ticular button springs the door. The hanging was
set for two o'clock. The attendants began to arrive and were
furnished with admission cards. With Doctor Sward came his assistant
surgeon, who was to make an analysis of the murderer's blood.
They all marched to the hanghouse and took their seats. Shortly
afterward came the condemned man, walking steadily and erect
between Warden Fenton and Reverend May. Not a word was spoken,
everything was quiet. The prisoner had no statement to make and
mounted the scaffold. He was dressed in a neat black suit, black
tie, black hose and slippers bought that same day for the occasion.
He walked upon the scaffold, the black cap was quickly adjusted,
the six buttons were touched, his body swung into the pit and
his soul passed into eternity, there to meet its fate. This was
only a matter of three minutes. In thirteen minutes he was pronounced
dead, the body turned over to the undertaking es-
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tablishment of Castle, Roper & Matthews, and
by them shipped to Ohio for burial.
I have been in the banking business for many years but never
once was I called on to cash a check executed by a dead man;
but on that evening Chaplain Johnson presented to me for payment,
a check drawn by Prince on the prison bank and payable to him
for the balance of Prince's account. As it was small, less than
ten dollars, I honored the check. The next day came another preacher,
the one who accused us of peddling the choicest steaks, and put
in a claim for "something left him by Prince." I told
him there was nothing for him, and he departed much disappointed,
reminding me of a vulture that, hovering over what was once a
dead body, finds only the bones. The Rev. Doctor May, who had
been the murderer's spiritual adviser, who at his own expense
had made the trips to the prison to be of real service to the
condemned. man, presented no check, nor did he make
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