| Show l lW l ll Written W for tW tA Ate Paper Pop L DONE TO DEATH EATH f N Friday Septem Septem- September September ON ber 14 u unless n 1 e s s death or the Gov Gov- Governor's Governor's clemency intervenes Enoch 2 Davis will pay th the penalty for having murdered his wife wife at Vernal Uintah county county June 1892 The circum circumstances stances of Daviss Davis's measurably me shiftless life the lack of family concord the killing kUling and the hiding of the body in potato a a potato pit were graphically related in inthe inthe inthe the columns of the NEWS a few days day ago and need not be repealed repeated here It Itis 11 is enough nough to say that the case has been through the full judicial course to the h highest tribunal of the land and this h has decreed on the law and the evi evi- evidence dence that Enoch Davis must die His death before September 14 or the exer exer- exercise exercise exercise cise of reprieving power by the Gover Gover- norare the only means that appear as asp p to change the destined co course under the courts procedure A A chief reason for the desire desiN to spare Daviss Davis's D vis's life is the belief that he knows w where ere Dead Mans Man's mine in Uintah county is and that the information tion of its whereabouts is the price of s seething commutation of his bis sentence to life imprisonment i There may be other r reasons but that comes out most prom prom- prominently prominently in Davis is said to hav have made the discovery shortly before the crime was committed and to have secured a bag bagful of gold nuggets But he killed his w and his arrest arest put a stop to his g gathering the glittering metal Davis is to be shot he having elected that method from the choice which is given in the la law w of hanging or shooting There here has been only one man hung in 10 Utah and that was more than a third of ofa ofa ofa a century ago The procedure is too barbarous All other condemned mur- mur murderers mur have bave expressed a preference to todie todie todie die by the quick process of a rifle ball rather than the jerking strangling bar bar- barbaric bar bar- barbaric barbaric baric method of dan dangling dandling on the end of ofa ofa ofa a rope rope till life becomes extinct So Enoch Davis made his choice with the understanding that on the day of execution execution tion he would peer eer into the muzzles of five or six Winchester Winchester rifles in the hands bands of unseen officers and hear the Ready Aim Aim Fire of the official in charge char e What What m more more re he may hear or will feel cannot be told by mortal man for Enoch Davis will be instantly placed be beyond be- be beyond yond ond the possibility of describing his hise emotions e The method is certain ex- ex ex expeditious clean and merciful as an ex- ex execution execution can be There is none of the disgusting spectacle which usually attends executions in different parts of the civilized world Of all methods of r slaying slaying a murderer that prescribed bythe by byr bythO bythe the thO Utah law is the most civilized r t The Te list last murderer that was exe executed Fred alias Fred in Utah was Hopt Jop a J- J 1 Welcome His was the most famous murder case that the Utah courts have handled He killed John F Turner son of Sheriff ex-Sheriff John W Turner o of Provo July 3 1880 He was run down downin in Wyoming In the Third district t court in Salt Lake City he had fou four trials Four times his case went to the th Supreme court of the United States Three times the action of the lower courts was reversed but in the fourth I tr al it was sustained and on Thursday i August n II 1887 more than seven years year I after the commission of the crime Hopi Hopt I was shot within the penitentiary walls He preserved an outwardly calm demean demean- demeanor demeanor demeanor or though the suppressed excitement may be realized when it is known that just before the time of execution his pulse beat a nearly minute minute nearly three times the normal rate When he was led out to die he took his position neat near the northeast corner of the penitentiary enclosure about 20 feet from a canvas canvas- covered structure which had been put up for the executioners and through small holes in 10 which there pointed out the barre s of five Winchester rifles Before Hopt sat down he made a brief brie brief speech Then as he settled himself in inthe inthe the chair he uttered an oath oath-a oath a fact not published till now but the reasons existing ex- ex ex existing for keeping it quiet at the time have passed away Then Marshal Dyer gave the command Ready Ready aim fire aim fire tell The sharp crack of the rifles rang out on the air air so close together that it hardly could be discerned that more than one shot had been fired For an instant instant and it was only an in- in in instant stant-Hopt's stant stant Hopt's body remained motion motion- motionless motionless less His head bowed slightly forward and body chair and all began to fall over backward forced by the concussion of the bullets with the body The body went steadily down to the ground so gently that when it stopped Hopt's hat remained on his head the rim being cau caught ht at the back of his neck The I terrible ordeal was over Death had been instantaneous The dead mans man's mouth opened