The New York Herald Newspaper, March 22, 1873, Page 3

NEW YORK HERALD, SATURDAY, MARCH 22, 1873.—TRIPLE ‘THE TOMBS.’ While they were snus in communion two deputies, Hanbury and Seebacher, entered and ré- Meved Deputics Brown and Gumbleton, who had been on the day watch at the prisoner's cell. In afew moments the two latter officers left, and their successors advanced, shook hands with the members of the group and greeted them kindly, “How do you feel to-night, Foster?” asked See- bacher as he held the prisoner’s hand. “Toleraply, thank you,” was the response, ut- tered witm spiritiess intonation. The hand was dropped. Mra, Foster, poor lady, pressed her handkerchief to her eyes. The oMcers involuntarily retired to their seats @ few feet distant. They felt it was sacrilege to intrude upon GRIEF 80 PROFOUND. “I pity that woman from the bottom of my heart,” whispered Hanbury. Seebacher leaned his cheek upon his hand and nodded meditatively, The night keeper, a gray- headed veteran named Orr, drew a deep breath and looked im the opposite direction along the dimly lighted corridor. He has seen @ score of pinioned convicts take leave of friends and march the short route to the scaffold; but there was something more here. -Whispered words; sighs drawn ‘rom the depths of strong. men’s souls; a woman's escaping sob that must be freed to save the heart from break- ing; low uttered endearments and farewells that seemed too sacred to be voiced aloud, and mutual commendations of souls toGod—the soul that s0_ soon must take its fight and the souls to be tested yet in earth’s flerce oryolble—these are the only sounds, se yee ‘The officers are mute, oppressed, and a heavy GLOOM OF DEATH impending stilla everything into a gravelike calm. The lamps shed a dim, sidelong light alomg the aon-tinted walls, the stove is heated to a glowing ‘red, and in this great mausoleum of the moral dead, with its three or four hundred red-handed, violent and crime-soaked occupants, the stillness of the tomb prevails for a little while. Again the sobs and soughings of the breath, and words half vocalized, and the great trial is JUSTICE! The Car-Hook Murder Expi- ated on the Scaffold. Ground Plan of City YHE LAST NIGHT WATCH. PTTL. ko A t oa [se ‘William Foster’s Farewell to Friends and the World. HIS PARTING FROM HIS WIFE. Affecting Scenes in the Prison Corridor. ‘A NIGHT IN THE TOMBS. ate yb TM 120g prea0ey = “s0pj4z09 a3 Th! rH The Prisoner’s Demeanor in the Cell, and on the Gallows. Centre Street [e) fe} fe) ; Elm Street Wall. Me a “Tre ¥I AM. NOT SLEEPY TO-NIGHT.” —— Gossiping in the Mausoleum of : the Moral Dead. (THE KEEPER'S STORY. Singular Reminiscences of Life : Among Social Thugs. ‘THE POMP OF PUBLIC VENGEANCE. The ‘March to Death and : the Final Scene. ‘A WARNING TO STREET RUFFIANS, The hands of the prison clock pointed to the hour of seven on Thursday night when a sharp rapping on the gates of the Tombs brought the solitary keeper behind the barred doors to his feet, and, keys in hand, he advanced to the portal. The Jocks grated harshly, the doors opened and were closed with a slam that reverberated through the vaulted apartments as two young, well built men, avith dark mustaches, stepped into the prison attice. “Good evenin’, Seebacher! How are you, Han- bury ?”” said the keeper. “Is it rainin’ still?” “Yes; raining and blowing in cold gusts,” re- sponded Seebacher, as he turned down the collar Of his coat and boxed his gloved hands together. “A real ugly night,” ejaculated Hanbury, the Mhorter man of the two, and the pair of deputy sheriff turned tothe right with the keeper and halted before a heavy barred door, with a lock as Jarge as a family Bible. A great brass key clanked Into the socket, the bolt groaned back and the two men passed beyond the’ bars into the prison yard, The door came back with a clattering clang and the keeper sat down again in his cushioned chair under the gaslight. A little group of five persons sat or stood in the vorridor of the main prison, close to the door of fell No. 5; 8 woman in dark habiliments, broken and limp with an overwhelming sorrow, a widow in reality, though the broad-shouldered, bearded man who sat beside her had joined his fate to hers at the altar. He was a man, @ mere individual man, for whose life @ great community had clamored for two long years, and the remaining trio of the group were his two brothers and the husband of his sorrowing sister. There was little conversat.on, and that little was lowly speken, for the sweetest music of creation, the human voice, is harsh when heartstrings are so tightly strained. They had come to sob out an eternal farewell to their husband and brother, the condemned William ighewsoa ( THE DRAMA OPENED ‘‘n drunken revelry two years before, and was now closing in anguish, degradation and death. Foster had only been drinking a little too much of that potent poison that so often Disturbs the chemic