Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1912-03-06
.|S VI. I. NICHOLS MURDERER AT HEART Man Who is to Die on the Gallows May 3, Tells
 Pitiful Story. SAYS WIFE INHUMAN Cut His Wife's Throat in Fit of Insane Rage-"If They Knew
 the Story,'-He Says.
SAYS WIFE INHUMAN

and tr.bulations in the ordinary course of life, it would be rather hard for him to imagine what his feelings might be if he knew that be- tween sunup and sundoWn on a cer- tain day his life spark would be extinguished-it would be hard to imagine such a thing. And it would be still harder to realize the feelings of man who is placed in such predicament To be able to read his thought, as he watches the sunlight slowly creep through the bars of his cell, bringing on the still night; or to watch the first faint slow of day in the early morning; to hear the birds welcome the king of day, the end of which will have brought him nearer the te1rfy- ing picture of a scaffold around which stands a number of solemn visaged men who gather in little gl pups of three and four and speak in whis
 
 steps to the platform and examine the rope-a strong rope-that is sus- pended from heavy scantling over- head; test the deadly trap whic1, when released from beneath the feet of the man standing upon it, hurls him into the night that follows the day of life. It would be very diff cult for an average man to imagine himself in such a predicament But there is one man now confined in the Jefferson county jail in this city who if. he does not see a mehtal vision of the above, he will see it before many more days have come and gone, un- less his friends intercede with the Governor of this great state, the on " human who has 1t in his power to erase this picture from the mind O. the man who is doomed.
 William T. Nichols is the man. He killed his wife by cutting her throaI in a fit of insane rage. He violated the laws of God and man and to expiate his crime he must be hanged Ioy the neck until he is dead. So says the judge before whom he was tried; so says the jury that heard the evidence and so affirms the Supreme Court after review of the case. No so Nichols. -,ss
 of they knew the story as l do they wouldn't have convicted me" $ his simple, illogical statement, and thereby hangs the story-of his side of the affair.
 Nichols is of type of man that you see every day. They are engaged | in every avocation of life. Of sim pie, easy going temperament, with wacm the first thought is to have a fireside, to put food into the mouth o hiai babes. A man of few words, which are spoken in low, plain tive tone of voice; one who lets pass him the thrusts and prods that bring resentment to the breasts of many. but one who cherishes his petty wrongs in his own heart until his tor morter crosses the line. Then the | beast in the man is aroused, all his grievances for years past rush to his memory creating burning rage that I is not spent until the victim of his I iv,o fn rNI.i feet.
 | This is the way he will impress you when he leans against the iron bars of his cell telling you, with haltina speech, when his memory recalls some episode connected With the life of enc of his children; with tears slowly filling his eyes at the recol- lection of the illness of one of the lit tie ones, or in tone of resentment when he recalls one of the many wrongs, real CT fancied, the multipli- l cation of which drove him to comm!. 1 the crime for which he was convict ed. It is easily apparent that the man worships his children. The very thought of them being so little and helpless causes his eyes to fill with tears and lump to'rise in his throat, and no one can tell what his heart suffers at such a thought The mur- der was caused at the action of his wife in taking their youngest child I from his arms when the baby cluns to him. He cannot now give co horent account of the tragedy For I the brief lapse of a few minutes he went insane and when his mind recov- cred its normal condition the woman who bore that babe was a ghastly \ bloody corpse.
 ! It is the story of a mismated pair The woman was not satisfied with thf