STRANGE EXECUTION

Greymouth Evening Star, 13 December 1922, Page 2

STRANGE EXECUTION

PARSON HANGS A MAN

Convicted of murder, Eugene Weeks was hanged by the. Rev- Winifred E. Robb, Sheriff, at De,s Moines, United States, and the reverend executioner was blessed by the man who stood on the brink of eternity. Mr Robb resigned his pastorate some time ago because of the many things his office of Sheriff required him to do, and of which some of his congregation did not approve. He conducted all the last minute arrangements of the execution, and, as he slipped the hood over the head of the condemned man, the prisoner said, “God bless you.” Weeks came from Hartford, Conn., and he was one of several young men convicted of murder in connection with the death of a Des Moines grocer. The Sheriff did not flinch at the execution, and when an incorrect adjustment of the rope permitted Weeks’ feet to touch the ground, he seized the rope and helped the prison warden to wrap it round a post so that the suffering of the man about to die would not be prolonged. When Weeks had been declared to be dead, the Sheriff walked out into another room, where he knelt in prayer. The, blessing which Weeks asked for his executioner was the only remark in which he showed any reverence on the day his life was ended. He had joked with everybody that morning, jibed at the judge who had sentenced him to death about his bald head, and asked the Sheriff to take him to the gallows early, as he said that he wanted to tell “those sightseers a few things.” He was therefore on the scaffold a quarter of an hour before the time fixed for his execution.

Telling those present to come closer if they wanted to hear what he had to say, he declared that another man who had been convicted in connection with the same murder was not with him on the fatal night, and should therefore not be hanged. He added that he himself was innocent. “They won’t hurt my feelings,” he added, “when they hang me. It is nothing to dread.” Up to the eve of the execution. the reverend Sheriff continued to receive letters urging him not to proceed with the hanging. These were part of hundreds which he had received from churchmen all over the country asking him not to act as executioner. He stated before he took this duty that some of the letters were from religious fanatics, who tried to frighten him by saying that he would burn everlasting in hell. This is the first time in America that an ordained minister has acted as executioner.