Democratic Sentinel, Volume 10, Number 49, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 January 1887 — JACK KETCH’S VICTIMS. [ARTICLE]

JACK KETCH’S VICTIMS.

Executed Felons, and the Crimes for Which They Paid the Death Penalty. JANUARY. Charles Williams (colored) was hanged for criminal assault at Cambridge, Md.. on the Bth. The gallows bore fruit on the 15th as follows : Noah Merriman, a colored wife-murderer, at Belleville, Ill.; Charles Wilson, colored, at St. Louis. Mo., for slaying the mate of a river steamer; liev. Wm. George, a colored minister, at Lake Providence, La., for the murder of his mistress ; Henry M. Stair, at Nevada, Mo., for the killing of Jacob Sewell and son ; at Beaumont, Texas, Wm Madison, who killed Albert Smith because of jeal usy—both oolored. H< nry Jackson, w hile singing hymns on the scaffold atMinden, La., on tho22d. was rudely interrupted by tbeidislocation of his neck; he killed K. A. Britten, a grocer. FEBRUARY. Two murderers paid the penaltv on the sth Dennis W. Dilda at Pres cott, Arizona, for the killing of Deputy Sheriff J. M. Murphy, and Cyrus Minich, at Leadville, Col. Chas. Hermann, who murdered his wife at Buffalo, N. Y., and for three nights slept in the bed where the gory corpse lay, was h inge I on th ‘ 12th. Wiebren Wartena, a Hollander, murdered John Dr gher, who had befriended him, and expiated his crime at Kensselaer, Ind., on the 2Jth. MARCH. On the sth, Clarence Gray, alias Isham Collins, was hanged at Winnemucca, Nev., for the murder of K. H, Scott, while attempting to rob the latter s store, l’atr cx Ford and John Murphy, Ne ,v Orleans politicians, were hanged at the Crescent City on the 12th for the murder of Captain A. H. Murphy : the Louisiana Board of Pardons Refused to to a peti'ion of 20,780 e.tizens for the release of the culprits, who' sought to escape the gallows by taking poison, but were partially revived and w'orked off bv the sheriff at the appointed hour*. Louis O’Neil suffered the deatu.penalty at Jacksonville, Oregon, for the murder of Lewis McDaniel. On the 2cth, Frank Mulkowsky, the mur erer of Mrs. Agnes Kledzieck, expiated his ermie in the jailyard at Chicago, protest ing his innocence to the last moment. A negro named John Drake was executed at Thomaston, Ga , for the murder of his wife and the cremation of her corpse.

APRIL. , Jeff Wilson, a colored man, was worked off by the Sheriff at Lexington, Mo., on the 2d, for the murder of his mistress. Robt. J. Phillips, a colored wife-murderer, was executed at ludianapolis on the Bth. On th« 16th Sheriffs worked off Allen J. Adams at Amherst, Mass., for the murder, in 1875, of his employer, an aged farmer—Adams spent ten years after his crime as a dissolute tramp, confessed in a drunken brawl, and was convicted; Camilio Gonzales, a Mexican robber, at Bracket, Texas, for the murder of Peter Johnson, a ranchman ; and Chas. Robinson (colored) at Newcastle, Del., for outrage. Robt. Smith (colored), aged 19, suffered death at Nicholasville, Ky., for the murder of his stepfather, James Sea; the culprit sold his body to surgeons for 825, wbich he expendbd for fruit. On the 23d Robt. Fowler was hanged at Morganfield, Ky.. for the murder of Miss Lydia Burnett, who had refused his hand in marriage. On the same day the gallows at Fort Smith, Ark., was used (seventy-first time in twelve years) in the execution of James Wasson and Joseph Jackson, for murders committed in the Indian Territory, fin the 3tth and last day of the month the’ hangman closed the earthly career of J. M. Armstrong at Perryville, Ark., George Carroll at Searcy, in the same State, Richard J. Lee and Louis Somerfield at Washington, D. C„ and James Walker at Augustine, Fla. Giuseppe Scoma. an Italian, convicted of the murder of one of his countrymen, cheated the hangman by suiciding in his cell at Hudson,

