Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1916-08-11
ROGER Easement!
DIES ON CALLOWS
Hanged in PentOnViIIe Prison
in London.
REQUEST FOR BODY REFUSED
His Last Words, al Die for My Coun-
try"-Crowd Outside Jail Jeers;
Friends kneel in Street.

Roger Easement, former British
knight and consul, was hanged in Pen
eonvi.,,e jail, London, for high trea-
son. He was convicted of consplr-
| ing to cause an armed revolt in Ire
land and with having sought German
} aid to that end.
Easement met his death with calm
courage, according to witnesses. early
in the morning two priests OF the
Catholic church administered the last
rites in the cell of the condemned
man, and shortly afterward a little
procession headed by the clergymen,
with Easement following, Warder on
either side, proceeded toward the exc
cution shed, only five yards away. the
priests recited the litany for the dying,
Easement responding in low tones:
Lord have mercy on my SOUL.
AS the party reached the shed where
the gallows was erected the special
executicner, a hair dresser named
, Ellis, approached Easement and quick
ly pinioned him. The two chap'a rs,
the under sheriff Of London and the
under sheriff of MiddleseX then took
up their positions in front Of the scat
fold. Easement mounted the gallow5
steps firmly and commended his spirit
to God as he stepped on the trap. A
moment later the lever was pulled.
Following the execution, Ga!Van
Duffy, the legal representative of Case
ment's relatives, announced tnat the
home Office had refused to turn over
the body to the Easement family. Ap'
plication had been made to the home
secretary for the body in order that
it might be buried by the relatives.
Permission to witness the execution
was also denied them.
Two hours before the execution
crowd of men, women and children
gathered before the prison gates.
Twenty minute before Cacment mount
ed the sca.fold tie great prison bell
commenced t. toll. The sound was
greeted with jocr5 rom the crowd
mingled with sowa g~oaas. At o'clock
the crowd hai swc!' on to such proper
tions that it extended for two blocks
from the prison front.
The roofs gf the houses around the
prison were crowded with culiGus, who
hoped to Re able to see the hanging.
The execution, however, took place in
a. shed. Much excitement was caused
few minutes before o'clock when a
telegraph messenger arrived at the
prison. Seine thought that an eleventh
hour rerrieyo hal been granted.
At one minute after 9 a single stroke
of the big bell announced that the
trap hal been sprung. 1t was the sig
nal for a moc!;ing, ig,ring yell from
the crowd, which suddenly died away
into silence.
Immediately after the trap was
sprung the prison engineer and physi-
clan descended iato the pit where, af-
ter the aD>,ication Of the usual tests,
Easement was pronounced dead at
nine minutes alter 8 o'clock.
An enert:na: incident took place out
side tie prison wall as the execution
was in rro~re3s At the back CT the
prison. little distance from the jcer-
ing crowd about the gates, was group
of about thirty Irish men and women
When the dull clsng of the prison bell
announced that the doomed man had
paid the last penalty this little group
| fell On their knees and with bowed
heads remained for some moments 81
lentIy praying for the re2cse of the
soul Of their dead fellow countryman.