Show In the Joined some of his acquaintances corridor and spoke bitterly of nlH L r brothers impending doom DAVID DEFENDS PETER S S Peter vas always a good boy lie Bald He was always straight and i S mlJ If this had was the pot of the family 1 conic to myself or one of my other brothers I wouldnt have thought so much of Ili hut It Isnt I right that ho should bo taken thin way He could never have been convicted had he been fair trial given u S 0 I THE RELATIVES DEPART I The little party ofmourners llnally I I wont Into the 1 street just outside the Joined by l I I prison lawn and Boon were henry Mortcnsen They stood talking I S I together very earnestly for some minutes 1 min-utes the two brothers seemed inclined Once Mrs to return to the prison I Morlensen took David by the arm as 1C I urging him to accompany her in the opposite i S S op-posite direction After a considerable time they all walked sadly away together J to-gether In the direction of the city I ROUNDUP OF SAt S-At Just about the hour of 10 oVlock S a party of live sorrylooking trusties S accompanied by I two guards entered the corridor from the front way and S the waiting crowd parted to permit I them to pass single llle Into the prison 1 yard Sonic of tho uninformed thought IS they were the firing squad but It Wa p S FOOII found that they were field hands who had been brought In as a precautionary precau-tionary measure to bo Inside the walls S during the lime of the execution 1 LUCKY ONES WITH TICKETS 1 IJ Very shortly after this guards appeared 1 k1 ap-peared who began to admit visitors j 1 with tickets to the prison grounds They were admitted In groups of convenient I J I enient size llrst to the space between 1 the double steel gates and then to the vard the outel gate being securely 1 t barred each time before the inner OneS one-S II I I was opened As the visitors entered the J enclosure they well instructed to keep LI lo the north of the buildings and were I conducted past the large cellhouse and the end of the blacksmith shop where S f they found thenibclver at the head of I the foncedoff passageway In which stood the death chair L TIlE MINLTES PASSED SLOWLY Here ensued another wait which seemed long but which In reality did t t t not exceed twenty minutes A hush of aWe and expectancy fell upon the assemblage p as-semblage at the north end as it viewed the simple preparations of death In the 1 passageway faced by a humanity t fringed wall on the other side Once during the wait the muzzles of five rides were thrust through tin five holes In the t curtain facing the death chair and S I which covered the opening in the blaek smith shop wheie stood the executioners ii execution-ers The men behind the guns were S sighting their weapons on the fatal spot r I to see if all was well r MOCKERY OF SUNSHINE The sun which all the morning had 4 ben hidden by l lowering clouds came out brightly to give mocking cheer to the 1i dismal scene of frowning walls watching i I watch-ing above and about the chair of death and the somber curtain with its glaring eyes A group of doctors on the t Inner side of the crowd plucked up courage to discuss among themselves former executions S ex-ecutions and a lynching l which some of them had witnessed One of them was J S dared by some of the others to give the II ii death chair a trial While not afraid I i I he refrained from proving his valor In the way suggested Reporters scribbled 1 Ui Idly on their tablets to give show of being Iii be-ing occupied The suspense began to ihi tell unon the nerves of some There I were trembling hands and an occasional nervous laugh which told oC human I1 weakness gessTIlIS t iH THIS IS TERRIBLTC N The tension was slightly relieved for I the moment lo be followed by a still greater test when there appeared from 4 behind the blacksmith shop two guards S i1 U leading between them a man coatlcss with a white cloth bound firmly over Iii 1 his eyes wearing dark trousers and 5 S slippers The three were surrounded I tI except in front by some six or eight officers 1 of-ficers and the group made Its way I Uraight to the death chair Absolute 1 silence prevailed when the blindfolded I man was placed in the chair and the unixlK proceeded to strap his arms and I i legs The time taken to accomplish this I l seemed to the spectators unconscionably j long One stalwart physician who could 1 I stand the awful silence no longer ex 1 t claimed as he drew a long breath = This is terrible Others seemed as if in a Ii hypnotic spell as they gazed intently at S the man whose lease of life jrtas numbered I num-bered by seconds The portion of the white face which showed below the scarcely less whiter cloth was watched S i t closely for any sign that the man al ieged to have taken a life so brutally I was afraid to lose his own life ISVery S movement of the man as he disposed I I J his limbs to accommodate those who were fixing them to the chair seemed i fraught with subtle meaning and all spelled tragedy In the awful form of ab l 1J olute deliberation The minutes i oeined ages until the preparations were complete The attendants started to t S F leive the chair Then ono apparently thought of something else He grasped f one of the tieddown hands and shook I 5t The others followed his example inurn in-urn Something was said by some ot those who shook the hand and the manS man-S In the chair replied but the words were not distinguishable to the spectators I RELII3F TO THE TENSION The action again tell d the tension lo some extent The manCn the chair I straightened perceptibly The spectators specta-tors breathed a little more freely But L It was only for a moment The supreme moment was at hand The attendants I moved backward out of range of the S guns The muzzle of the guns protruded S protrud-ed