Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1942-03-29

swing The day the guards led
him out of the Jail to take the
walk TO the gallows he marched
out to find the building sur
rounded by people.
He'll, look at tn crowd" he
said. "Somethin' must be goin' to
happen"
He walked on a few steps and
looked up at the cloudless sky.
We'll, it's a good day for it, :"
he said to his guards.
After the moose was adjusted
one of the officers asked him if
he had anything TO say.
Nc" he answered, Il came
here to die, not to make a speech.
Let's get il over with"
Cherokee Bill got his wish a
couple Of minutes later.
Hanging a bunch Of outlaws
was all part of days work for
George Maledon. He was hired
as executioner and when the
jail began TO get overloaded with
men under sentence to die he
just lined them up, fixed the
nooses around their necks, and
pulled the trip. SO many men
died on his gallows they got TO
calling it the Gates of Hell. "
With all his grim business he
had a sense Of humor too.
An old lady was being shown
through the jail one day.
Does your conscience ever
bother you, Mr. Maledon ?" she
asked.
NO madame" he answered,
my customers are all mighty
well satisfied Never one come
back yet to have il deae over"
There was one time. though,
when they thought the ghost of
a dead man had returned Lewis
Holder had been convicted Of
shooting his Pardner in the back
just TO get team OF horses
When Judge Isaac Parker, who
was called the Hanging Judge
pronounced the words ordering
Holder TO be- hanged by the neck
until dead the prisoner let out
a blood-curdling yell you could
hear all over the courthouse. He |
fell TO the floor in faint. Most |
everybody thought ne was dead. |
but cold water brought him TO |
and he was dragged off To the |
death cell, II VAS several weeks |
before ne was hung. All that time |
he kept the jail in an uproar, yell
ing and bowling all night for
mercy, but it didn't save him
one midnight about a month |
after he'd been hung the marshal
and his deputies were sitting
around the Jail office 1t wasn't
a very cheerful place anyway,
with nearby graveyard full Of
dead outlaws and more in Jail
waiting their turn.
Suddenly an unearthly yell
brought the mrn ZIP out Of their
seats None Of them ever had
heard anything like IT,
It's Holders ghost one Of
them yelled. He said he'd haunt
us to our graves
The terrible moaning kept up.
II was coming from the gallows.
Now these fellows who stalked
badmen through the wilds Of the
Territory weren't afraid of any
thing that walked or breathed.
but this was different They
didn't know what TO do about 1t.
How can yuh kill a ghost ?"
Marshal George Lawson took
the lead
Come on. ne said I'VE got
to find out about this
They all followed him out, as
he slowly walked toward the
gallows As they got closer they
could see a figure there all right
outlined in the dim night light
The walls got louder.
The men surrounded the scat
fold with guns drawn When they
walked up an old Indian rose
from the edge Of the trap.
He'd been leaning over the
death pit where some Of his
tribesmen had dropped to the
happy hunting grounds. chanting
an Indian dirge for them.
That was the last ghost that
ever fooled around the gallows.
But those deputies had plenty of
other experiences that made their
blood run cold
THE wife of a young Texas horse
thief by the name OF Bud Ste
phens was lured up in the rocky
hills by couple of badmen with
a tale that her husband had been
hurt when his horse threw him.
The desperadoes had already
murdered him
When the girl got scared about
the rough country they were