Democratic Sentinel, Volume 11, Number 18, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 June 1887 — LEGGETTS LIFE. [ARTICLE]

LEGGETTS LIFE.

The Wild Ride of a Lawyer to Save the Neck of His Client. He Reaches the Gallows Just as the Sheriff Is About to Cut the Hope. [Savannah (Ga.) special] The following are the exciting details of the saving of Leggett’s life, for his death has not yet been compassed, though his neck has been in the hangman's noose. William Clifton, his faithful attorney, received on Wednesday night—or rather Thursday morning—telegrams from Governor Gordon infoiming him of Leggett’s respite for thirty days. These he started with for Tatn.dl County on Thursday afternoon. It was generally understood thronghout the county that the execution would take place in the forenoon of the next day. The sun was not two hours high when people began arriving in the town, some on foot, others on horseback, and many in the cracker carts. The scaffold had been erected in a field a quarter of a mile from the village. Thither the crowd moved, and steadily grew in numbers. Leggett was given breakfast at 7 o’clock, and shortly afterward a minister of the gospel was admitted to his cell. The condemned man talked-of the murder of his wife, said that he was sorry for it, and expressed a hope for forgiveness. He had not received any intimation that a reprieve would be granted in his case, and he went about preparing to pay the penalty of his crime. At 10:30 he was handcuffed, and, surrounded by Deputy Sheriffs, was driven to the scaffold. Fully 1,500 people had collected there, and an immense crowd followed Leggett and his guards from the town. Dozens of men and boys bad climbed up into the trees to get a better view. Hundreds more swarmed over the carts, stand ng up on the wheels, seats, anywhere and everywhere that a foothold offered. THE BLACK CAP. The jesting lulled as the prisoner ascended the scaffold, but still a low buzz of excited comment arose from the throng. After a few minutes of prayer and a short confession from the murderer the sheriff slipped the noose over Leggett’s head, carefully tightened the rope around bis neck, and adjusted the knot. Then the black cap was put on and pulled down over the prisoner’s face. He had walked up on the gallows with a firm step, and showed little sign of nervousness in his voice as he sang and prayed. He dd not falter when placed on the fatal trap, and held hi? hands quietly behind his back to have them tied together. His ankles were next bound tightly with a stout rope. Mr. Clifton was in his bed ’n Savannah when he received a telegram from Governor Gordon granting a respite. When the attorney left the train at Johnston’s station, on the Savannah, Florida and Western Kailway, he had forty-five miles to drive through a country not noted for its good roads. The breaking of a trace or an axle or anything happening to either of the horses, or any one of a hundred accidents, was liable to delay him and prevent his reaching Riedsville before the trap was sprung. While Leggett was watching through his cell window the first gleams of dawn his faithful lawyer was urging a swift pair of horses across the country at a gait that covered them with foam. The hours sped by with equal rapidity to the prisoner and to the man who w r as hastening to save his life. IN TIME. The Sheriff had just turned to step down off the scaffold, preparatory to cutting the rope which held the trap in the floor, when Mr. Clifton pushed his’ way into the crowd and shouted: “Mr. Sheriff, I have here a message from Gov. Gordon, directed to you. ” “Come this way and let me see it immediately,” answered back the Sheriff. For a moment not a whisper was uttered. Every one held his breath. The crowd divided and made way for the lawyer to pass to the foot of the gallows. The Sheriff glanced hastily at the telegram, and dropped the hatchet which he held in his hand. “Go up on the scaffold, Clifton, and read to us!” cried a thousand voices. Tatnall is the attorney’s native county. Everybody down there knows him, and there was not a man in the crowd who did not recognize his tall, broad.form as he elbowed his way to the Sheriff. Many a time in his life had the lawyer heard the cry, “Take the stage,” but never before under such circumstances. MB. CLIFTON EXPLAINS. Taking ex-Senator Mattox by the arm, Mr. Clifton stepped briskly upon the platform, and without waiting for Leggett to be unbound read the dispatch from Governor Gordon granting a respite for thirty 4 days. “Tnis is authentic,” the speaker added, and he read another telegram addressed to himself, to the effect that a reprieve had been granted. He then read a third dispatch, inquiring if the first and second had been received. The telegrams had a magical effect upon the crowd. They yelled and shouted for Gordon and Clifton and pressed up close to the scaffold to congratulate him. Leggett stood at first as though.paralyzed, being unable to believe what his ears heard. Then when it dawned upon him that he was not to die, he made frantic efforts to be released. The cap and noose were quickly removed, and he fell down on his knees and poured out thanks to God and his attorney. His bonds were cut and he was led away, declaring that he loved his lawyer more than any one in the world. The scene was one not witnessed twice in a lifetime, except in the last act of some dramas on the mimic strage where a courier rushes on breathless from the wings and hands the heavy man in the play a pardon for the hero. The crowd was disappointed, but it seemed perfectly well satisfied that the affair had taken the turn it did. Mr. Clifton was a sort of hero, and in less than an hour petitions were being signed asking the Governor to commute Leggett’s sentence to imprisonment for life.