once and closed again Then all was still Four bullets had passed through his heart beart two centering it and lodged in the adobe wall be- be beyond be beyond beyond yond Many and varied have been the ways in which the nations have inflicted capital punishment the quality of these methods as to mercy may be ascertained by compari compari- comparison comparison son The ancient Germans dragged criminals at the tail of a horse till tilt lIf life was extinct Crucifixion was practiced by several of the oriental nations but did not produce death for several hours and strong men have been known to live so long that in mercy their executioners executioners hastened their end The method of killing by skinning alive by boiling in hot lard or oil by disjointing the body on the rack or driving spikes into the brain or crushing in an iron frame punctured with spikes are principally inventions of the middle ages So was the practice practice practice tice of hanging a person on the limb ofa of ofa a tree in such a manner as to let death occur naturally from starvation or by letting the crows pick out the eyes and tear the flesh This was a punishment not infrequently inflicted d in Spain for tor highway robbery robbery- Hanging has bas been the favorite mode in England ot of exercising capital punish punish- punishment punishment punishment ment It has bas been the penalty not only f for r murder but for other offenses even the stealing of sheep having been re- re regarded regarded re regarded as deserving ot of death by that process For treason the punishment at one time was first dragging at a horses horse's tail along the street from the prison to the place of execution second hanging by the neck yet not so long as to entirely destroy life third plucking and burning of the entrails while the patient was yet alive fourth beheading fifth quartering sixth ex ex- ex exposure of the head and quarters in such places as the king directed as was the case with the Corean conspirator recent recent- recently recently ly By degrees beheading was substituted substituted substituted in England for this elongated pun pun- punishment punishment pun in the case of nobly born of- of offenders offenders fenders and hanging in the case of men of low degree Thus the simple method of capital punishment sup super super- superseded r- r the afflictive style One of the most horrible of the afflic afflic- afflictive afflictive afflictive tive methods is that which has been been- often practiced in the West Indies and which is said to be occasionally used there now when the provocation is great This is performed by bv hanging the delinquent from a post by means of ofa a hook inserted under his breast bone In this manner the sufferer is prevented from doing anything to assist himself and all persons are prohibited under severe penalties from relieving him In the climate of the Indies his sufferings are intensified past expression by the frightful heat of the sun and by the myriads of insects which feed upon his bis lacerated flesh Men have been found of such remarkable endurance that they have suffered this unutterable torment for twelve days before death finally gave relief Garroting is a punishment principally employed in Spain A metal collar is is put about the neck of the culprit and a screw at the back of the collar is turned in such a manner as to crush the spinal cord causing almost instant death Then there was the death in the cage method which never obtained very ex- ex extensively extensively ex the condemned man was hoisted in an iron cage on a gibbet and left to die of thirst and hunger The breaking on the wheel was a more ex ex- ex perhaps no less brutal method The victim wa was placed laced on bars crossed like the letter X X and as this turned on a pivot blows were admin admin- administered administered administered with a club until the condemned was beaten to death usually the chi chief f bones of the body being br broken ken before the spark of life had fled It is asserted that death by drowning is one of the easiest though persons who have passed through the earlier stages of the process and then have been resuscitated do not advocate that view At one time parricides were sewed up in a sack and thrown into the water Those who were classed in Ger Ger- Germany Germany Germany many as meaner criminals were put un- un under under un under der hurdles into bogs or ferns while malefactors were hung The Anglo Anglo- Saxons Anglo Saxons drowned all women who were convicted of stealing and King Richard the Lion Hearted made that the legal punishment for any soldier who killed a fellow crusader Criminals were drowned in in England until the early part of the seventeenth century and md in Scot Scot- Scotland Scotland Scotland land till 1685 In 16 I in Scotland a aman aman man man was officially drowned for a s lamb It was at one time the habit n among to smother unfaith unfaith- unfaithful unfaithful ful lul wives in mud If that were the wre-the the pun pun- punishment now in civilized countries for that offense on the part of both women and men the mud marshes would be pretty well filled kari Hari-kari is the Japanese mode of punishment Practically it is the insistence insistence insistence tence of the government that a man who has proven himself unfit to live shall