The Morning Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Okla.) 1919-1927, 1922-03-04
CHURCH HANGED
FOR z MURDERS
Said to Have Mumbled Lords
Prayer After Salvation
Army Man Led Him
ONCE CALLED FOR PARENTS
But Failed to Recognize His
Mother and Father When
They Reached Cell
ONCE CALLED FOR PARENTS

rurCAGO, March 3.--Harvey w.
church, who killed two men that he
r,Igbt gain possession OF an automo-
bDe was hanged I'm the courtyard
~ Inc county Jail late this after
NO., The execution took place
aF,ar n day Of desperate skirmishing
by bis attorneys in n final attempt
~ ave church from the gallOwS
IN oppeals tt the court for writs
= error. writs of habeas corpus or
soibor acts Of executive or judicial
clemency were fruitless.
Tho trap was sprung at 1854
o'clock
lust before the death march start
ed at3.4S .. m, Judge David, in STU
norior court, had refused plea
for writ Of habeas corpus. This
was The last chance Church had to
escape the gallows.
Goes to Death "Unconscious."
church went to his death In the
sme lethargic state that has
marked his condition for more than
live weeks He was strapped to a
chair and his weight sagged inert
against the bonds that held him.
The doomed, man apparently was
unconscious Of what was transpir-
Ing. Asked by Sheriff Peter II he
had anything to say, he gave no
sign that he had heard and made
no statement on the gallows.
q Church had literally to be dragged
IA the gallows. 1t was necessary
10 raise his head, which sagged
against his chest, in order that the
hangman's moose might be ad-
usted.
Two deputy sherlffs. Herman
Kruckstcin and John Oils, carried
Church to the scaffold. 1t took them
nearly five minutes to get him from
the death cell to the gibbet, At no
time during the execution did he
manifest the slightest signs OF life.
Churchs legs were strapped to the
chair and his hands were hand
cutted behind him.
No Sign of Life.
Have you anything to say?"
asked Sheriff Peters. There was no
response. The hood was placed
over the doomed mans head. Sheriff
Peters and Deputy Sheriff Lauden-
heimer tilted the chair and stepped
back. The trap was sprung, The chair
clattered to the floor, its fastenings
had been loosened, and the trap
clattered against the wall, Church's
body dropped to the end of the taut-
strung moose.
The body hung, quivering, at the
end Of the moose, but even in the
death agony Church gave no indica-
ton that he knew the fate that had
OyeTtaken him.
A4:12, l6 minutes after the trap
was sprung, Church's body was cut
down and he was officially pro-
nounced dead.
Church, who was 23 years old,
paid the penalty for the staying of
Bernard j. Daugherty and Carl
Asmus, automobile salesmen. The
crime was one of the most revolt
ing IN tho history of Chicago.
AFTER his arrest, which followed
soon after the discovery of the
crime, Church assumed an air of
praggadocio, which he maintained
during his trial. After his convic-
uon, however. he lapsed into leth-
argy which as IL advanced. was de-
scTloed as hypr otic catalepsy, self
imposed. Doctors said he had been
mentally dead for several days be-
lore he was hanged.
during the day Church reused
from his inertness long enough to
call for his father and mother, but
When they were brought into the
geath cell for q last goodbye, he
uld not respond to their pleading
that he speak to them. His aged
mother collapsed as she left the mar
row cot on which her son had lain
LOT more than forty days. The
iather made a brave show and stout
~ maintained his son was innocent.
Ihurchs case was called by ply
avlans one Of the most puzzling that
ever came under their notice.
coroner Peter Hoffman announced
ne would ask permission to hold
an inquest over the body in the hope
nat postmortem examination
would reveal the physical and men,
as a. state that was responsible for
Nnurch'A condition.
q, Mhlle Church was being dragged
70 the gallows, Brig. w. G. Ander-
ION OF the Salvation army, walked
Sy y mls side and intoned the Lord
dtayer' After the execution the
Seputy sheriffs who had carried him,
tS" u ne mad mumbled the words of
ne prayer after Anderson. Other
a"ah this, they said, he uttered not