The weekly news review. (Florence, S.C.) 1922-1923, June 22, 1922, Image 6
ELECTRIC CHAIR SNUFFS OUT
LIVES OF MEN WHO MURDERED
WILLIAM BRAZELL, COLUMBIAN
KIRBY RESISTS STRAPPING INTO CHAIR AND IS DEPRIVED OF
PRIVILEGE OF MAKING LAST STATEMENT. GAPPINS
PRAYS FOR FORGIVENESS. FOX WARNS
YOUNG MEN
Columbia. — Obstinate, repentant,
humble—these words describe the
manner in which the “murder trio”
went to their deaths as the sun peep
ed over the penitentiary walls last
Friday morning* It was cool outside,
bat sweat stood on the faces of many
w uo were at the death house to see
ti e execution of the three men whose
crime shocked a state and who sent
U an untimely grave a young Colum-
b an, whose car they took and whom
they killed to cover their theft.
Kirby was obstinate. Because he
was not allowed to make his final
statement to the audience as he stood
a. the entrance of the death auditor-
ii m, he refused to submit peacefully
to the strapping into the big chair,
and officers were forced to handle
h.m with force and to deprive him
of the privilege of making his last
statement.
Gappins prayed as he set in the
c. air. “Stand by me, dear Lord, in
n / last moments on this earth,” he
b. gan, and then fervently he poured
o. t his soul for forgiveness, and the
hand of the electrician was stayed,
r.o the young man prayed. But the
prayer was finally ended when the
I'.'OO volt current was sent hurtling
through his body.
Both Gappins and Fox warned
young men against bad companions
a:.d disregard for law. Fox was hum
ble. “Good morning, gentlemen,” he
said as he entered the death chamber
“i have very little to say,” he mut
tered. “I hold nothing against any
one. I hope to meet the other boys
in heaven.”
Three ministers held services with
the men before they left their cells.
At 5:30 this morning the captain of
the guard read the death warrant to
the men. At 6:12 the first man was
led to the chair room, and within 50
minutes the triple execution was
ended.
The trio appeared to have slept well
during the night. A light breakfast
was given the men early in the morn
ing.
There were no relatives of the men
present. None cared to witness the
executions, but later they called at
the prison to make arrangements for
disposition of the bodies. Local un-
dctakers prepared the bodies for
burial.
Captain Roberts entered the death
house, with reportes, at 5:25, bis mis
sion being to read the death warrant
to the trio. “Boys, I have a very
serious letter to read to you,” the
Captain began, and then he proceeded
to read the formal warrant of death,
which declared that they should be
put to death in the electric chair be
tween sunup and sundown on June
16, “and may God have mercy on youi
souls.”
While the warrant was being read
to Fox and Gappins, whose cells ad
join, Rev. J. C. Abney, State Hospi
tal chaplain, and Rev. Murphy, to
gether with the prison chaplain, Rev.
J. W. Anderson, were holding a little
farewell service of prayer with Kirby
on the opposite side of the death
house. The reporters and Captain
Roberts stood respectfully aside until
the little service was over, and
prayer service was then held for Fox
and Gappins, while the penitentiary
guard captain read the warrant to
Kirby.
After the warrant was read to
Kirby, the captain told the doomed
man that he had a very short time
to live.
“I have a request to make,” said
Kirby.
“What is it?” asked the Captain.
“That yo« allow me to go out of
here of my own accord, without being
led by a guard. Papa has gone be
fore and mama has gone before me,
and the others will come on soon.”
Captain Roberts then told Kirby
how to cut his pants leg so that the
electrode could be properly adjusted
when he reached the chair. And the
doomed man was left to himself for
his last minutes on earth.
At 6:07 the first witnesses were
ushered ito the death chamber, and
at 6:10 the chair was tested. One
minute later Kirby entered the death
chamber, walking behind Captain
Roberts. In two minutes he was
strapped to the chair. Before being
strapped in Kirby wanted to make a
statement, standing before thq wit
nesses, but he was refused, this be
ing always allowed after the criminal
enters the chair.
When Kirby’s right arm was strap
ped to the chair, his left arm being
amputated several years ago, the man
began to nervously tap the arm of
the big oaken chair with his fingers
and continued this until the two body
straps were adjusted. He forced him
self forward in the chair, making it
hard for the officers to properly ad
just the straps. He then told the of
ficers that the right arm was too
tight, and that they should loosen
it, making some remarks about a
peculiar feeling that he always had
in that arm. A few moments later
he slipped his arm from the strap.
The officers again adjusted the strap,
and Kirby made a second attempt to
get his arm from the strap. An as
sistant then forcibly held the hand
against the oaken arm of the big
chair.
