The Marietta journal and courier. (Marietta, Ga.) 1909-1918, 1910-02-25
WILLARD WEBB
DIES ON SCAFFOLD
Goes to His Death Declar-
ing Himself Innocent
of Crime.

Willard Webb was hanged in the
county jail in this city on last Friday
for assault committed upon Mrs.
Brown near Winnings last summer.
1t was known on Thursday morning
there would be no interference with
the Judgment of the court by the par
don board or the Governor. This was
Immediately conveyed to Webb, and
he received the information in a
manner that indicated he had been
expecting it.
Webb spent almost the entire day in
writing. The manuscript was mostly
on the subject of religion, and this he
gave to one of his brothers He slept
but little on Thursday night, seeming
ly very restless, and really did not
drop off into sound slumber until
after three O'Clock, and then for little
more than an hour. At six o'clock he
arose, ate breakfast, and resumed work
on his manuscript,
Webb was visited in his cell during
the forenoon by his attorneys and
newspaper men, all of whom were inn
pressed with his quiet manner, ap-
parently not of the daring bravado or
one with bolstered courage, but rather
that of quiet resignation to a condition
confronting him. This he maintained
to the end, and nearly all who wi t.
messed the execution remarked upon
the wonderful nerve displayed by the
man.
Webb was visited by Rev. S. A.
Paris and R. D. Airline, two colored
ministers, who conducted prayer and
song service in his cell, and who re-
manned with him until the execution.
A little after eleven o'clock, Sheriff
Mckinney and Deputy Sheriff Kin
Caid, informed him the hour of execu-
ton had arrived, and he was by them
led to the scaffold, only few feet from
his cell. With his hands pinioned be-
hind him, he faced the officers and
witnesses and made the following
statement
81 am glad, cheerfully glad, before
God and before the people, and l
would be glad if more people than is
here now could hear me, This is my
last request on earth before man and
before God, and this is my last talk
with anybody, and l am dying in the
truth and | am dying for something
| don't know any more about than a
dead man.
[ am thankful am not dying for
crime | am dying to give satislac-
ton to the people. am just as clear
OF committing crime as any other
man in the world. There is not a
man in the world more innocent than
| am.
81 have not got any prejudice
against you people. | am dying just
like the apostles of the Lord did.
They died when they were perfectly
innocent, and l am dying tie same.
| thank you all for your Kindness"
He also thanked Sheriff Mckinney
and Deputy Sheriff Kincaid for their
many kindnesses to him since his
incarceration. Prayer was offered by
one Of the attending ministers. and,
at II "a O'Clock the trigger was pulled
and Webb's body shot downward
His neck was broken, and in less
than twenty minutes life was pro-
nounced extinct by the attending phys
icians, DR.. G. Tenant and DIR. w. H..
Parkinson. His body was taken down
and given over to his brothers, Clifford
and Frank Webb, who gave it burial
on Saturday in the negro cemetery in
Jonesville.
The crime for which Webb paid the
death penalty is fresh in the minds Of
the reading public. He was convicted
on the direct, positive and unquivocal
evidence of the injured party. An
alibi was undertaken to be established,
but the jury regarded the evidence on
this line as insufficient to overcome
the states proof. The lower court let
the verdict stand, and the Supreme
Court affirmed it, after which, the
Prison Board and the Governor de-
clined to interfere with the finding OF
the jury and the judgment of the
Court.