Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1912-05-21
II am willing to die"

II As the word die came from the lips
of the man in the chair the gold
! headed cane OF Warden Bridges was
tilted slightly upward, there was a
crash of falling lever and Richie
son was no more. The 1.-THE form Of
the former pastor surged forward In
the great leather thongs but no sound
came from the throat Of the victim.
The current was kept on for one
minute and eight seconds. The man
was dead the instant of the contact
which was made at ten minutes and
twenty seconds after midnight.
After the electric wires were dis
connected from the chair, the three
physicians, Drs. McGrath, Mclaughlin
and Butler, declared the victim dead.
| 1t Is expected the wishes of the
dead man will be carried out and that
he will be buried beside his mother in
the family lot in Virginia.
The following statement was given
out by the Rev. Herbert Johnson,
Richeson's spiritual adviser, after the
execution:
"The stories that he has been for
a good portion of the time in state
of physical collapse are absolutely un-
founded, except for the one severe
physical reaction after his counsel an
nounced to him that his sentence
would not be commuted by the gov
ernor. He did not eat a mouthful of
food for thirty hours.
THE collapse which followed lasted
for fourteen hours and was perfect |
ly natural result of the strain and
from the moment when he recovered |
he gave an almost perfect example of
heroic courage, or. to speak more |
truly, deep religious faith.
"The second erroneous impression !
which I wish to correct Is that his
courage was buoyed throughout by
opiates and medicine. Not once since
he entered the state prison at Charles
town did he take a single drop of
medicine of any kind. spoke to him
today on this point and also to DR..
the prison physician.
DR.. Mclaughlin authorizes me to
make this statement.
There has been on the part of GER
tain people the claim that Mr.. Richie
son was dissatisfied with his attorneys.
could be further from the
ruth. He has always spoken to me
IF their faithfulness and ability in
he very highest terms. This relates
to William A. Morse In !
ny opinion nothing more could have
been done by his counsel" {
Upon receiving Richeson's petition |
he governor on May / formally ap- ,
pointed as an insanity commission for
he commonwealth DR.. Henry r.
'teadman, DR.. George r. Tuttle and
Dr.. Henry p. Frost.
The commissions report in effect
declared Picheson sane, although suf- I
ering at times from emotional dis 1
urbances.s
Governor Foss, accordingly issued !
tatement saying he found no reason L
or referring the case to his counsel,
Which has the sole right of commu- $
alton of sentence and announced that '
e would not recommend executive
lemency. .
On last Friday night, after he had q
cen informed of the governors de-
ision, Richeson collapsed. The pris-
n physician administered sedatives d
nd the prisoner fell into sleep for g
ourteen hours.
From that time until his execution,
,icheson appeared resigned to his ?
ate. "
He chatted freely with his spiritual
dvisers and counsel regarding the y
isposal of his affairs and events OF =
is past life.
Richeson left no public statement. 81
ut his counsel William A. Morse, II
ave out an interview after the exc c'
ution, in which he said:
"Richeson wanted me TO say to the
orld that he had paid his debt and 81
1T that he was going home to God
,r larger service of life; that he had &c
liled here, but he had suffered
lough to know that he would be for
ven; that he was glad to go and 10 -
have opportunity for a larger SER 81
ce in another world -,