The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-08-24
EXECUTED NEGRO MAY HAVEFOOLED THE AUTHORITIES White Leaves Letter Claim ing Ignorance of the
 Venable Case TRAP WAS SPRUNG
 AT ELEVEN O'CLOCK Doomed Negro Appeared Courageous Until the Last Minute-COn-
 fessed His Faith in
 Lord Jesus

Dld ArmStead w nlte, WHO was eNeculeu yesterday morning at Il o'clock, fool the authorities when he made confession of the killing of Waiter yenable in Montgomery?
 In a letter which Jail Warden Dudley McAdory found in the condemned ne- gros cell shortly after the execution. White is alleged to have said that his evidence in the venable case was sfaked'' in order that he might have a longer time to live. The letter says in part:
 T never killed Walter Venable, nor did know him. That was just fake to get a longer time to live in and my game worked alright"
 White gives in part, the account of his life, and says that he only killed two men, Robert Bibb in Montgomery ard Jim Miner in the mines at Flat Top. where he was serving a life sen tence for the first killing.
 White was granted sixty day reprieye by the governor to be taken to Mont gomery to testify before a jury regarding the killing of Walter Venable. It is stated that while there White refused to say one word that would throw light on the case. He was later brought back to Birmingham to await his death, which occurred yesterday morning.
 Mounts Scaffold
 With smile on his lips, and the words, Lord Jesus, I give my soul to ! Thee" the condemned negro bounded up the steps of the scaffold in the Jefferson county jail yard yesterday morning at 5 minutes before il. The trap was sprung by Sheriff w. K. McAdory as the big clock In the court house tower struck the hour of Il.
 He lived just fourteen minutes after the execution and was pronounced dead at 11:14 o'clock by Doctor R. H. Ham, rick, county physician.
 Deep solemnity marked the hour of Whites execution The condemned man was brave and smiling to the last and touched a chord of sympathy in the hearts of many present
 Chief Deputy Sheriff Walter Metcalfe read the death warrant while White was still in tie condemned cell In the pres ence of several deputies, sheriff and two priests. At 10:50 o'clock the march to the scaffold in the rear of the jail began. The negro was escorted there by Deputies Chew, Bonner and Harts- field At the foot of the gallows, White bounded forward and sprang up the steps as though eager to have it done with. Deputy Sheriff Bonner and Chew and Father Riley also ascended the scaffold. A
 Ready to Go
 When asked by the sheriff if he had anything to say, White held his head erect. "I am ready to go to my death," he said, although I am sorry that l must go in this manner
 His hands and feet were then bound and Father Riley repeated the Lord s prayer with him. A second later the moose was slipped around his neck, tho black cap drawn over his head and at a given signal, just as the courthouse clock sounded the ninth stroke of the hour of Il, the trigger was sprung.
 For three minutes the body quivered and twitched, and at IA minutes past Il County Physician R. H. Hamrick pro- nounced the negro dead.
 The hours yesterday before his execu- ton White spent in company with Father Riley, two sisters and two brothers-in- law and a niece. The negro retained his courage to the very last. The only signs of any nervousness were the twitching of his hands and at times his quivering lips. In the condemned cell in the presence of the sheriff and his deputies, and three newspaper men, White confessed his belief and trust in God to Father Riley and the Rev Pearson, colored pastor. While waiting for the march to the scaffold the condemned man consumed cigarettes with a feverish haste, and smoked his last as Chief Deputy Sheriff Walter Metcalf fin ished reading the death warrant.
 Big Crowd on Hand house were opened yesterday, people. both white and colored, began to gather around the jail. By Il o'clock the courthouse yard, Twenty-first street, and in the cor riders of the court building were crowded with an eager throng of relatives, friends and the curious. but only those required by the law were admitted to the jail yard. The physicians who pronounced White dead were Drs. W. w. Long, W. T. Me- Adory. R. Nelson and County Physician R. H. Hamrck. A representative of the probate judge. three justices of the peace, the sheriff and his deputies and represen- tatiyes of all the local papers were also present.
 The death sentence was imposed on