The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1927-01-08
BY Alex dickinson


grey walls was o small window, heaVk
ly covered with iron bars, thru which
a faint glimmering Of Light entered. An
iron cot and small table holding
boquet OF flowers, some books and
pamphlets, were its only furnishings.
Tho doomed one lifted his head. his
eyes fell upon food laden tray lying
on an opening In the Iron door. u
consisted Of pork chops. fried Dotav
toes, a thin vegetable soup and rios
pudding. A cigar wrapped in silver
foil was included IN the bounttfuI Of
fering. It was his meal which had
remained uneatea whore Il was
placed
4 was now 11:4k. Only Atteea
more minutes 10 wait He heard
footsteps marching In the hallway, An
aguish chill ran down his spine, MOI
from fear but from tho gruesOms mo
notony Of waiting His legs began %
culver silently inside thsir black
trousers They're coming b tRhs
me-" he sofloQuizad I'm TtaltaA Hks
bps, pregnant WIKI unspoken wordA
moved Ike those of q chfld IsaEn9ng
10 talk He listened The foOtsteps
passed-they were mot for him He
again buried his freshly shayea head
in his hands and continued waiting.
Waiting to hear the rumbling ok .
heavy key turning In ths door lock
That would signal the end-oh. the
end, VIII It never comet The tense
agony of waiting-waidng- always
waiting. First It was for an appeal,
then for q rsprieve that never came,
and now for the end; that was sure
to come He arose to the stcns f1oox
and looked at q clock hanging ON \
nearby wall Only ten more minutes,
but those mdRutes-like 90 many
never ending nightmares. Christ,
how he wished It was all over, soon
now-very soon It viii be- He Won
dered vaguely. Would he blink his
eyes, lose his nerve and vonaft with
fright as others before him had done,
or would he die stoicly. determined as
he planned Would her He wonder
ed. The maddening yeIls Of the man
who died the day previous rang anew
In his ears. 1t was a young phyaicfan
who murdered his shrew Of a moth
er-tn-law by purposely applying an
overdose Of ether as she lay ON the
operating table. He was to operate
upon her for appendicitis. The doctor
had grown violent In his cell waiting
as he was now waiting. He slashed
his wrists with an improvised knife
he made from a piece OF steel which
he picked up In the yard, and dashed
his head madly against the wallis. He
was finally overpowered, and carried
bodily away. bleeding and raving Ike
frightened maniac to "that chair
THE governor, seated comfortably
- in his study, had just been awak-
ened from his sleep by a phone call
from the district attorney. He was
attired IN elk bathrobe under which
/ protruded pair of pajamas. He re-
oiined leisurefy in his chair and grasp
ing a telephone, lifted the receiver
and called -Ossining 10S."
Hello, hello, Sing Sing. Connect
me with Warden Lewis. please. Hell
10, warden. Governor Grey speaking.
Stay the execution of that Italian
radical, Dante Secato. He may be in
nocent, there is a confession from
what seems to DO the actual murder
er. Yes. What-Good God, governor.
you don't say" came the staccato re-
ply over the wire. "oh, my, he was
just led into the execution room.
Wait, wait, hold the wire q minuta.
III see IL I can stop them yet"
The governor pressed the receiver
to his ears and listened. He kept
pufing nonchalantly at his cigar. al
lowing a smile to spread over his Inn
mobile lips.
Hmm, funny how fate shuffles her
cards. Fate. yes that was IT. why
surely he unused. What a subterfuge
this thing called fate ia q giant hedge