The Farmville herald. [volume] (Farmville, Va.) 1890-1934, 1907-02-15
EXTREME PENALTY
PAID.
Jesse Rutfin and MaSSie Hill
Put 10 Death f.r Awful Crime.
Hill Breaks Two Ropes and Displays
Wonderful Nerve Many
Grimes Related.


meeting their fate upoh the gallows.
Ruilin was the first TO be executed.
lie walked steadily to the corridor
where the death trap confronted him,
and when asked if he had anything to
say, delivered two messages to the
Herald reporter to be sent to distant
friends, and bowed his head i'm audi
bic prayer. He was then assisted up
on the scailold where after slight
pause he declared that he was per
fectly resigned and believed he was
saved. TIE trap was sprung by
Sheriff Dickinson, aud he shot through
it with thud. There was not a per-
ceptible tremor, and in nine minutes
the physicians pronounced him dead.
The while Ruflin was passing
through his ordeal, Massie Hill stood
smoking cigarette within hearing
distance. lie was conversing with
two ministers. lie said he was ready,
and would go to the scafiold bravely
and fearlessly. This he did. When
at the foot Of the death dealing struc-
ture he turned to tie sheriff and asked
if he might pray. Being answe ed in
the Affirmative, the condemned man
stood and prayed aloud, after which
the Rev. f.. 4 p. Cheek, Of the First
Baptist Church, colored, and Rev :.
G. Hatcher, Of the Methodist Church,
offered ferve prayers, and the trap
was sprung. With a sudden check
and rebound the rope snapped and
the man fell heavily upon the
floor at the foot Of the stairs.
Ii was soon ascertained that he had
not lost consciousness and the rope
was quickly removed from his neck
Hill arose from the floor and stood
erect Asked if he was hurt much, he
replied that he was not, and said "if
you want me to walk back up the
steps take the straps of my legs.
This was done, and the man with
wonderful nerve walked up the steps,
back to the scalluld, and there deliver
ed a brief mes sage TO the sheriff to be
communica ed TO some Of his relatives.
Again the rope was adjusted this
time another, the same with which
Robert Booker was hanged last spring.
Hill stood erect and with apparent
dauntless nerve. The sheriff once
more pulled the trigger, and the body
Of Massie Hill shot down past the
swinging door. The crowd was horror
stricken, and many turned their eyes
away from the scene when again the
rope broke into several parts. HIS
body struck this time more heavily
than the first. At first it was thought
that he would have TO be removed
again TO the trap and be suspended,
but forum ately this was unnecessary.
In fifteen minutes DR.. w. j.. Ander-
son pronounced him dead, the pulse
beat having ceased where he lay upon
the floor.
The rope with which Rullin was
hanged, and with which the attempt
was made to hang Hill came from
New York. Sheriff Dickinson had
ordered it for the purpose, and 1t was
confidently believed to have been
strong enough. The mistake was
made in not testing the rope be ore the
time for the execution, and the acct
dent is exceedingly regretable, es-
pecally on the part Of the sheriff and
his efficient corps Of assistants.
The crime for which these men paid
the extreme penalty this morning was
one of the most brutal ever committed
i'm this section, the details Of which
are fresh in the minds of the reading
public On the night Of June 9Th,
1906, they shot John Grub, the aged
and much respected storekeeper and
postmaster at Tuggle, (Acteonl and
after robbing the premises set fire to
the building. Every effort was made
to capture the unknown perpetrators
and a heavy reward offered for their
arrest and conviction. Encouraged by
their escape from punishmentfor their
oft-repeated oflenses, the crime OF
murder did not wake them to sense
of fleeing from the country, but in
stead they kept right along plying
their professions of burglary, arson
aud plannings for other capital crimes,
until at Emporia Hill was arrested for
vagrancy. 1t was there while In Jail
that he is said to have talked in his
sleep about the Grub murder until
his cell mates plead with the jailor to
remove them from such a monsters
presence. Soon afterwards word
came to Prince Edward that Massie
Hill had made complete confession
of the part he took in the murder and
implicated Jesse Ruilin. 1t was not
long before the latter was arrested in
Hartford county, y. c., aud taken TO
Lynchburg for lack Of room in the
Prince Edward Jail. lie managed to
escape from the Lynchburg Jail on the
night before the day set for his trial,
and was recaptured several months
later within forty miles Of the place at
which he was first arrested. Both
Rufiin and Hill were tried at special
term Of Prince Edward Circuit Court,
Judge George J. Hundley on the
bench, in January last, and The ar
raignment, trial before two separate
juries and sentencing did not occupy
more than two hours.
Both men made full and complete
confessions Of the crime for which they
forfeited their lives, and willingly
1900. III tto Io4ofla Thoy shot Mr.