New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-12-24
MINDS TORTURER
IN DEATH HOUSE
Thought Consumes Youth
and Mentality as Men
Wait for End
DREAM OF FREEDOM;
AWAKE TO TERROR
Di Martini, Broken by Ex'
perienCe, Describes
Months Of Dread

, T. is thought that eats away the
} youth Of that sad brotherhood % the
condemned, who wait long months in
the little iron barred passage that leads
from the life they have left 20 the
/ little brown door and the mystery that
! lies beyond il.
} II is not the fear of swift death
that lines the faces and whitens the
/ hair Of those who sit day by day in
! The ever changing company that fills
/ the death house. Tor death itself &c
p The thing OF moment. II is his
/ shadow which is terrible The men
, who wait under II know this. Charles
4 hi Martini, twice sentenced TO death,
twice reprieved and now destined 20
60 back to Sing Sing to serve five
years for msnslsughter, known.
For twcnty-seyen months ri Mar
tint sat in bis death house cell. think
ing, remembering. dresding. For more
than two years re heard the door
, which men pass through but once
swing open many times. Wherefore,
at twenty-seven, Charles Di Msntini is
an old man.
He talked yesterday, this shunken,
trembling being who in August. 1918,
shot and killed Patroman Patrick Cot
ter in The Bronx. He is no longer the
Young daredevil gunmsn. He is old.
old with waiting old with fearing. One
does not grow younger in tho compsn-
ionship OF men who are living only
until the state chooses 10 Kill them.
Terror Of Death House
What is the worst thing about the
death house." he repeated duly yer
terday, and then suddenly his eyes
smouldered and he clenched his fists
and cried out fercely:
IT thoughts, Thoughts, Thoughts"
every man in the death house to
day will tel you thst for those whose
hopes have been crushed by the Court
Of Appeals and have no chance OF com
mutation a quick execution is r hu-
name thing. Nothing can be more hor-
rible than to keep that man in the
death house day after day and expect
him 10 bear up cheerfully for the sake
Of those around him.
"And there is the most remarkable
thing about it, that those fellows whose
turns are coming within few days or
weeks are often the most cheerful when
they are face TO face with their cell
mates. But when they are alone. Great
Cod Every night they spend on their
knees in PRAYER aloud that the next
day might bring them relief from their
horrible suspense. ! went 10 sleep
yes. slept some times and dreamed.
dreamed necessarily that ! was free a.
2 bird out walking in the fields under
Gods blue heavens. There wasn't
man there who didn't confess to me
that he had just such dreams, and con
stantly. too.
Much has been published about the
courage with which some of these mis-
cradle victims walk TO the chair Some
or il may be true, but ! believe that
most of them have been given some
opiate. and it is a merciful thing that
they were treated so.
another terrible thing 20 bear was
the visits OF relatives Of condemned
men coming to the death house moth
crs. sisters and sWeethearts, weeping
and screaming tho night before the
/ execution. They would bear up until
they begged the keeper TO permit them
one last kiss. This being denied, they
take on in such manner that il nearly
ruined the artificial composurc OF the
other condemned men.
Hardest Of Goodbys
Hardest Of all was the effor, 10 put
some heart and cheer into the good
bys' that we sounded down the corri-
doris after the men a. they acre led
into the execution room. All Of US
went to bed the previous night wishing
that We might be spared the suffering
by mercifully being permitted 90 sleep
through until il was all over. Alas
1t was no use. Most OF US would awake
at the fatal hour
81 think the worst experience Of that
sort was the morning when the four
gunner who shot Herman Rosenthal
were led out There had been con-
slant procession OF callers in the death
house that night and none OF Us slept
Then the boys went out az day. ght.
weeping ard praying. We counted them
one by one, in agony. until the last one
had gone. Then our tired nerves re-
Taxed from sheer exhaustion and some
OF US actually slept a little.
81 remember the day when Oreste
Shillitoni. alias Paper Box Kid was
told that he must die. He became VIC
lent as the days wore ton toward his
execution. am sure he was crazy At
the end. Others have been like him
Human flesh cannot stand IN under
such a long continued strain. For my
part. | never permitted myself TO lock
A. the little door ] was MORALLY
afraid 10 do so.
Hans Schmidt was an exceptional
man. He tried 20 do al the good he
could before they ed him away Becker
was calm 10 the last. and believe that
M TO few hours before he was led
out he entertained hope That Gov
ernor Whitman would save him