end his life It is regarded as showing a sense of honor bonor that the culprit will slay highborn himself and sometimes the high born Japanese will commit kari hari if he has been insulted in some manner which makes it impossible to avenge himself or clear his house of the stain put upon it it The which guillotine guillotine which with hanging I shooting and garroting constitute the I chief methods of execution execution in the civi civi- civilized civilized civilized nations of today dates today dates back but a little littleover over a century and was invented by a Dr Gu Guillotin though Louis XVI often gets frets the credit of it as he made it the official weapon of execution and in turn lost his head on it Shooting is re- re regarded regarded re regarded as the military an punishment punishment indication that war methods are some some- sometimes sometimes sometimes times less barbarous then those adopted against offenders in times of peace In America as late as 1712 four men were burned in New York for murder and burning at the stake was resorted to several times in in New England in in colonial days It was regarded as a fitting fit- fit fita fitting ting death for heretics heretics-a heretic being a person who does not agree with the religious views of such organizations as would forfeit life for opinions opinion's sake Burning at the stake was not so cruel a adeath adeath adeath death as some that might be named yet it was sufficiently cruel to horrify an or- or ordinarily ordinarily or ordinarily humane person Here is an account from froth English history of the burning of Ellen Elsom who was con con- convicted convicted con convicted of killing her husband She was clothed in a cloth made like a a shift saturated with tar and her limbs were also smeared with the same inflammable inflammable mable substance while a tarred bonnet had been pIa placed ced on her head She was brought out of the prison barefooted and being placed on a hurdle was drawn on a sledge sedge to the place of ex- ex execution execution near the gallows Upon arrival some time was passed in prayer after which the executioner placed her on atar a atar atar tar barrel a height of three feet against the stake A rope ran through a ring in the stake and was placed around her neck she herself fixing g it with her ber hands She was probably dead when the fire reached her as the executioner had pulled her up several times when the irons were being fixed He exhibited exhibited ted about the same eagerness to wreak vengeance that is shown in a modern modem lynching party The Persian and Roman habit of throwing to wild beasts decayed because it was shocking to the masses and was also expensive After a time it afforded no pleasure to the barbarians who wit wit- witnessed wit wit- witnessed witnessed it any more than did the pro- pro proceedings of the New En England lat d barbar- barbar barbarians barbarians ians who inflicted punishments that caused intense suffering but were of such a nature that being an offense against decency they cannot be well written of and are an indication of superlative degradation in those who in- in instituted in instituted and perpetuated them In l the middle ages parboiling was a favorite method 0 of execution The expenses attendant on the die boy to tod d death ath of Friar Stone at Canterbury C England in 1539 are listed as follows Timber for gallows carpenter and gallows dray is d laborer setting setting up tip p gal gal- lows is load of wood and horse to draw the prisoner to a dungeon 23 two men that sat at the kettle and par par- boiled parboiled him is three men that carried his bis quarters to the gates and set them up is halters cord screws etc etc is IS for woman that scoured the kettle ad to him that did the execution 33 total In some cases the victim was fastened by a chain and let down in boiling boiling water till he was dead The latest method adopted for lor executions is by electricity the first criminal undergoing the punishment being Wil Wilt William liam Ham Kemmler June 26 1890 He mur mur- murdered murdered murdered dered his wife in a most diabolical man man- manner manner manner ner The officials attempted to keep from the public the details of this official killing but in vain Kemmler was fast fast- fastened fastened fastened ened in a chair and the electric current turned on The sizzling of the burning flesh the struggles of the victim the sickening stench which came from the roasting body made it a horrible scene which it were not well to paint for ten ten- tenI tender tender tender I der stomachs or humane bosoms I There are many who argue against capital punishment urging as one objection tion the barbarity of the executions I I This reason seems to be as good against electrocution as against hanging and certainly in the cause of humanity both bothof bothof of those methods should give way before before be- be bee fore the military plan of shooting which were death is to be e the penalty inflicts it withas with as much dispatch and with ith less unpleasant than any other plan But in reading of the ex- ex execution ex execution of criminals how a sympathetic person must long for the time when the death penalty shall shan be done away be- be because because be because cause there shall benone who will hurt each other |
