The L'Anse sentinel., 1923-04-03
The Way to the
Death-Chair
&c. isss. western Newspaper union)
60 - - - - - - $50 ~~~ $40
BY CHARLES e. BAXTER

personality, even. So II was with me.
Confronted by imminent death, had
become an autOmatOn, a thing that
moved automatically at the gestures OF
Its leaders.
.r,.am had killed and why. had
slipped out of my memory as though
remained as pure an! unsu'''"d rs
any citizen of the land. The long
months in the death-cell had not only
broken my spirit; they had eased up
the intolerable burden on my mind.
When the, time came for me to die
knew that l would pass out without
dIsgracing my honored status as one
! Of the seven who were awaiting the
final mercies of the chair.
/. But what an eternity seemed those
few last days! How my mind. recoii-
f, ing from the prospect of eternity.
seemed to have anticipated 1t by be-
, coming obllvious to time
know that I ate and drank and
smoked mechanically. l had neither
sight nor taste nor hearing. Not much,
at any rate. l was dimly aware of the
four surrounding walls. and of the
periodical entrance of one Of the war;
dens.
"Keep your courage up, old man." he
whispered. 1T won't be long and 1t
won't be hard. There's many poor
sufferer would be glad to go that way"
Sometimes during the long night OF
agony that followed would be aware
of the efforts of my fellow-prisoners
to console me. They wanted to play
checkers with me, calling the moves.
A checker-board was marked out on
the whitewashed walls of my cell.
There was tiny bit of biackened
match with which to mark.
But / paid no attention to them.
was concentrating on bearing up for
the ordeal Of the morrow. Gradually
the friendly cabs of encouragement
grew more and more faint. At last the
prison slept.
/ must have slept, for when / awoke
I was conscious that the electric light
of the interior had been put out. Day
was creeping into the cell, my last day
upon this friendly earth.
Presently a dismal changing of doors
began to resound through the prison.
1t was the regular cOnvicts being let
out of their cells to work. | cursed the
sound; / heard it every day since /
had been there.
Footsteps sounded along the flags
Of the corridor. 1t was the chief war
den and his assistants. There was a
man with something behind his back.
"How do?" he remarked, cheerily.
extending one hand.
My own hand went out mechanically.
Instantly he had slipped moose about
my wrists. l remember how resent
ed the trick. was not going to make
any difficulty.
was piniOned. was being led
along the corridor. The death-watch
were shouting encouragements to me.
"Good boy! Keep up your heart Now
we shan't be long"
But all these memories seemed to
flash through my mind instantaneous
ly, for | was already In the chair. My
trouser leg had been slit. felt the
application of the cold electrode. My
head must have been shaved. too, al
though I did not remember the pre-
else moment at, which 1t was done.
And a mask was lifted over my face,
so that I could no longer see.
had already seen, as In vague
and hideous dream, the circle of awed,
white faces watching me in the death
house. had seen, of course, the gris-
ly chair, and the lever whose reversal
meant instantaneous death for me.
Now was blind.
doubt whether there can be any
single moment more hldeous than the
one In which one sits, n perfectly
healthy man, awaiting his inevitable
doom-that instant that Is to hurl his
soul into eternity.
1 sat and waited. I thought OF life,
tried to remember who / was, had
been. I was already as good as dead.
Oddly enough, was concerned about
the way the cap fitted about my head.
I was sitting. wnnted air.
And suddenly the end came. heard
a grinding sound. felt my body,
charged with hundreds Of thousands OF
volts Of electricity. strain against the
straps. I gasped, flung out my arms.
| "Ouch" cried familiar voice.
stared about me wildly. The mask
had been removed, and the face Of the
man confronting me seemed strangely,
fiercely familiar.
"That was the toughest molar I ever
pulled" my dentist said. II thought
that you were never going under. the
way you kicked and thrashed about