New Britain herald., 1928-07-13
SEVEN PAY death
PENALTY IN CHAIR
All Are Executed Within One
Hour and a Halfs Time
FOUR WHITE, THREE BLACK
Sullen, Defiant and Prayerful BY
Turns, Convicted Nurderers Arc
Led to Execution Chamber in
Kentucky Prison
FOUR WHITE, THREE BLACK

Eddyville, Ky, July 13 R-Seven
men, convicted murderers all. were
electrocuted between midnight and
lS0 o'clock this morning at the
state penitentiary here. Seven wood :
en- coffins later today were placed
on trestles near the prison gates
awaiting disposition of relatives of
the executed ones whose bodies. In
death house garments, rested within
the uncushioned boxes.
Four White. Three Negroes
Four white men. three OF them
very young, and three Negroes made
up the seven whose deaths in the
electric chair set a record for Ken
tucky. Sullen, defiant and prayer
full by turns and during their way
into the death house, the condemned
We're reduced by fear to a condi-
tion bordering upon collapse as mid
night approached.
Although there was no clock gong
to sound the hours, the prisoners
sensed the time and all talk died
away long before the death march
started at 1915. With heads sup
ported in cupped hands, they sat
silent. their bodies shaken by chills
despite the intense heat in the squat
stone house that had been their
home in the prison. In plain view
was the execution chamber and the
chair.
Brilliant Light
There vas no sombre drakness in
the place. Inst cad, there was bril-
liant light and shadow and polished
steel.
The white men went to the chair
first, Milford Red Lawson, So.
Corbin, Ky, leading the way. He
said he was ready to forgive every
body and was strapped in quickly.
He was dead ,hree minutes later.
The murder of a neighbor in his
mountain home had brought him
there.
Dramatic Appeal Fails
Orlando Seymour, 81, Louisville.
vas the second. A dramatic attempt
to obtain a reprieve for him las
night had failed and he met his fate
apparently in stupor. When his
attorneys succ eaded in arranging an
insanity hearing before the county
Judge here shortly after S O'Clock,
he told his cell companions that he
would at least get out the prison
once more. But the warden asked
that court he held In the chapel
and 1t was, the altar or speakers
stand being used as judges bench.
When the Judge ruled he had no
jurisdiction, seymour sagged in his
chair and did not speak again until
the time for his execution when he
the murder for which he
had been convicted. that Of Louis
Vile merchant. Hascue Dockery, n,
Ky, followed. Originally he
had been selected to die first but,
just as the hum Of the death chair
dynamo filled the cell block, he ask
Cd for a priest, explaining that he
wished to become Roman Catholic.
He was received into the church.
-Four hours earlier Dockery had
sneered and flicked the ashes from
a cigarette when Warden Chiffon
read the death warrants. Ittering
no word. he dragged slowly into the
chair chamber and. as the hood was
adjusted, started mumbling prayers,
He was charged with Staying two
women and a man.
The Fourth Prisoner
Charles Paul Mira, c3. st. Louis,
Mo, was the fourth convicted of the
Of grocer in Louisville in
an attempted holdup. he had been
rather disdainful, in his attitude to-
ward the guards since the confine-
mcnt here. He died in three min
utes without making any statement.
Negroes Recover Spirits
The Negroes. apparently crushed
earlier in the night by the weariness
and certainty Of death. recovered
their spirits 10 a greater degree than
the white men before the time of
the executions.
William Moore, 45. Louisville, was
the first to die, He said nothing.
James Howard. also of Louisville,
the death chamber singing
Sweet Lily of the. Valley and. as
he sank back IN the chair. waved
his hand. saying Gentlemen, how
are you all feeling tonight:" The
last was Clarence Mcqueen. 3s.
ynthiana. who hummed a song and
paid close attention to the manner
in which the straps were adjusted.
All day yesterday and last night
Governor Elem II. Sampson at
Frankfort was swamped with petit
tons seeking clemency. He review
N6 ho ~