labor of the blood, ° Tickling the brute brain within the man' he had quarrelied with a stranger ana had killed Bim. It happened at night, on the 26tn of April, 1871, Avery D. Putnam, @ merchant, was in a street car, accompanied by two ladies, Mme. Duval and her daughter. Foster was @ passenger on the same csr, and in @ maudlin way insulted the ladies. They were travelling up Broadway. Mr. Putnam remonstrated with Foster and a slight ‘wordy quarrel resulted. Foster said, “I am going 93 far as you are, and when you get off this car I ‘will give you hell!” Mr. Putnam, with his escort, alighted at Forty-sixth street, and Foster, quickly seizing a car hook from its place near the driver, on the front platform, ran to the rear of the car and strack Mr. Putnam two blows and thereby fractared his skull. Mr. Putnam died two days a(terwards. Foster, who was arrested, never denied the assault, and upon trial in the following ‘month was convicted of murder in the first degree, the jury accompanying their verdict with a recom. mendation to mercy. The trial lasted sixteen days and at its conclusion he was sentenced by Judge Cardozo, in the Court of Oyer and Terminer, TO BE HANGED, Almost the whole civilized world is familiar with the details of the great legal straggie to save him that ensued. The judgment was stayed, and when n unsuccessful appeal terminated he was again sentenced to death. Another stay, and a higher appeal was taken. It resulted adversely to him, and he was again sentenced to be executed on the 7th day of the present month, { There was no further appeal, save a plea to the Governor for mercy—for commutation of the death sentence to life imprisonment. Foster's relatives were wealthy and influential. Some of them: had been intimate friends ef Governor Dix, in Paris, ‘when he represented the Republic at the court of Napoleon. Clergymen, lawyers, statesmen, doctors, people Of all classes petitioned in his behalf. Newspapers pleaded earnestly, even bitterly, to influence the executive action, and a respite of two weeks, ter- minating yesterday, was granted. He had been Cast off by his family, but in the hour of his peril, ‘which involved also their disgrace in a measure, they came to his succor with all the power they could control, ana the FRIENDS OF OTHER MURDERERS, ‘tried and untried, used their influence in his favor, for his fight was theirs also, But the Governor aid not yield. In the face of influences never before 80 powerfully wielded in behalf of a criminal he ‘Was steadiast in his determination that the people should be protected from street rufianism, and di- Tected that the law be vindicated. It was this crime and its coming punishment ‘that had assembled the sorrowing group on that blustering Thursday night in the prison corridor. ser ing, stammering measure, and the group rises. reached. ‘, “and now we-we-we-must go,” is heard in chok- REFER “Oh, Witlam!? The cry of a despairing soul swells along the hall and ascends away up through he tiers of iron and stone to the arching granite roof, and loving hearts and arms are entwined in & grasp born of affection and despair. The woman’s yielding form droops on the brawny husband’s breast, that throbs and quakes over tne volcano of burning anguish within. Tears, entreaties, prayers, farewells, sobs and moanings swell up from the tu- mult of there bursting souls, and men with bowed heads and eyes suffused with tears sob aloud and cluster about the loved and doomed one. A B C—Corridor of male prison. D—Foster’s cell, No. 5. E—Scaffold. F—Entrance to male prison. G—Bridge from court rooms to prison. H H—Court of Police Justices. I—Boys’ prison. ‘ J J J—Corridor of women’s prison. K—Vestibule of offices. SHEET, the Interior Prison. of the a Jail Yard. 1 a Jail Yard. THM 299NS TAU t ‘cepa ENCES. L—‘Bummers’ Hall’ (station house). M—Wagon entrance to jail yard. N—Visitors’ entrance. O—Entrance to women’s prison. P—Site of seventeen former executions. Dotted lines represent railings. Crosses represent route of ingress and egress. Circles represent pillars at Centre street front of the building. ‘The Sheriff's officers, lion-hearted men, who have three times before witnessed THESE DEATHLY PARTINGS, clench their teeth together and stand in silence, with averted gaze, to hide the tear-gloss in their eyes. The gray-haired keeper treads a-tip-toe to the door, and as he steps into the night air brushes his hand across lis eyes. He gazes at the inky cloud-pall overhead, regardless of the storm with- out, but fleeing from the tempest that is wrecking souls within. The tempest assuages, and Hanbury advances to offer the little succor that he may. He lays hands tenderly on the devoted wife, whose constancy is marvel even in the faithfal sex she adorns. The brothers close im an embrace of eternal farewell, and again, with a ORY OF YRARNING AND OF PAIN, the loyal woman chins to her love. A little longer, and, half