Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1916-08-03


yards away. The priests recited the
Litany of the dying, Easement re-
spending in low tones: Lord have
mercy on my SOUL"
AS the party reached the shed where
the gallows was erected the special
executioner. a hair dresser named Ell
lis, approached Easement and quickly
pinioned him. The two chaplains. the
under sheriff OF London and the under
sheriff of AIiddlesex. then took up
their positions in front of the scaffold.
Easement mounted the gallows steps
firmly and commended his spirit to
God as he stepped on the trap. A mo-
ment later the lever was pulled.
Immediately after the trap was
sprung the prison engineer and ply
sician descended into the pit where,
after the application OF the usual tests,
easement was pronounced dead at
9.0S. According to the custom in the
case of prisoners hanged for crimes
similar to that of Easement, his body
will be buried in quicklime in the pri-
son yard, but probably no decision as
to the burial will be made until after
the inquest.
Irish Women Kneel in Streets
An affecting incident took place out
side the prison wall as the execution
was In progress. AT the back of the
prison, little distance from the jeer-
Ing crowd about the gates. was a group
of about thirty Irish men and women.
/ When the dull clang 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 si-
lently praying for the repose of the
soul of their dead fellow countryman.
Immediately after the execution
three notices were posted on the prison
door. The first. signed by the under
sherif OF London, the governor of the
prison and Father James McCarrell,
Easements confessor, read:
Judgment OF death was this day
executed on Roger David Easement in
HIS MaJesty's prison of Pentonville in
our presence"
A similar notice was signed by the
under sheriff of Middlesex county.
! The third bore the name of p. r. Man
der, the prison surgeon. who certified
that he had examined the body and
found Easement dead.
Showed No Concern
Ellis, the eXecutioner. arrived in the
prison early last evening and imme-
diately made his preparations. He eX-
amined the trap door in the execution
shed and tested it thoroughly with
bag exactly the same weight as Case
ment. Ellis remained in the prison all
night
Easement showed not the slightest
I concern over his fate. He ate we'll and
chatted freely and cheerily with two
warders in his condemned cell. After
hearty late supper he divested him
self for the last time of his convict
clothes and went to bed. He was noti-
| fed that he would be allowed to wear
his own civilian clothes for the exc
cution though would not be permitted
10 wear a collar
Die For My Country
All the members of Easements fam
ily were Protestants and he was
brought up in that faith, but became a
convert to Roman Catholicism within
the last few weeks. On June 20 he
was registered as a member of the
Roman Catholic church and since that
time Fathers McCarreu and Carey of
Eden Grove Church, near the prison,
have been ministering to him. He re-
ceived his first and only communion
at o'clock this morning when he as
sisted at mass in his cell. One of his
attendants said that his overpowering
love for God and Ireland was most
striking. According to this attendant
the last works of the condemned men
apart from his prayers. were: II die
for my country Father McCarrell
said that he found Easement to be a
beautiful character and that he never
showed himself a quicker or more
promising learner.
All hopes of an eleventh hour re-
prieve were dashed to earth yesterday
with the statement of Lord Robert Ce-
Gil, parliamentary under secretary of
Foreign Affairs, that no government
doing its duty could interfere with the
sentence. Supplementing this were
the dramatic disclosures by Lord New
ton in the House of Lords that the
Germans recently shot two Irish pris-
oners who refused to join Easements
Irish legion.
Alienates American Opinion
The morning papers mostly deal in
the briefest and most matter of fact
way with the execution of Easement.
The only editorial reference is in the
Daily News which says:
We cannot but reatfirm our convic-
ton that the government exhibited
grave unwisdom in exacting the death
penalty. No evil results could have
followed Communication of the SEN
tence. The hanging gives the disaf-
fected section of Ireland another mar
tyr, embitterS feeling throughout the
island, alienates large and important
body of American opinion and enables
Germany to play off the death of Case
ment against the death of Fryatt"
Refuse Relatives Body
A coroner's jury found that the
sentence had been carried out in ac-
cordance with law and in a humane
manner. Gavin Duffy. Easements
solicitor, who appeared in behalf of
relatives, identified the body.
Replying to a question by the
coroner, Solicitor Duffy said that Case
ment's health at times was very bad.
He made a plea that the body be
handed over to relatives which the
authorities; he said, had refused. The
coroner declared he had no power to
interfere, whereupon Duffy protested.
saying it was a "monstrous act of
indecency that the authorities should
refuse the request"
Easement rose about half past five
this morning. From then until Z
o'clock when Father McCarrell ar
rived, he spent the time reading the
instructions of the church for assist
ing at mass, and the taking of the first