El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1914-04-04
Arrest, Conviction and Elec-
trocution of Happy jack
Mulraney for the Murder of
Wealthy Saloon Keeper
Known for His Charities.

. 4
ct was Paddy himself who stood be
fore the cash register. Happy jack
sbouted:-'Up with yer handsr and
Paddy turned with a smile, evidently
thinking some Of his friends was playing
/ a joke on him."
paddy had for years boosted that his
priestIike appearance and the many
/ charities that he and his brother sub
scribed to from the five stores" they
conducted were ample protection against
any trouble, and that he would never be
\ come embroiIed in any rumpus in any
Of the saloons he ran.
"But we weren't joking, and this
Paddy soon found out He looked
/ down the barrel Of a long, blue steel
revolver, while a magazine gun rested in
Jacks other hand. Both were loaded
and both were ready for business if
/ Paddy as much as winked an eye.
II There we're two men in the saloon at the
time. They were scared stiff, and when
we told them to stand with their faces to
the wall they wheeled around so quick
they nearly rubbed all the skin off their
noses They was the guys what looked
rs over the day we were pinched. We
recognized them, and they recognized Us
all right. but they knew what was good
for them and naturally wouldn't squeaL
Happy Jack knew who they were when
he first saw them, and a friend Of his
took them a little message from Jack
They knew their business.
"WhiIe Jack kept his gun trained on
Paddy I went to the cash register and
emptied it. As started out from be
hind the bar Paddy reached for me, and
| as he did so Jack started his gatling
Y gun to work. Three shots rang out in
ouick succession, and as Paddy fell with
his chest torn open by Happy Jacks
bullets the two guys We had stuck up
1 against the wall started out the front
I door. We knew it would be dangerous
/ To follow them, so we beat it upstairs
and making our way to the roof cast
about for an open scuttle to some house
/ that would let US out on a side street
W. found it all right Jack and me
landed in the cellar, and there Jack de-
cided to stay, insisting that I should get
awav as best I could. That's about all
there is to it. This is the first time
ever got in bad, and had my wife lived
chances are I would have been at home
with her instead of loafing around when
Jack proposed we go grab some clothes
But am all in now and want to sleep,
so get the he'll out Of here all Of you and
let me grab a few winks-"
Bowling vas snoring before the cell
door could be locked after the three de
tectives. At last the case vas complete
and 1t was only necessary to clear up a
few minor details before the police
would be ready to go to court and stand
the acid test which some shrewd lawyer
might seek to apply to them
Mulraney stuck stolidly to his fiat de-
NAL Of all that Bowling had confessed
to for several days. Then he, too,
showed signs of weakening and con-
fessed, his statement bearing out in de-
tail all that Bowling had told the de-
tectives.
While awaiting trial Bowling became
seriously i'll. was removed to Bellevue
and there died in the insane pavilion
Mulraney was tried, convicted and sen
fenced to die, but Jack wasn't a man to
go quietly to the electric chair without
putting up a last desperate fight for his
life.
From the death house in Sing Sing
Jack sent out a message that he had
been convicted on the confession of
Bowling, who had died lunadc. Fur
thermore, the confession that he had
signed, he said, was made only after he
had been drugged by the police, and he
had witnesses then in Sing Sing to prove
that man named CLARK had killed
Paddy, and that ne, Jack, at the mo-
ment was lying in a drunken stupOr in a
Harlem saloon. This message became
so insistent and in time created such an
impression that Governor Sulzer finally
issued a stay and later District Attorney
Whitman and Judge Rosalsky were d.
rected to investigate AIulraney's charges.
Brought from the death house in Sing
/ sing 70 New 4OIh city. AulIduty Sa--14
a new lease on life. He openly boosted
that he would beat the case" and that he
would get the guys who framed me-"
Despite the fact that a number Of prison
ers were brought down from Sing Sing to
testify in Jacks case he could not make
good, so he was returned to the death
house, and left it a few weeks later to
SLOUGH through that door leading to the
death chamber which forever shuts out
the light of day to al unfOrtunates who
/ approach their DOOM
The arrest, conviction and electrocu-
ton of Happy Jack Mulraney viii al
ways stand out as one Of the best ex-
amples of real, simon pure detective
work ever done in this city. From
seemingly hopeless start the detectives in
charge soon wove a strong case against
man whom they only knew by reputa-
/ tioD and from a meagre description