halting, half returning, the stricken wo- man, upborne by kindly hands, with face upturned and arms swung -backward for another clasp, reaches the door. Seebacher is quickly at Foster's side, and touches him with a gentle touch, ‘born of sympathy, as though he were a woman. ‘The prison yard is reached. The door closes with @ slam, and her husband is entombed to her. Across,the cold gray @tones the mournful cortége treads, and now halismothered wailings seem to rend her breast. THE OLD KEEPER has joined them, and opens the clanking doors. There are fears that the crushed woman may suc- cumb, but she rallies, In afew moments the street is reached. The sidewalks are wet and the air is dismal, but she heeds none of these. She is kindly assisted into a waiting carriage with her brothers, and fleet horses bear her away—teo fast, perhaps— to the home where little ones await their father. What shall she ever say when they ask why he does not come ? The keeper and Hanbury return to the prison and close the doors, and exchange not a word as they tramp to the corridor. It. need not be ut- tered. click at long intervals of the watchmens’ tread as they patrolled with long, heavy step the prison buildings. “How does he seem?” asked a watchman of Keeper Orr, as the latter passed him. “Well, he’s quiet, but he’s doing too much think- ing, I'm afraid; it wears him fast,” was the re- sponse, from a voicefull of the deep music of hu- man sympathy spite of the uncouth ideal formed of the speaker's calling. And they went their ways. The scaffold was almost completed at this time, but the night was so dark that its outline could hardly be distinguished, and it was only by the gleaming of the yard lamps that any part of it was rendered discernible. A crowd of HALF-DRUNKEN ROYSTERERS passed along the street outside the prison, making night unbearable by their vociferations. A play- fl wrangle followed, and one of the number, with high-pitched voice, shouted, “Na, g’way from me, I tell ya, or I'll put @ hole in ya.” Wonder if he remembered that threat @ few honrs later, when the town was alive with the news of the fatal leap made by one whose threat ‘was less explicit, within that enclosure over whose wall the voice rang 80 Clearly? ‘And so the night sped past, with little events marking the intervals of repose, and the clock of Ola St. John’s spoke out the hour with musical- measured voice—“ene, two, three!” Five minutes before Foster had risen from his chair and said quietly, “I guess I'll go to bed now.” He bade the watchers “good night,” and stooped to enter the low, narrow door of his cell. In five minutes he was LYING ON HIS Cor, with his right arm thrown on the pillow. In an- other five he had forgotten the world ina deep sleep. His cell doors remained wide open, and the deputies moved their seats into such a position that they could see all that might transpire in the little apartment, When they were assured that his sleep was unfeigned the depaties relaxed their vigilance @ little and indulged in a short walk by turns. At last walking and smoking both became monotonous, and, while the convict slept away the fast-ravelling remnant of his life, they told stories germain to the occasion. . THE KEEPER'S STORY. Orr, the gray-headed veteran, with mild blue eye and kindly voice, who has spent over twenty years of his life among the partahs of the metropolis, crossed his legs and let himself down in his chair as he toyed witha pair of giant keys, burnished like gold from constant use. Some one asked, “Is he going out firm in the morning?” “Oh, yes! he will go out like aman when he is wanted,” replied Orr. “Most men, when the ‘ime comes, can brace themselves up for it. I’ve seena good many go out, and I never saw but one man back rignt down, and that was Friery. But, then, he was a bravado and a coward at the same time. Before he was wanted he used to jump around in the corridor, square off to box with most any one, and said he was going to die game and all that kind o’ thing. When he went out I was afraid he’d have to be carried, and after they got him out, so they tell me, he came near dropping on the platform. “Well, didn’t you see him hung?’’ asked one of the party. “Me! said the tender-hearted keeper, turning his thumb to his breast. “No; I never saw a man go up, and don’t want to. I a’pose I’ve seen more thana dozen of ’em go out, but it wasn’t neces- sary I should be there and I didn’t go to see it. I see enough here without that. I came very near seeing Friery go up, as I happened to cross the yard as he came out. I heard the click as they sent him up and I was close to the corner of the ‘ten-day house’ and dodged behind it. But, TALKIN’ ABOUT GAME MEN, that nigger, Thomas, was the gamestI ever saw. Why, right as he was going out, with his arms pinioned and all, he turned to me at the desk as he ‘was passing, held out his hand as well as he could, and said, ina right cheerfai tone, ‘Well, goodby, Mr. Orr!’ He was all quiet, decent courage; no braggadocio about him. He never said anything about his own gameness—he showed it.’’ “That was that yellow nigger, was’at it?’ “Yes, that was the one. But I tell you, new, Real had all the nerve that was wanted. He talked cheerful all night nearly, and along towards morn- ing he went eut in the yard with me and stayed out a couple of hours. He looked at the scaffold and spoke about it and walked up to it to look at it.” “When was this scaffold first used, and who made it?” “Well,” respended Orr, “Iam not quite certain, but 1 am almost positive that Nathan Gordon, the slaver, was the first man hanged on it. The old one had become rotten, and old Sam Atkins made this and used to put it up. He die¢, though, last year, and I think his son is putting it up this time. Old Sammy took a good deal of pride in making a good-working scaffold.’ “18 ISAA03 TO BE THE HANGMAN to-morrow?” asked @ man witha long mustache and imperial. “Isaacs, oh, no! he’s given it up, He's livin’ up in Harlem, and has thrown up the business. While he was at it, though, he liked it. There’s no use talking, he had a taste for that job; nothing pleased him better than to stand on the platform before the execution, when ®& crowd was round, ALL THE FAREWELLS are now taken. The prisoner's father had called, and with mutual forgivings anda heartfelt “God bless you! God bless you!” they had kissed for the last time. It was the unuttered benediction of the boy’s infancy—his manhood had not known the touch of a father’s lips upon his cheek—but now it came as the seal of affection to a life ebbing out. ‘Ike culprit’s mother never visited him in Prison—she is an invalid—and her kiss and bless- ing were brought to him upon a sister’s lips. And his children! two just budding into adoles- cent beauty, and two others, prattling, pretty, chubby boys ot five and seven years. “{ don’t want the children brought here,” he paid, “Let them think of me hereafter as they have known me—a@ father at home, not « father behind prison bars,” and his wish was respected. But on Wednesday last new photographs of the little ones were brought to him by his wife and he looked at them scores of times. He handed them around to the keepers ‘and to his friends and was pleased and proud at the compliments they evoked; for the compliments were not flatteries, the children are indeed pretty and show a mother’s nurture and affection. The gong in the prison yard rang out sharply about five minutes after the departure of his wife, and Keeper Orr admitted Rev. Mr. Walker, of Calvary church, a tall, slender gentleman of sallow complexion. THE CLERGYMAN HASTENED to the corridor, and his coming was timely in the extreme, for under the consolation of his counsels and conversation Foster gradually calmed his over- wrought feelings. The reverend gentleman re- mained nearly an hour with the culprit and then sped away to exercise the same kindly Christian office for the wife in her desolate home. “Ts there anything I can do for you—anything you would like ?”” asked Seebacher. “Nething, thank you; I feel more comfortable now,” responded Foster, and he lapsed back in his chair. For an hour scarcely a word was spoken; Foster was buried beneath an avalanche of meditation. An occasional cough or a change of his position in the chair, and nothing more. Now he looked fix- edly at the discolored walls, and at intervals his eyes were arrested by the Scripture text over the cell door facing his own, “THE LORD REIGNETH.”’ The deputies sat down on the chairs near him, but he evinced little or no desire to converse. Once or twice he opened conversation in reference to commonplace matters, but never once did he allude to his own position or to his family. All that was in the past—he was peering through the night into the eternal day. He stepped into his cell now and then, only to return to the seat by the stove after a few minutes’ absence, and his silence was so sombre that the hours passed monotonously with his watchers, Warden Johnston visited him towards midnight and shook hands with him and asked him afew commonplace questions, “About what time do you go to bed, Foster?” in- quired the Waraen. “Well, about ten or eleven o'clock generally; when I get sleepy,” replied Foster; “but I'm not Meepy to-night,” and he turned semewhat un- easily in his chair, as though sleep might never come. In this way the night wore on, and still the dark rain clouds hovered overhead and MADE NIGHT HIDEOUSLY DARK. There were yO sounds in the juil y.rd save the and handle the rope, chuck on it and measure it to his own ear.” “Did he do it because he was poor, and wanted the money?” “Oh! Isaacs, I guess, is tolerably comfortable. He didn’t want the money bad, but he took a pride in the job, and looked on himself ag a kind of pro- fessional.”