What happened when condemned men stepped onto the scaffold? Did they cry? Repent? Shake with fear? Yes, many men and women met their fates as well as could be expected, but a few of the condemned met their fates rather differently.
1. Could Not Speak
Will Tutt was sentenced to hang for putting four bullets in his wife. On the morning of his execution, it was reported that he was chain-smoking. He was then taken to the scaffold.
“Tutt held his nerve well till he mounted the scaffold and advanced to the wall to speak to the crowd. Here he broke completely down and was supported by the Sheriff deputies. He made several attempts to speak, but choked at the effort, and after standing in view of the crowd five minutes he could utter not a word. The cap and noose were adjusted at 9:33, and the drop fell one minute later.
“The knot slipped to the back of the neck when the lever was pulled, and death was from strangulation.” [1]
2. Stay Away From Wine And Women
In November, 1892, Patrick J. Sullivan is said to have murdered his wife on the streets of San Francisco. Two years later, in 1894, the man was hung.
The night before his hanging, it was reported that Patrick spent his time joking and laughing with the prison guards. In the morning, he ate his breakfast and spoke to a Catholic priest.
When he was finally taken to the scaffold, he was allowed to give a short speech and warned witnesses to beware of wine and women “which are man’s downfall.”
The black cap was then placed over his head and right before the trap was sprung, he yelled, “You can’t say I died like a cur!” [2]
3. No One Claimed His Body
Jacob Prinkie was condemned to death for the murder of a telegrapher. When he was taken to the west corridor of a Pennsylvania county jail to hang for his crime in 1904, it was reported that he showed absolutely no emotions.
He was hooded, the trap was sprung, and ten minutes later he was declared dead.
No one came to collect his body, which would have been handed over to either a family member or a friend. Instead, his body was shipped off to the Anatomical Society of Philadelphia for dissection. [3]
4. Smiling Bigamist
Arthur Hoyt Day from Ontario, Canada, got himself into quite a mess. The married man took on a second wife, but when she found out she was number two, she demanded that he choose between her or his first wife. Arthur’s first wife was apparently okay with having a part time husband, so he returned to her.
Shortly afterwards, Arthur took his wife and his sister to Niagara Falls. He shoved his first wife over a cliff, killing her, and returned home with his sister.
A week later, his second wife reported the bigamy and Arthur was arrested. His sister came forward about the death of his first wife, and Arthur was sentenced to hang.
On December 18, 1890, Arthur was led to the scaffold. It was reported that he smiled all the way to the rope and never once faltered. Perhaps he was just glad to be able to escape the mess he had made for himself. [4]
5. Boy Murderer Hanged
When Charles Miller of Wyoming was fifteen-years-old, he murdered two men in a boxcar for their money. Two years later, at seventeen, the young man was hung.
It was reported that the “boy” sang all the way to the scaffold. It was a song that he himself had composed for the “special” occasion. [5]
6. Said He Was Glad To Go
Henry Milton was all too happy to meet his fate in San Quentin, 1905.
“He died game and chatted with the warden before going to the scaffold. He was glad to die, as he said he was a bad man all his life and wanted to see what the other world looked like. He had a glass of whiskey and asked for a cigarette, which he smoked while he aided the jailor in adjusting the straps. When he left the cell he still smoked the cigarette. He hopped up the steps of the scaffold and stepped on the trap, at the same time waiving reading the death warrant. When the black cap was put over his head, he spit the cigarette from his mouth. He died 11 minutes after the drop.” [6]
7. Hand Signals As Death Approaches
Edwin J. Tapley was sentenced to hang in the Jersey City county jail for the murder of his wife. Before meeting his fate, a clergyman made a special arrangement with Tapley
“…to signal with his hands after the drop fell to show that he was alive and realized what was transpiring. Tapley’s hands did twitch convulsively, but Rev. Emil Meury, with whom it was said he had made arrangements to signal and who witnessed the hanging, refused to say whether the movements of his hands were like the prearranged signals or not.” [7]
