The herald. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1905-1953, 1911-07-13
LEGALLY
HANGED
By CHARLES LEWIS PHlPPS
Copyright by American Press Asso-
citation. 1911.


ed Wilcox, the celebrated criminal law
yer, has most excited your interest"
THAT Of Mathews. who was accused
Of murder"
"Was he innocent or guilty"
innocent"
"Did you secure his acquittal"
NO"
"Hanged?"
Eyes; legally hanged"
"What do you mean by thatE
"TIl tell you. Mathews was in the
employ OF Henderson, the man who
was murdered. | don't care to go into
the details of the case; ! will only say
that there was 50 much circumstantial
evidence against him that from the
first / despaired of saving his neck.
knew he was innocent, though he could
no more explain the circumstances that
pointed to his guilt than | could"
How did you know he was in
nocent?"
by both experience and intuition.
defy any of my clients to deceive me
in this regard. l simply look them III
the eye, and that tells me the story.
There was everything about
Mathews case to interest me. He was
a younger son of British country
gentleman and in love with the daugh-
ter OF another British gentleman. His
h.. oh rn N
ing been accused Of crime, much less
having been convicted, for l could do
nothing to prove him innocent lie
showed me his mothers letters, and 1t
was distressing TO read them. his
betrothed was also writing him with
out any knowledge that he was under
sentence Of death. \ week before he
was to be hanged a letter from solic-
itors in England was handed him, in
forming him that a bachelor uncle mad
died and left him a large fortune"
Upon my word! 1t was an inter
esting case, wasn't it,"
Il should say so. If ever there was
man who had everything to live for
Mathews had. And to be judiciauy
executed without ever having wronSed
any one in his life was simply awful.
You have no idea how having a life
on your hands wears on a man. and
this case nearly drove me insane.
but | braced myself for gigantic
effort. After comforting with Mathews
I decided to cable the solicitors in
England, giving them the situation
and asking how much funds they
could cable me within a few days.
They placed 10000 to my credit, and
with this sum went to work. There
was no use in trying to secure delay
or a new trial. What / must do was
to interest the sheriff. l had long
secret conference with him, but could
not move him to act for money.
though / so far secured his judgment
that he must do an official wrong in
hanging Mathews that he consented to
wink at any game l might practice,
provided 1t could be kept secret.
81 got friend Of mine who was a
professor in a medical college to ap-
ply for the body of Mathews as soon
as he was dead. This enabled me to
gain possession Of the condemned
man the moment the hanging was
over. Then fixed" every official
who was to be present at the hanging
Mathews put in a request that there
should be no spectators present.
could not even be present myself
But there was not one of the officials
to whom 1 paid less than $4,000, and
the hangman got $4,000 My friend
the doctor was the only one present
who got nothing. He had a coffin
ready for the corpse as soon as it was
taken from the gallows and a hearse
to carry it to the hospital
"Well, that night 1 went to the hos
pital and found Mathews locked in tn,
doctors room"
"But how was the hanging man
aged?"
were half a dozen men paid by thu
state to see that Mathews was hanged
and l paid every one Of them-in al
S1OO,OOO-to go through the process
without hanging him. All know is tina
I paid the money and found Mathew
alive in the doctors room. Some burn
cork. a woolly wig and suit Of clothe
procured from a Jew tailor fixed hin
so that no one would know him.
had a steerage ticket for him in al
outgoing steamer, and early the mex
morning he was on his way to Eng
land"
HE must have been very grateful
to you"
Grateful! I should say so. Befor
parting with me he made me promis
that I would come over as soon a
possible and see him. / couldn't g
for a year, and then I found him II
possession Of $4,000 a year incom
and married to the woman he loved
He met me on the steamer, and tn
first thing he did was to impress |
upon me that neither his mother no
his wife nor any one living except hi
solicitors knew that he was judicial,
dead in America. He had often trie,
to bring himself to unburden his sc
cret to his wife, but had always failed
Mathews entertained me royal,
and begged me to suggest some wa,
for him to pay the debt he owed me
even IL it required every cent Of hi
q