? CIGAR SMOKE BEGAN TO PREVAIL once more in the atmosphere, and the deputies took a good look again into the cell and listened for the sound of the sleeper’s breathing. “I wonder how that poor woman, Mrs. Foster, is,” said the inquisitive man with the imperial. “Poor woman! I wonder,” said Orr. She is a model woman, she is, I was alarmed a little to- night for fear she'd faint in the yard goin’ eut; but then she was nothing like so bad to-night as she was Wednesday night. To-night she gave vent to her fee.ings, but on Wednesday night she smothered all her grief, and it was too much, She swooned right away, poor lady, and I was frightened. She became as cold as a stone, almost, and we had to bring her up to the stove and wrap her in blankets to bring her ‘round again. I hope she and her little enes will fare Well afterwards. Foster's father seems to be a kind sort of man and he told me that she and her children shouldn't want for anything, and I have faith jm bim that he will keep his word. God knows she has suffered ‘erribly, though innocent, for her husband, and the Foster family think more of her now than ever; and they ought to, too, for she is as noble 4 woman as ever breathed.” “YOUR RECOLLECTIONS OF CRIME must be remarkably varied,” said the curious atranger, ‘Oh, yes,” replied Orr, as he“jingled the great keys together; ‘my first recollection of this sort of thing is, when I was a little boy, seeing Rose Butler taken up Broadway in a cart to be executed somewhere about Broadway and Twenty-third street Ithink, She had fired @ house and some- body was burned te death. That's as far back as Iremember. Another execution I remember hear- ing about was of a man—I forget his name—who kept a boarding house in Fletcher street I think, He killed a man and dragged his body through Gouverneur street and flung It into the river. Sus- picion pointed to him, and when they found the body they took it into City Hall square and brought the suspected man up and made him touch it. He fainted right away. They had some story that if THE GUILTY MAN TOUCHED THE CORPSE blood would flow from the wounds again, or he would faint away, or something of that sort, and he dic. Well, he confessed to it, and they hung him, But I must go and take a look around.” And the old keeper walked quietly out into the jail yard, It was now four o'clock, and the sky was cleared of cloud, and the moon was pouring a flood of light upon the city. The groat half disc of blazing silver set in azure streamed its bright beams aslant the walls and tipped with its pale glory the beams and planks of the spectre scaffold. The milkmen’s wagons rattled up and down the streets without and the increasing noises of the great city told that the vast world was SHAKING OFF ITS SLUMBER, But the culprit slept soundly the sleep that was the “counterfeit presentment” of the great slumber that was so soon to envelop him. Another hour passed, and the street car bells Jingled merrily in the crisp, frosty air, but all was calm and still inside the walls. Daylight stole noiselessly in, but noisy humanity was astir, and the rumble of life told plainly that the faved morn- ing was coming up to peer with flushed face o'er the verge of the sinning world, Six o'clock came. ‘Without, the dawn was blanching on the cold granite walls. Morning was breaking from a troubled, clouded sky. The air was chill, and circled mournfully around the nooks and crannies of the prison yard. Standing by the double door, the entrance to the male prison, skyward or earthward the same cold, neutral-tinted gray prevalied. It was truly cheer- less and unsuggestive of a single gleam of hope, Still the doomed man slept, as the day grew on raw and gray, The place was very still. To the right THE SKELETON OF THE GALLOWS showed against the wall of the female department ofthe prison. The scene within, with all its night and shadows, was preferable to the heartless light without, The cold caught the fingers that grasped the door. Turning to the left and quietly reaching the rectangle that led to the jailer’s office the only sound that fell upon the ear was the whirr ef the pigeons that nest within the Tombs, In vhe office all was quiet. The jailer seemed in @ brown study, for pe mechanically jingled and fingered his great brass keys as he sat there, The outer door was still heavily tocked, and the feeling grew that it would be a blessing to go outside and gulp one draught of morning air that had touched something of life, Tosit there and count the tickings of the clock was painful in the extreme. SIX O'CLOCK rang from the bells of St. John’s, and already the active world that wanted te know of Foster's doom had sent its news gatherers to the door. A couple of reporters stood outside. As the clock struck one of them tapped at the wicket. There was athird person there, an old man, who was asking one of them to arrest him. He was ruined, he said, RUINED BY RUM, and wanted to be put somewhere that rum could a a, not