The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1911-02-08
LEGALLY
HANGED
By CHARLES LEWIS PHIPPs
Copyright by American Press Asso-
citation, 1911.

"HangedY
Eyes; legally hanged"
what do you mean by that?"
'I'll tell you. Mathews was In the
employ of Henderson, the man whc
was murdered. 1 don't care to go into
the details of the case; will only say
that there was so much circumstantia.
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 10 his guilt than l could"
How did you know he was in
nocentP
by both experience and intuition.
defy any of my clients TO deceive me
in this regard. | simply look them in
the eye, and that tells me the story.
There was everything about
Mathews case to interest me. He was
younger son of British country
gentleman and in love with the daugh.
ter of another British gentleman. His
mother had no knowledge of his hav-
ing been accused of crime, much less
having been convicted, for l could do
nothing to prove him innocent. He
showed me his mothers letters, and it
was distressing to read them. His
betrothed was also writing him with
out any knowledge that he was under
sentence of death. A week before Ia
was to be hanged letter from sole
itors In England was handed him, in
forming him that a bachelor uncle had
died and left him large fortune"
Upon my words 1t was an inter
esting case, wasn't it,"
II should say so. II ever there was
a man who had everything to live for
Mathews had. And to be judicially
executed without ever having wronged
any one in his life was simply awful.
You have no idea how having life
on your hands wears on a man. and
this case nearly drove me insane.
But l braced myself for gigantic
effort After comforting with Mathews
/ decided to cable the solicitors in
England, giving them the situation
and asking how much funds they
could cable me within 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 new trial What / must do was
to interest the sheriff. 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 | might practice,
provided it could be kept secret.
Il got a friend of mine who was a
professor In a medical college to APP
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 l 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 paid less than $4,000, and
the hangrnan got $4,000 My friend
the doctor was the only one present
who got nothing. He had coffin
ready for the corpse as soon as it was
taken from the gallows and hearse
10 carry 1t TO. the hospital.
"Well, that night / went to the hos
pita1 and found Mathews locked In the
doctors room"
But how was the hanging man.
agedY
81 don't know; never asked. There
were half a dozen men paid by the
state to see that Mathews was hanged,
and l paid every one Of them-in all
500, 000--to go through the process
without hanging him All know is that
I paid the money and found Mathews
alive in the Doctors room. Some burnt |
cork. a woolly wig and a suit of clothes
from a Jew tailor fixed him
so that no one would know him.
had steerage ticket for him in an |
outgoing steamer, and early the next |
he was on his way to Eng
land"
HE must have been very grateful
to you"
Grateful / should say so. Before
parting with me he made me promise
that ! would come over as soon as
possible and see him. I couldn't go
for a year, and then l found him I'm
possession Of $4,000 a year income
and married to the woman he loved
He met me on the steamer, and the
first thing he did was to impress Il
upon me that neither his mother nor
his wife nor any one living except his
solicitors knew that he was judicially
dead in America. He had often tried
to bring himself TO unburden his Sc
FRET to his wife, but had always failed
Mathews entertained me royalty
and begged me TO suggest some way
for him to pay the debt he owed me,
even if it required every cent of his
Fortune. l assured him that l took
more comfort in his case than in all
the cases had ever won, though had
ost f.
After spending a month with him
| left him to return. He could hardly
bear to part with me and regretted
hat It wouldn't be safe for him 10
,ome to America or he would cross the
,cean with me. He shed tears when
.ame away"