The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1912-01-03

C. w ~ >hh1S l
In the morning. and the, movement
continued all forenoon.
Had you been at Morristown. N. d.,
on Sept. 6. 1888" you would have Wit
messed such Il scene. The star per-
FORMER on that occasion. was Antoine
frenchman. III was hired as a farm
hand by a man named Sayre. and
showed his appreciation by numbering
Sayre and his wife with an ak and
burying their bodies in the barnyard.
He also murdered a colorcd servant
girl while he had his hand in. After
his trial he made a full confession so
there Is no doubt that he deserved the
rate no met on that bright September
day. Twelve thousand people. tho
majority of them females" according
to q pamphlet describing tho function.
made their a to the little town To
see tho end "f Antoine. and every
body had an excellent time. Tho
weather was perfect. tho business men
OF the town had a splendid crganiza-
tlon for taking care of the crowd. and
the sheriff, who was anxious to please.
+" no undue haste in ~conductingl
the proceedings. Several officials aud
prominent citizens were OH the gal
lows with II condemned, II they all
mace timely speeches. urging every
body to be good and to swat the flies.
in order that they might escape such
Il doom. Antoine seemed to take al
pardonahle pride in the ovation he
was receiving. and made ii long adj
dress. fun of the Hottest moral senti-
ments and sound advice to the young.
and, as his English was bad, he was
furnished with an interpreter who en-
planned the obscure passages Of his
speech tn h audience. Nobody tried
TO hurry him. Nobody was rude
enough to hint that hc was there for
another purpose than to make the
wclkfn ring. He just talked and talk
"a until his voice gave out. and then
the sheriff talked awhile. and hoped
everybody would vote for him at the
next election. and the mayor made Il
lew timely remarks. and when no.
body else could think of anything to
say NJ. LIE Rlanc Was quietly expunged.
a pamphlet Of many pages was
pnnllshed tina same day. giving full
and upon the front page APP
pears. under Il funny picture Of the
sailo"s. this modest announcements:
"This will be- found one of tho most
interesting works of the kind
while the gallows hr"adsidcs were
popular. enough in this country Il
hundred Years ago.. they never had the
because tho hangings in this country
We're in widely separated towns. while
in merry England most of the distin-
guishcd criminals mct their fate in
London. and thus the pamphlcteers
mad an opportunity to york up a reg
u'ar patronage. and there We're print
ing shops in that city which produced
nothing but horrible booklets treat
ing of murders and hangings. They
cnloNcd n tremendous sale and were
housht by all classes of people. 1t
Will he remembered that in the times
Of the Georges it was a favorit amusc-
ment of the aristocracy to watch
hansings and 1t may he imagined that
the lnrdlings We're as anxious to buy
the atrocious pamphlets as the sport
OF the present day is to secure the
latest edition of the evening paper
Containing the baseball score.
One of the most celebrated of Eng
'lsh rimcs "f tho last century was
the murder of William Wcarc in 1923.
For sheer brutality that crime has
never been surpassed. and the SEN
sation il made was tremendous. Three
men. Thurtel1, Hunt and Probart.
We're charged with tho murder, and
for @ together there was Il shower
of pamphlets, with grotcsquc illus
trations. detailing avery feature of the
murder. and every triic of evidence,
ana havorins the whole mess with the
usual highfalutin moral platitudes.
warning parents to watch their chill
dren carefully. London printers
worked night and day issuing their
broadsides. and couldn't get them out
fast enough. Among others who
bought and early dcvoured those stor-
les was Thomas r.. Macaulay. who re-
fcrs in several of his writing to the
Wcarc murder and the dclugc of
pamphlets that followed it.
But the panlphletecr had all coun-
tries for his own. He rose to the nc-
caSion in Canada as wcll as in Eng
land and the United States. and he
mad the strength and the weakness of
mis- brethren. lie couldn't tell his
must cNpnund a fcw eternal truths as
he Went along. and he couldn't refrain
from urging parents to keep close tab
on their children. lest those innoccnts
become "hloody murderers.' II must
nave been uncomfortable to he a par
ent in those days. for every hanging
was regarded as a special warning to
him, and he was expected to sit nm
late at nights seeing that his children
didn't develop 4 homicidal streak.
one of the most expensive and most
unique of the ga|lows pamphlet is A
book of thtrty-two pages describing,
the 1nlqultiouS career n tragic end
OF Sophia Hamilton. who was s]entcnc-
cd death at Fredericton. n. f., in
Js45. for an almost incredihle series
Ut crimes. The story was compiled by
William II. jackson. who vouches for
the truth OF every detail, and several
artists did their worst To intensity the
horror Of tho narrative. Their wood
cuts r referred to- in the texts as
masterpieces. and readers will take
MT. J%ackson's word for it. The storyl
has tho usual highly moral preface.
and the following brief extract from
1t will serve as 4. sample of the prcach-l
ing INDUCED in by all the pamphIc-l
teers:
"As disobedicncc in youth too fire.
quently becomes the parent of mis-
fortunes when adults. therefore il isl
hoped the following pages. when read
and reflected over. will be a valuable
lesson to youth. as we'll SIS to solnel
unthinking parents, who consider the
exposure Of the lives Of such people
rather an injury than a benefit to
morality"
You see where tho parents gets il
again. He is the fall guy for ali these
gallOws moralists. Some misguided
parent evidently had protested agatnst
the publication of such stories as MIR.
Jackson compiled. and he took this
way of getting even.
II MIR. Jackson's pamphlet is a true
one. and it Is said to he. there is no
doubt that Sophia Hamilton was en-
titled to the championship as 81 muir
deress. The achievements Of Kate
Bender and Belle Guinness were trivial
by comparison. one may speak flip
PANTY now of her career. since all
concerned arc in their graves, but the
manila nf Nnv. -, $500