MAY. George Young, a negro wife-murderer, was hanged at Galveston. Arthur J. Grover, who murdered Granville G. Loomis in 1885, suffered the law's dread penalty at tne Columbus (Ohio) penitentiary at la.m. of the Uth. Other executions during the month: Louis Willet, alias Charles Crosby, at Kingston, N. Y., for murder. Peter Louis Otto at Buffalo, N. Y., for the murder of his wife. Lee Barnes at Dover, Ark.; killed Charles Holman and secured 869; both gamblers. Louis Kilgrave at Raleigh, N. C., for the muider of Mattie Henderson; both colored. James Reynolds at Sidney, Neb., for the murder of James' Ralston and son. John C. Henning at Crawfordsville, Ind; killed Mrs. Charlotte Vollmer, who had refused to marry him because of his intemperate habits. Antonio Nardello, in Washington, D. G., for the murder of Carmine Rotunno, whom he robbed of 880. JUNE. Geo. McNair, colored, aged 19, suffered death at the rope’s end at Jacksonville, N. C.; his offense was an assault upon a white girl of 9. A double execution came off at Winchester, Va., on the 4th (Wesley Honesty and Tabley Banks) and a single one (James Baxter) at Winchester, Tenn.; all colored men aud all murderers. Arthur Williams and a man named Drayton were hanged at Orlando, Fla.; Drayton was convicted of murder and the other of a criminal assault, his victim dying. Alfred Taylor, colored, ptrished on the scaffold at Opelousas, La., for assault upon a white woman. Dennis Boyd, a negro, was executed at Bellevue, La., for the assassination of David Haas. Geo B. Davis was hanged at Seale, Ala., for the murder of Arch e lOeeves, and at Greenville, Miss., Robt. Dillard and James Emmett, both colored murderers, suffered the death penalty. JULY. Jenkins Wright, a negro, suffered death at the rope’s end for wife murder, at Hampton, S. C.; the culprit threw his victim’s body into a fire. Other hangings noted during torrid July were: Frank Gaston, colored, at Salisbury, N. C., for criminal assault upon a white woman. Dock Bishop at Coffey ville, Miss., for the murder of Detoctive Wise. Sam Archer, one of a family of desperadoes, at Shoals, Ind., for the murder of Samuel A. Bunch; Sam Archer’s death ended the career of the fifth of a gang of wretches who had been guilty of many crimes, lu the Tombs at New York, Mieuel Chacon, a Cuban negro, perished on the scaffold for killing his paramour while trving to murder her husband. James Dacey at Woodstock, 111., for the murder of Alderman Gaynor, of Chicago, hour Southern negro murderers were hanged on the 16th—Samson Roland and George Solomon at Donaldsonville, La., George Harrison at Shreveport, La., and Richard Townsend at Valdosta, Ga. Lincoln Sprole and Calvin James were hanged at Forth Smith, Ark., for murders committed in the Indian Territory; since 1871, forty-six men have been hanged at that place. A murderer named Joseph Jump was executed at Gallatin, Mo., in the presence of 20,000 people. Andrew Green, who killed a street-car driver, was hanged at Denver, confessing his crime on the scaffold. George Moore was hanged at Charlotte, N. C., for assault upon his daughter; he protested his innocence to the last.

AUGUST. E. D. Bundy (colored) was put to death according to law, at Spartanburg, S. C., on the 6th, for the murder of Annie Hickman, white. Other legal hangings during the month were : Kit Boss, a half-breed Cherokee Indian, at Ft. Smith, Ark.; John Smith, at Gallatin, Mo.; Willis Hudson. at Ft. Gaines, Ga.; Michael Merz, at Uniontown, Pa.; Nathaniel S. Bates, at Richmond, Ind. —all for murder. SEPTEMBER. James Simpson and Patterson Bell were hanged at Marion, Ark., on the 3d inst., for murder. Irvin Murray, a wife-murderer, at Georgetown, Tex. Key. Jesse Cooke (colored), same crime and same penalty, at Butler, Ga. Frank S. Humphreys, at Milledgeville, Ga., for the murder of his niece tajd sister-in-law. OCTOBER. Chas. Edwards, colored, who killed his mistress, Hettie Retuge, in Algiers. La., was executed on the Ist. Other executions during October were: Wright Weldon, colored, at Edgefield, S. C„ for the murder of a planter in 1161. Henry Norris, who killed George Elliott, owing to a quarrel about a chew of tobacco, at Buchanan, Ga. Robert Evan Sproule, an American citizen, at Victoria, B. C., charged with killing a mining comrade : he stoutly protested his innocence on the scaffold. NOVEMBER Two murderers suffered' death on the scaffold in British Columbia on the 2d—Albert Mallott, at Kumloops, and Ah Kweet (who killed a brother Chinaman)'; at Itevelstock. Other executions during November were • William S. Wilson at Jonesboro, 111., for wife-murder; Albert G. Boynton at Los Angeles, Cal., tor killing his wife and J, B. Kipp, to whose house the woman had fled to escape ill-treatment; Fong Ah Sing at San Francisco, for the murder of a Chinese woman; Jones Spry at Natchez, Miss., for the muider of Ada Coleman, both colored. DECEMBER. Robert Grayor, colored, was hanged in St/ Louis for the .murder of a man who had whipped him in a fight. Louis Pash, a negro murderer, was executed at Bardstown, Ky. Bob Jeter (colored), murderer, hanged at Spartanburg, S. C.