Rensselaer Republican, Volume 22, Number 19, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 January 1890 — A Sentence That Was Never Finished. [ARTICLE]

A Sentence That Was Never Finished.

“It was seven years ago," said C. R. H. 'Davis to aSt Louis Republican man, “that I saw justice turn from tragedy to farce in a twinkling. It was in one of those pine board courthouses of the mining regions tnat I, as foreman of a jury, led my colleagues out, and with long face pronounced the verdict of guilty of murder in the firstXlegree upon the prison'r. Then 1 sat down, my chair tilted againt the window, and listened to the stern decree of the court: “To hang by the neck until d ’ Just then three pals of the condemned man walked in with loaded guns, and the sentence Was never finished. I dropped back through the window, ’the court followed, and the prisoner never has been seen to this day.” . r : ’7.. ■