reach him. Told that the person requested could not oblige him he moved disappointedly ‘Sway and stovd in a half melancholy delirium look- ing up and down Centre street, The prison door opened and the reporters were admitted. Warden Johnson, who had himself watched through the night, was in tne office. Old Mark Finlay, the long time Deputy Warden, was there, too, It was curious to mark bow, ap the light from the sky grew brighter, _ THR TOMBS PUT ON ITS GARB OF LIFE. The gas lighte grew pale. The Warden brushed his uniform coat carefully and spoke about @ boot black, Every few minutes the knocking was heard at the wicket, and at last the doors were fung open. It was not then more than half- past six o'clock. A murmur came out that Foster was still asleep. It evoked @ host of questions from the reporters, who jotted down the best in- formation they could find. In scraps or lumps it Was all the same, and would weave into the story each was charged to write, They chatted and Many laughed and joked as if it were 4 WEDDING AND NOT A HANGING that was only a couple of hours of. A tramping and shuMing of feet stirred a momentary attention, which goon relapsed. It was only the human scourings of the streets of the Sixth ward brought in to wait their short, summary trials at the Tombs Police Court. It was the ‘morning watch” to be disposed of by the Justice upstairs. There were many women, most of them hard-faced and brazen and bearing the marks ot debauch in bleared eyes and battered countenances, One who spoke to the oMcer having her in charge had the coarse voice efa man. One woman, nearly forty years of age and diminutive in stature, was dressed in faded mourning, and tried to hide her face as she fol- lowed the mtsérabiles into the prison, The report- ers, who see a similar group daily at the Tombs, did not even refer to the matter, but, after a glance at them, turned to their note-taking and their chat. About this time the two Deputy Sheriffs, Dunphy and Daly, who were to watch THE LAST TWO HOURS OVER FOSTER, came in spruce and fresh looking. As soon as the jast prisoner of the night had gone in, the Warden led the assembled reporters out across the first yard and up to the gibbet, Tha rope was not yet run through the pulley at the top, and in the boarded-off corner, where the rope Would be cut and the heavy weight hung, there was still some work demanded. The newsgatherers wandered up and down the yard picking out pieces of interest in the scene and the reminiscences it called up. It did not take long to gather all these. The strained glance towards the prison, whence it was once more announced that FOSTER WAS SLEEPING, completed the survey, and the reporters were con- ducted back to the office. It was now just seven o’clock and the unprofessionals who held passes were dropping in oddly. Reporters, toe, came in as if all journaldom were determined to know how Foster would die. Father Duranquet came in with @ brisk step anda sad face and was at once ad- mitted to the prison, The people in the office strayed out on the steps facing the uncouth pile of red brick on the north side. SUPERINTENDENT KELSO drove up ina carriage about ten minutes later, but did not alight at the Tombs, The hum of the awakening city was heard, and working girls pass- ing by the gate hurried on, casting a side glance into the hall. Even then a few idle boys had gath- ered on the curbstones, and the horn of the fish- sellera streecortwo away called the mind back to the origin of the custom which DEVOTED FRIDAY TO EXECUTIONS, It was the day of fasting and sorrow in honor of the God-Man who died on Calvary for humanity upon a Friday nearly nineteen hundred years ago. Each minute brought iresh accessions to the ranks of the waiting throng. The un- professionals ranged themselves along en queue as at a theatre, while the reporters affected superiority by circulating threugh the large office on the left-hand side as you enter from tne street, Artists from the illustrated weeklies were there also, and save afew who were engaged “writing up” the matter for the afternoon papers all the professionals moved restiessly about, Thus an- other hour wore on, Before eight o’clockit was announced that the doomed man was awakevand dressing, A few minutes past cight A HEAVY, REGULAR TRAMP WAS HEARD, and 150 policemen filed into the prison in charge ef Superintendent Kelso. It was stilia wearisome time waiting there, with the crowd of passholders swelling, and in @ mass crushing cach other for precedence, so that the police were obliged to in- terfere and maintain decorum, in appearance at least, FOSTER AT THIS TIME had risen and dressed. He had slept soundly for about four hours and three-quarters; for Nature asserted her demand for recuperation of the forces that the strain upon the deepest emotions known to pitiable man had wasted. His sleep was 80 deep that it was necessary to arouse him at last, This