Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1924-05-27
SATTERFIELD MEETS DEATH
ON GALLONS COOLLY; BURIED
DESPITE CREMATION WISH

IHe remains OIL j. Is. Sattefllel0,
who met his death Friday on the
gaIlows in Fulton county tower in
er-in-law, r. H. Hart, on the night
Of December 81, 1921, were inferred
| Saturday afternoon in a cemetery
plot at Chamblee, Ga, almost with.
in the confines Of old Camp Gordon.
A request that his body be ere.
mated was made in a note which
the condemned man handed to Bert
Donaldson, a prison reform worker
as the march to the death cell was
begun. The request, however, con
tanned the provision that it be not
followed if his relatives objected,
| and both his sister, Mrs. J. L. Lang
ford, and his brother, Will Satter-
field, both of Norcross, Ga, favored
interment.
Simple ceremonies attended the
burial and the short funeral services
which preceded it. The latter were
| held in Prospect Methodist church
at Chamblee, with Mr.. Donaldson,
and Rev. William J. DeBareleben,
! pastor of Payne Memorial Methodist
church, officiating.
Mr.. Donaldson was in charge OF
the services both at the church and
grave, and in doing so followed the
request of the doomed man. Mr..
Donaldson spent much time with
Satterfield during his incarceration
and was with him as he stood upon
the trap Friday afternoon to pay his
debt to the law.
Officials of the jail chosen by re-
quest of Satterfield, were the pail
bearers. They were: Gordon Lee,
j. w. Jordan, Peter Smith, Ed Jor-
dan, J. e. helms and j. l.. Milan.
Relatives of the deceased and a
number Of friends were in attend
ance, having accompanied the body
on the journey from Atlanta.
Satterfield's daughter, Dorothy,
who resides in the west, was not in
attendance.
Meets Death COoIIy
Satterfield went to his death at
319 o'clock Friday afternoon, calm
ly and with the same stoical de-
meanOr that had chara cteri his
manner throughout his imprison-
ment. In the death chamber, a few
moments before he plunged through
the trap, he delivered a remarkable
statement, speaking for almost ten
minutes, and then met his end with
unflinching nerve and cold com
posture.
On the gallows in the Fulton coun-
ty tower, at S:19 o'clock, Friday aft
ernoon, James 3. Satterfield eXpiated
the murder of his brother-in-law, r.
H. Hart, on the night of December
81, 1921.
He went to his death without a
tremor of emotion except for a burst
of tears, as, in his last statement.
standing on the steel trap that was
to drop him into eternity a few sec
onds later, he spoke of his dead
daughter. Elizabeth, who committed
suicide not long ago in dependency
over her fathers impending doom.
Standing in the very shadow Of
death, Satterfield delivered a most
remarkable pronouncement against
capital punishment.
after you hang this man" he
said. eff I may call myself a man. if
I get up high enough and have the
power. I am going to ask God to de-
strOy every Gallows in this land.
When the law criticizess mob rule.
the mob turns it right back u
rule. the mob turns it right back on
the law and says T am just as fair
as you"
Tells OF Girls Death
A wave of emotion swept through
the little group in the death cham
Der as Satterfield wound up his state
ment with a reference TO his young
est daughter. Elizabeth who died
from the effects OF acid she had
taken in her despair at the knowl-
edge that her father must die on
the galIows
"E have a little girl. II years old.
who took poison-burned herself all
out inside with A terrible acid be-
cause her father was to be hanged"
and the tears yelling up into his
eyes
"She Travelled two days and two
nights and she got the message I
had sent to her. II was this. What
ever You wish. 7 will do When she
got nv message her stomach was AL
-hurned and charred with the acid.
drawn up into knot as big as my
fist. In terrible torture she read it
and smiled. saying: Now let me die
and now I say, let me die and be
with her"
Satterfield began the march OF the
death chamber promptly no the
stroke Of o'clock. Accompanied
hv several IDENTITIES. he walked stead
ilv ont Of his cell on the second f1ncr
II the fail 10 tho elevator. which
carried him to the top floor, whera