodies of the
two boys until they believed the
murderers to be dead. They re-.
covered, however, and came to
trial. Bill was sentenced to hang;
Arthur was sent to the penitentiary
for life and the mother, as an ac-
cessory, was sentenced to ten
years in the States prison. No
body will deny that under the law
of an eye for an eye and a tooth
for a tooth, Bill and possibly
Arthur ought to be hanged by the
neck until dead. But there is
something to be said on the side
OF the mother. Existence hasn't
been very kind to the Spaughs. 1t
made them stolid, and it gave
them primitive passions, base ap-
petites and lust of murder. 1t
made them 'sbrothers to the OK, y
and sent them into the world dull
and uncomprehending. They are
4 truly chad lot" The mother is
not what she should have been.
But Bill is to be hanged Thursday.
Dull and uncomprehending as she
is, bad as she may be, Mary
Spaugh feels that the boys and she
that day but took revenge upon
their natural enemies, "the law;''
, the law Of this social system which
they did not understand, and which
they found oppressive. With the
, vision of her own flesh and blood
upon the gallows, what Mother
Spaugh's dull brain can but dimly
comprehend, her heart feels-ol
has felt. Perhaps it feels no long.
, er. At any rate one would say il
: looking at her face that life, no
, death, nor anything that may
come after would be able to wake
J again that savage, hard, unfeelins
heart to Joy or sorrow.
Members who signed the peti,
tian were: Wallace Crossley, s
; E. Botsford, M. v. Thralls, J. A
! Ramey, J. E. Argan, w. HI. Ser
man, w. P. Houston, j. H. Him
NETT, F. w. Brooks, p. F. Letter
man, w. ]. Salts, j. M. Paul, w
T w. Butts, William A. Haller, I
. D. Raymond, w. H. Wade, s. F
3 Clark, 7. B. Book, j. H. Christy
= j. w. Kirkpatrick, 7. HI. Ham
John Whitaker, William "A. Shope
E, L. Noyes, w. S. Connor ant
J Virgil Fraughlin.