was done gently, and Foster, after rubbing his eyes dazedly for a moment, gave @ deep groan and sank back for an instant. HE WAS DEADLY PALE and looked more ghastly in the dim daylight of his cell. The truth had rushed to his soul in an in- stant. He had been sleeping his last few hours on earth away, and he seemed in his horror already to feel the clammy touch of death around his heart. Rousing himself up, however, he got out of bed and made his toilet with the occasional kindly assistance of the keepers, He had weakened terribly, and the deputies and keepers shook their heads and spoke in whispers. They feared it might be necessary to carry the wretched man to the scaffold. HIS BREAKFAST WAS BROUGHT HIM, a light one, and he ate sparingly. His manner was excessively nervous, and his hands trembled as he brought the cup to his lips. FITTING THE ROPE. Durtng this time the assistants without had been as noiselessly as possible stretching the awnings, one above the scaffold itself and the other pendent from the ‘bridge of sighs’ across the yard. The object of this, it will be remembered, is to screen the execution from those who might endeavor to look on from the upper stories or roofs of buildings near the Tombs. The ruaning rope was passed over the pulley in the beam, the great weights poised in the air, and the cutting rope laid along the plank and fastened to the cleat. The mattress to deaden the sound of the falling weight was placed in its position. This work, it may here be said, was quickly and well done. Foster heard Rothing of it, but its progress was marking time upon his heart, and he would stop for an instant in his meal and then again begin, as ifto distract the poignancy of his thoughts. He ceased eating, and the tray was removed. He sat still and silent, with the horror creeping upon him. After a moment TNE TRAMP, TRAMP, TRAMP of the police entering the prison yard is echoed from the duli granite walls and smites in upon the bitter thoughts of Foster. Stirred by a sudden re- vulsion he leans forward, then, to the astonish- ment of the lookers-on, starts up as if he had been poisoned. The most delicate dish that ever chef concocted would have been like poison to him then, The sudden shock of the ominous tramp on the butning brain acted on the stomach and he vomited several times until HE FELL BACKWARD » with whitened cheeks, bluish, quivering lips and glassy eyeballs sunk far intotheir sockets. It was a horrible sight. A messenger was despatched for Dr. Vandewater, wht, at once penetrating the cause of the sudden sickness, was nevertheless astonished at the picture of agony and fear which Foster Presented, A little warm coffee was administered, and by degrees the doomed man’s face came ba to a look of life. Supporting him on either side, he was walked up and down‘ the cerridor fora few minutes. Towards half-past eight the venerable Dr. Tyng, who had taken such deep interest in the case, entered the prison, accompanied by the tail, spare, young minister, the Rev. Mr. Walker, Fos- ter now entered his cell with the clergymen, and remained iistening to them for about haif an hour, and speaking but little. THE OTHER MURDERERS, ‘The tramp of the policemen as they entered the yard rung, however, on other ears than Foster's with terrible effect, On the Wer above bim are the cells where the other murderers are confined.’ They were called up as usual and given their breakfasts, but were again locked closely up, nor permitted to take their usual exercise st eight o'clock. What the presage was which filled their minds then cannot be told; but they felt every step that rung on the fags as though the heels were tramping on thelr hearts and crushing out the hepe to which, one and all, they cling. AS half-past eight Sherif Brennanvand twenty of his deputies, carrying their staves, passed through the oMfce into the prison yard and thence into the corridor of the male prison, where they were RANGED NEAR THE CONDEMNED CELL in two lines, facing each other. There they waited, talking in subdued whispers, while the man about te die listened within te the earnest appeals of his, aged spiritual adviser. During this time the crush in the outer office wag becoming greater every minute, and at about five, minutes to nine o'clock those having passes were requested to produce them and file in through they gate. This was accomplished without any un~ necessary delay, and the crowd was soon pushin, close behind the double line of police termed across the yard FACING THE SCAFFOLD, immediately on the north side of the entrance fromj which Foster was to pass, Exception to this rule of keeping the spectators back of the door waa made in favor of the preas, for whose use threq rude benches were placed by the scafold on the Elm street side, At nine o'clock exactly Sheriff Brennan and Under Sheriff Joel 0, Stevens entered’ the cell and the clergymen came out and stood silence on