EXECUTION IN OPERA MOUSE.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXII, Issue 47, 20 February 1912, Page 7

EXECUTION IN OPERA MOUSE.

Accounts are published in New York of the execution of William Turner, a negro preacher, who, in order that the kinsmen of the man | lie killed, Jesse Singley, ,a promin- ; ent and wealthy planter, might comI fortably watch his death struggles, I was legally hanged in the Opera ! House at Jackson (Georgia). While the gallows were erected on the stage the relatives and friends of the murdered man, armed with special permits from the sheriff, took their seats in the boxes and in the front rows of the orchestra stalls. Originally it had been intended that Turner, who was a preacher of great influence among the coloured population of the town, should pay the death penalty in the prison yard, but, as the “World” correspondent explains, the heavy rain was excessively disagreeable to the spectators, so at the last moment Turner was driven through the streets to the Opera House, which was quickly surround- | cd by a mob clambering for admittance. After the family and friends of the planter, who was shot during a recent riot, had settled themselves comfortably in their scats, Turner was led to the stage. His .eyes, dimmed will age, roamed fearlessly over the audience. “This is your last chance have you anything to say?” the sheriff asked the condemned man.

“Yes, sir,” promptly answered the negro. _ “I have made my peace with God, sir. I want to say 'I did start that riot and tired tlie gun tiiat killed Mister'iSingley, sir.” A spectator in the front seat who had been glaring at Turner brought his palms fiercely together while the rest of the murdered man’s kinsmen shouted their satisfaction with the confession., Turner glanced calmly down and then proceeded; “I want to say, Mr.- Sheriff and gentlemen,- all that men of my race had better do what white men tell them; and, whatever else they do, let them keep away from the whisky. Yes, tell them, for Heaven’s sake, to steer clear of the whisky. That’s all, sir.” A trapdoor opened and Turner fell to his death beneath the stage. Five minutes later the audience dispersed noisily, congratulating one. another on tl.t- tact that Turner had confessed. *