Kirby repeatedly resisted peaceful
efforts to have himself properly ad-
JHR WgEKLY NEWS REVIEW
Oregonians Catching Smelt In the Sandy River, In Their
#
Home State
View of some of the
thousands of Oregonians
who rushed to the Sandy
River in that state re
cently when millions of
any smelt swarmed up
he river to spawn. Peo
ple who were not prepar
’d with regular dipnets
ised birdcages, lace cur-
ains, mosquito bar and
>ther substitutes.
PAGING DOGGIE
Everybody’s Magazine.
The hotel manager
umped on a bell-boy for
vhistling in the lobby.
“Don’t you know that
t is against the rules for
n employe to whistle
vhile on duty?” he de-
nanded sternly.
“Ain’t whistling, sir,”
protested the boy. “I’m
paging Mrs. Rich’s dog.”
justed in the chair, and seeing his
efforts to resist authority, the offi
cers took the situation forcibly in
hand and preemptorily strapped him
down, depriving him then of the
privilege of making his final state
ment. With a rush he was strapped
tight in the chair and the current was
turned on. The first voltage entered
his body at 6:16. The switch was
held for one minute. The body was
examined, and the doctors requested
another shock. The 1900 volts were
again sent through his body, and five
minutes after the first shock the
leader of the murder gang was de
clared dead. It took ten amperes to
kill Kirby.
Kirby’s body was brought out and
stretched on the table in the ante
room, where the bodies are always
strapped, that the limbs may become
straight, after the effects of the elec-
.ric shock. The witnesses were then
escorted to the fresh air and a new
ludience was ushered in. In the lit
tle auditorium were a half hundred
faces, waiting to gaze for the last
time on the living form of young
Jesse Gappins.
With tears in his eyes the youngest
man of the trio entered the death
chamber and was • strapped to the
chair at 6:32. Superintendent Sart-
ders then asked him if he had a
statement to make.
“Gentlemen, all young men and old
ones too,” began the young criminal,
■‘I advise to keep good company. I
am here today to die, for keeping
bad company. If the truth were
known, and God knows it, I would
not be here to die today. If it had
been left to me, young Brazell would
have been living today. Let this be
a warning to everybody. You may not
believe what I tell you, but before
God it’s so; Jesus knows my heart.
I know lots of faces among you,” Gap
pins said, glancing around the room.
“Sargeant,” the young man in the
chair said to “Kitty” Sargeant, the
staff photographer of The Record,
“tell all my friends I said good-bye.
I have hot had justice. Jesus died,
after a perfect life. Good-bye every
body. Good-bye Sargeant.” v These
were the last words of the young
man, except a short and earnest pray
er, as he sat in the deadly chair, and
in the eyes of even the hardest in the
audience there were big tears.
“Stand by me, dear Lord, in my
last moments on this earth,” the
young criminal prayed; and then in
a quiet tone, for a whole minute,
.vithout interference from the execu
tioner, who waited as he prayed a
hand on the switch, the young mur
derer poured out his soul to God for
forgiveness. The officers waited, but
the best of earth’s privileges must
end, and the hand of the big prison
sargeant threw the switch, and a
powerful 13-ampere, 1900-volt cur
rent leaped through the huge frame
of the young lad.
It was two and three quarter min
utes and Gappins was pronounced
dead.
Fox, the man who stabbed Brazell,
of over 200 pounds averdupois, dra
matically entered the death auditor
ium at 6:47.
“Good morning, gentlemen,” he
said saluting the witnesses who sat in
front of him. At 6:48 he was asked
if he had a last statement.
“I have very little to say,” Fox be
gan; “except that I want to warn
all poor fellows out in the world to
live right; I’m sorry I got in bad
company; but I’m not good company.
I bear no malice for any one; I have
nothing to say against the other boys,
and I hope to meet them all in
heaven.”
At 6:50 the switch was thrown and
l he physicians had to call for a sec
ond shock, to make such that the big
man was dead. In four minutes and
seven seconds the “dead” signal was
given.
Three bodies were strapped to three
separate tables in the ante-chamber
of the death cell. Three lives had
passed out, in expiation of the most
deadly crime the state has known in
years. To dishonored graves were
carried three murderers and to the
people of the state a lesson is
taught; to the young manhood of the
state is sounded a warning, by the
clanging bell on the penitentiary
wall, a warning against violation of
law. The just and iron hand of the
law has closed, as it will close again,
on him who throws the laws of man
and of God to the winds. South Caro
lina’s worst drama of crime is ended
and to the great yonder have passed
its actors.
When C. J. Kirby, C. O. Fox and
Jesse Gappins, the famous “murder
trio,” went to the electric chair, they
paid the penalty for the most dast
ardly crime committed in the state
in many a year, the slaying of an in
nocent taxi-driver, who was murder
ed in cold blood on a lonely highway,
his body left in the dew, his mur
derers taking his automobile with a
view to its sale. For the first time
in the history of the electric chair in
this state, three white men went the
electric chair route the same day, and
for the first time since 1913 a white
man paid the death penalty.