from the eyes in the curtain The J t man in the chair slightly dropped his 1 I chin as though trying to peer over the I cloth which hound his eyes Some of the spectators looked back and forth I fiom the guns to the man Others j found convenient shields for their eyes I I I In the heads of those In front The ma 11 I jority undoubtedly wore wondering If 9 f the guns wouldnever be fired j 1 5 PETER MORTENSEN XO MORE Suddenly there was a crash which I sounded like two reports in quick succession S suc-cession Simultaneously with the crash the body l of Mortensen gave backward I I slightly from the Impact of the bullets 1 His head was thrown backward arid I I gradually rolled over on his left shoul I tier The pallor of death overspread lid II r features exposed to view But there was no anparom struggle no percept I il i ible movement of the bound limbs 1 THEPLACE OF DEATH tJ On the cast side of the prison yard is I 11 j a low brick building about 100 feet long II I 1 north and south which In used as the Prison blacksmith shon Between this n J building and the east wall of the prison I yard is a driveway about 50 feet wide I S VclI toward the south end of thy build f lug on the aide I lacing the dilvewjiy and I S the east prison wall Is a pair of double I I doors These door stood open yesterday S and in their place hung a curtain made Ii I of common blue denim cloth At about the height of a mans shoulder live i I round holes had been cut In this cur I ti 1 L lain at regular Intervals across Its width and a foot or so higher other holes of Irregular shapeappeared Behind Be-hind this curtain werq stationed the men who tool Peter l MortcnMenslIf at behest of the law their Identity l being known only to the Sheriff and a very few of his trusted deputies WHERE DEATH CHAIR STOOD S Against thc massive stone yardwall facing ho I curtain was stationed the death chair It was a common oJIlco chair with arms set upon a low platform plat-form about four feet square constructed construct-ed of new hoards Behind the platform and of thewicne width was a boxlike structure five feet high and about tvo feet thick This was fIlled with dirt its purpose being to receive the bullets after they had passed thiough the body l of the I victim and iirevent their glancing glanc-ing from the stone wall and endangei lIng l-Ing the lives of onlooker CROWD VAS KEPT HACK At the north end l of the blacksmith shop a wire had been stretchid from the building to the ± yard wall Closing the passageway from that sllc Just outside out-side the wire were two taMos and rev oral chairs for reporters and It w is here that the witnesses of the execution were permitted to stand No one except oJliccrs directly engaged with the arrangements ar-rangements for the execution was allowed al-lowed about the south end of the building build-ing Jlowtver a number of men t i hoed points of vantage on the south wall of the prison yard ovcrloqklnj the passageway pas-sageway of death nnd directly facing the crowd of spectators standng on the ground at the north end of the wire enclosure en-closure On the east wall almost di rectly over the crowd of spectators stood two armed cuauls who watchMi closely for any possible attempt on the part of those assembled to breakthrough break-through the enclosuio Their forviccs In this regard were required only once and that was a few moments after the fatal shots had been fired Whr the attendants began to unloose the straps which the limp body to the death chair several persons broke through the enclosure en-closure and started for the scene They were quickly called back by the guards and there was no further attempt on the part of the spectators to leave the place assigned to them until after the body had been removed to time prison S morgue DEATH QUICK AND CERTAIN When Dr A C Young the prison physician reached Jilortensens side after the shots had been fired there was scarcely a perceptible pulse iu the body Death was instantaneous After the body had been removed to the chapel uoigue Dr Young made un examination examina-tion which resulted in finding that two or the four bullets fired had passed hrough I the heart one at the aorta he other lower 1 down while the other two t pubscd just below the heart Time bullet which passed through at the ilghcst point also severed life spine making assurance more doubly sure as to Instant death The marks of the four bullets were all plainly discern abe on the upright piece of wood which held in place 1 the earthfilled box behind be-hind the chair Three had passed through this upright piece and one glanced on the edge as It went Into the box No two of the bulletmarks were to exceed two and a half Inches apart The bullet which was shot highest left a small bloodstain Mhere It entered the VOOK after passing through the body CROWD ABOUT THE PRISON Soon after thft hooting the undertakers under-takers dead wagon arrived i at the prison at the Jir ctoii of the relatives to take away the oodj There was delay de-lay in bringing out the body from the prison chapel and during the wait a large J crowd of men and boys with alight a-light sprinkling of women stood outside out-side ihc lii ion taking in such grewsome details n the necessities of the cnse I might afford them One little party of three women went to the prison long before the execution and remained until the t guards were finally directed to clear the outside grounds These hung as closely about the prison entrance as possible but the forr women who were thcie uonlfcited themselves f with ra mainlng In the street During the time that the dead wagon was waiting at the entrance for the body a closed carriage with blinds drawn over the window was driven out The dead wagon was backed a little way to make room for the firing squad to pass |