FROM DOCK TO SCAFFOLD.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume I, Issue 16, 31 December 1910, Page 4 (Supplement)

FROM DOCK TO SCAFFOLD.

HOW \ MAN CONDEMNED TO DEATH SPENDS HIS LAST FEW WEEKS ON EARTH. What happens to a man, condemned t > die on the scaffold, from the time he leaves the dock doomed, to the moment tlm small body <>f men enter ins cell one morning to inform him that, the hour has come tor the carrying out of the orders of the law? A condemned man lias a few privileges not accorded to other convicts. He may be allowed to smoke, he may b.* granted a lilt e brer on occasions, his lood may be just as he chooses, but all this greatly depends on the Governor of the prison.

A condemned prisoner is never left nhnie, dav or night : warders are always in the cell, and in the centre of the floor stands a small table, and on it rests a book. Tiiis hook must be carefully written up, for it must contain a complete account of all the con'•let's doings, his savings, his requests, nnd so forth. In short, it contains a detailed account of the convict’s life ii' the condemned coll, and nothing must be omitted.

NOT EXERCISED AVITH CONVICTS. Naturally this book makes very _mto”C?ting reading, hut ii is quite impossible to have a look at it, for after the execution is over th? book is carefully scaled, and is known of no more, rule's the Home Office, for some rea ■ son, desires to peruse its pages. A condemned prisoner does not go out to exercise with other c nvicts : he is taken cut quite alone when no inqu’sitivc eves may rest on him, and he is not paraded for Church service wit’; the of hers. He doe- not attend chapel. I’Ut he occupies a pew hv himself, and is screened off so that otli.r convicts wiiy not see him.

Sometimes a condemned man plays dominoes or draughts with the warders in charge of him it i« a ru'e to inJultro anv condemned prisoner so far as possible, bit* a daily p.ap-T he is not n’lowed to have, although he may read ns much as .he likes, hut only volumes from the prison library. He dm’s no work unless ho specially asks for it. nnd then h? is only given siu-h tasks ns do not ncc'cssitnlo the using of sharp tools in case of any attempt at suicide

A condemned man may ‘write and receive letters, and he mav see visitors, but never a’one—-a warder is alw.nvs present, and visitors the convict through a form of grille -they may neither touch nor kiss him. On the morning of the rxcrntim-i the pri oner is awakened early. Break-fast is given, and it c<ms;s's <>f what the doomed man desires. Afterwards Ire may snn-ke and await, the coming of the chnp’.ain. The la ter official is always in the condemned cell on tire morning of execution. THE FINAL MORNING.

Tn dur- t'mo the _ convict's ordinary (■liitli-'s are handed in, and these he is required to put on. hut no collar or ti? the suit of clothes. Thev arc not wanted, for the neck must not be cove ••cd up in nnv wav. Mit Inn few minutes of eight (.’clock r.r nine o cloen, a small 1- -h- of men rem'li the door of the coudcnintd cell - tb'.v are the officials entrusted with, thcarrying out of the law’s d-mands they enter tire coll; the convret stands on. am 1 is rsk.-'-l by on' part'cidar ofh nd i! lie is ‘‘John So-and-sa ’ On an affirmative answer Ic'ng . ivon rt dor-nnien*- has to be srened Lv o-re of the officials—this doci’ni nt is a rerent to the Governor of the ; r’-.m for delivering lip to the proper authorities the si-id ‘•'.John So-and-so's bmlv for regal exo u: mu A few preliminaries hav? to !>-. mure through uith-tlre prisoner, for in. st Hire, ,« nsk-’d if Ire Ims anxthin- to My, any roouests io make. The e--.--mifio’W"- i< Jie:> introduced , ?n d swifl’v tire prisoner's arms ar.-> pini-med. One’ nn the s-nfTo’d the Inreiiiore ‘"<m over the fe-’t are r.l-iced on i!> ■’ '■’i.'lked out works, the levs are d filv } HHcnod. the white inn is vhred j-.-, position th? rope is ad-nsf.-d w ,'tli runni>'g noose lying behind t'm h-fi v . )r Hre si-real is given, and the hirerenmi dors his part, and in a irinnw :,;'rer-wa-ds the execution is completed.