Hundreds of people wanted to see
the electrocution, and made applica
tion to the penitentiary officials to
be admitted. It was thought that the
execution would take place shortly
before noon, as is usual in such
cases. Hundreds of people were
gathered at the prison gate at 11
o’clock today, expecting to get some
sight of the doomed men. But the
prison officials had thwarted the gaze
of the mobidly curious. The electro
cution was staged at 6 o’clock, and
nobody but a few officials, newspaper
man and members of the families of
the doomed men knew anything about
it. There was great surprise when it
was announced early in the day that
the three men had been sent to the
other world early. The sun had not
been up long, when he saw three
corpses brought from the death
house, Kirby, Fox and Gappins, and
South Carolina’s sensational murder
story was ended.
Young Brazell was murdered dur-
ng the night of August 7, last year.
The three men engaged his car to
ake them to Augusta, whence they
were to go to Florida, to sell the car,
after they had black-jacked the driver
ind left him on the oadside. The
young driver was black-jacked as the
party traveled through Lexington
county, but the blackjack broke. Then
to complete their job they had to put
the chauffeur out of the way. Kirby
devised the scheme of killing him.
He ordered Gappins to inflict the
death wound, but the young man re
fused. Then Fox was ordered and he
obeyed, the knife being jabbed into
the young Columbian’s body and
twisted around several times for each
operation. The body was thrown in
the underbrush near the road and
the three men proceeded on to Au
gusta.
After leaving Augusta a short dis-
trance, the men had tire trouble, and
stopping to get help, Kirby told of
their criminal act, and they were ar
rested. The next day, August 9,
Kirby was brought back to Lexing
ton and he assisted officers in find
ing the body of young Brazell. Later
he was brought to the penitentiary,
escaping efforts of a band of men to
get him.
Fox and Gappins were held in Au
gusta. A mob stormed the jail in an
effort to get them. Later they were
taken to Savannah, and thence in the
dead of night they were smuggled to
Charleston, and several days later
still they were brought to Columbia,
after a mob had searched trains and
automobiles and guarded roadsides
for days, in an effort to get hold of
the two men.
All three of the men confessed to
the killing. On the witness stand in
Lexington, when they were tried last
September, they told, unflinchingly
the horrible details of the crime, anu
then on September 14, they were con
victed and sentenced to the electric
chair, October 21 being set as the
date for their execution. All three
appealed, however, and their appeals
stayed their executions. The appeals,
without merit, were never perfected,
and on motion on May 23, they were
again sentenced to die, this time on
June 16.
And June 16 has come, and into the
eternal yonder the three men, who
brut-’lly killed another young man,
havt p: ased, their lives being wiped
out !>y the revenging arm of the law,
the future of their souls left to a
forgiving God.
Vain attempts have been made in
recent weeks to have the governor
save the lives of the prisoners. Pe
titions for their commutation hava
been presented in behalf of Gappina
and Fox, these signed by some of thv
jurors who convicted them. But tc
all these the governor turned a deat
ear, and the justice of the law was
maintained, and a crime that shocked
q commonwealth was respited.
NOTICE
The following is a list of districts,
giving assessments of real estate by
local boards and the raise by county
boards:
Local County Per
Bd. Bd. Cent
Florence, outside
$13.00
$17.99
30
Back Swamp, No. 3..
6.84
7.50
10
Jeffries, No. 4
5.75
6.60
15
Salem, No. 7
6.00
6.50
30
Lynch, No. 8
4.00
4.25
7
Cartersville, No. 10..
5.90
7.30
24
Center, No. 11
7.00
9.00
21.
Tans Bay, No. 14
6.94
7.40
/
Hannah, No. 18
6.27
6.80
28
Hyman, No. 19
6.60
7.00
6
Olanta, No. 21
6.25
7.00
12
Morris, No. 23
5.12
7.00
37
Brownville, No. 24..
5.34
6.00
12
Blossom, No. 25
4.59
5.00
10
Manheim, No. 30
3.65
4.00
10
Central, No. 33
5.00
5.65
13
Tabernacle, No. 36..
4.15
5.00
21
Elim, No. 87.
5.18
7.00
35
Cartersville, No. 38..
7.00
8.70
26
Cowards, No. 39
6.10
6.35
5
Big Swamp, No. 40..
4.77
5.45
15
High Hill, No 45
5.50
6.80
23
Johnson, No. 57
4.50
5.10
22
If any one wishes to protest against
the raise yiotify the county auditor at
once, that a date may be arranged for
a hearing.
J. D. DANIEL,
Ch. County Bd. Equalization.
O’Dowd Theatre
Today & Tomorrow
7— June 22-23
We Can Truthfully Say in Presenting William
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Children 15 and 25c. Adults 35c.