The Norfolk weekly news-journal. (Norfolk, Neb.) 1900-19??, 1912-02-23

For two hours and ten minutes
there were gathered in the vast high
ceilinged room forty-two physicians
thirty-five guards and twenty newspa.
per men. They were representatives
OF society, and | want to show, by the
things | heard them say, what hang
ing does to the men who are not
hanged.
In his office, before we went into
the death chamber, asked Deputy
Sheriff Peters how many men he had
hung.
"Why, young fellow" he said, 81
hung men before YOU were born.
hung the Eaymarket rioters And I've
hung forty men," he added, proudly.
Have a smoke" someone said to
Peters.
mo, No smokes, eats or drinks I'M
til this job is done. Then I'll 20 out
and take stiff drink of whisky. | al.
days have a reaction after a hanging
1t always makes me tired and sick"
Doctors! Doctors!" exclaimed some
one in the hallway.
saw a double line of deputy sheriffs
leading from the main door of the jail
Between them was passing IA line of
forty.two physicians who were being
admitted TO the death chamber
Peters went to the telephone and
called up the states attorney.
There's a fellow who's trying a
four-flush in Judge Lands court to
make us put off this hanging. It's a
piece of hoCus.pocus. The fellow Just
wants to get into the limelight
want you to understand that I'm go.
ing to go right along with this bust
ness"
When he had hung up the receiver
Peters said to a deputy:
Fix up the sawbones! Get them
in their chairs and then Wei get
busy"
Press! Press" a deputy called
That meant that the dozen newspa.
per men were to go into the death
! chamber.
A doctor tried to squeeze in with
us.
"No No You cant go with these
fellows. Sit down with the doctors.
You can examine the corpses with
them"
The doctors all sat in chairs, at the
foot of the high scaffold.
| heard enc doctor with whiskers
talking to another.
Hanging is all damn foolishness, "
he said Now here are four good
strong men. One of them has a pen
niless wife and baby. The murdered
man left penniless wife and baby.
| Why don't they put these four men in
Jail somewhere for life, and make
them work to support the two PENN
less women and their babies? Amt
ii damn foClishness to kill them?"
! heard guard say:
There's a fellow in New York city
who's the best executioner in the
country He's killed 14O and he never
makes a miscue. Must have nerve,
huh?"
"Whatll you have to eat?" one re-
porter asked another when they sat
down to reporters table that was
covered with a white cloth.
Vow! VOW, VOW! VOW" These
noises came from the cells. Inmates
of the jail were rafting their bars, yell.
ing and pounding tin cups. The death
march had begun.
They'll show up around that cor.
ner in a minute" said one reporter
Pm an old hand in this hanging
room. I've seen seventeen hangings
here"
There was the shuttle of feet on the
iron floor and the procession walked
onto the gallows from an upper tier
There was Il priest, in white, Officers
in blue and two men roughly dressed
the Shiblawsh brothers.
All you could hear was the muir,
muir of the priests prayer, and the
murmur of the men, who repeated
his words in low tones. What were
they saying? What kind of prayer
do men make on a gallows?
No one could hear their words. The
brothers kissed the cross which the
priest held to them. While this was
ing strapped. We tried to hear what
they were saying as the deputies put
a white shroud about their bodies, but
we stopped trying when the white
caps were tied over their heads. Ev
erybody seemed to be working slowly
on the gallows. One brother turned
his muffled head toward another. We
heard the murmur of his voice.
Crash THAT was the next sound
Then came the scuffling of the feet OF
fourteen doctors, as they walked to
the two bags. their contents twitching
which hung from the swaying ropes.
The reporters rushed to a back
room, where their telephones and tele'
graph wires had been placed. I caught
there bits Of news as they talked
Just as the writhing body of the boy
stopped swaying" "Strangled and
gurgled" "Twitched like cats in a
bag" ooh, is that you taking my
stuff, Bill? Great show. Three more
to come"
What, in Christmas, was that pray.
err" said one reporter.
Il don't know. Tell your office to
look it up in the prayer book. They
can copy it from that"
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