either side of the door. . THE PROCESS OF PINIONING THE ARMS was submitted to by Foster with all meekness, ang the warrant was read. The face of the doomed man, now resumed its ashy paleness; the noose was rap< idly adjusted, with the knet uncer the left earg the black cap was placed loosely upon his head, and the awful toilet for the gallows was complete. Fos« ter was dressed in a black frock coat, with @ Cardl4 gan jacket beneath, and black pants. The solemm procession to the gallows was then formed, Firs§ went THE TREMBLING AND FEEBLE CONDEMNED, supported on his left by sheriff Brennan and om his right by Under Sheriff Stevens. The two clery gymen followed and then the Deputy Sheriffs, twq and two. ‘The sun had burst forth in all the genial light of his Springtime splendor. White, feecy clouds moved slowly across the deep blue of the sky. Ay gentle breeze was blowing. Not much of tha heavens, it is true, could be seen from the prison yard; but what was visible seemed A MOCKERY OF THE AWFUL SCENE about to be enacted, and with which the gray gran< ite of the looming prison walls was so much better keeping. From the seats for the press the scena was striking. The yard is long, but narrow, and in north of the male prison door it seemed packed with human beings, to the number of 600 or 600, Tha policemen lined the walls south of the scaffold, an@ those across the yard, on account of their heigh' cut off the view of most of the curiosity-seeke! who stood behind. Ever and anon as the sun from behind a fleecy ctoud its effulgence glinte over the throng, burnishing whatever was brigh with its glad rays. A strange silence prevalled,| which was first broken by THE SOFT COOING OF THE PIGEONS which perched upon the windows and ventilators of the prison, The crowd waited with. bated breat! It was evident that the sacrifice of life to law waa athand. At twelve minutes aiter nine the prison door was suddenly opened, and Dr, Nealis, tl ‘Tombs surgeon, accompanied by ‘his asalétant, Dr; Vandewater, and Drs. Budd, Marsh and Robinson, walked quickly to the side of the gallows., The pro< cession now came slowly ferth in the order alread: described. Alow marmar, like Wind among Autum leaves, passed over the throng. Every civilian rea moved his hat, ana then silence reigned againg The wretched man’s face in the sunlight looked yellowish white. HE WALKED FALTERINGLY, as if the @trong arms of the Sheriff and his depu' were needed to help himon. His head droope upon his breast, and the biack ribbons upon the Diack cap fluttered a little in the breeze. reaching the gibbet the man om the verge of éverhity was gently Tound so as te face tha spectators. Lost to life as he was, he dia not seen lost to shame, for he immediatcly raised his left hand to his face and shaded it by RUBBING HIS BROWS. The Rev. Dr. Tying, in @ clear voice, then come menced to read the Episcopal service fer the con< demned, and the tall, spare, young minister gave tha responses. As the awful self-accusing words wera recited the doomed man bowed his head still morey Atthe end of two minutes his weakness visibly increased. His limbs trembled as with palsy, and A FAINT BUT AGONIZED GROAN escaped from his lips. His left hand still nervously rubbed over his eyes and his body began to sway toand fro more painfully still. In gazing on hi agony the words ofthe service became an intol« erable monotone. The strong frame of the man, broken with unutterable despair, as it swayed like @ reed in the wind and trem4 bled in every nerve, excluded all things else from the mind that could appreciate. the unspeakable misery rolled into those fast« ebbing moments of his life. For five minutes tha reading continued, and Foster's weakness had so increased that Sheriff Brennan whispered sharply, to Dr TMG, | u's 100. 10N0." The reverend gentleman indeed brought the sere vice to @ sudden close, and, turning quickly to Foster, grasped his right hand and hurried away,, overcome with emotion, followed by his assistants. He who has stood by a gallows tree can alone tell the nature of the. moment that follows when, the clergymen gone, the imminence of death seizes one with enthralling awe. The seconds to the on-looker seem whole minutes; but to the con- demned, what are they? Sheriff Brennan went through the hand-grasping formality, Ali was done A8 EXPEDITIOUSLY AS POSSIBLE to shorten the misery—that is, to shorten the life, for life then was @ misery almost too deep to bear. The black cap was pulled over the face, A tremor ran through the miserable creature's tottering clay, The executioner, a nimbie-fingered, dark< eyed, stout built, medium-sized young man, stepped, forward instantly and linked the noose to the rope that dangled from the beam.- A glance showed that it still hung slack. One second’s pause in perfect silence, @ handkerchief waved, the sharp sound of a@ falling axe, and at eighteen minutes past nine . FOSTER’S BODY PAIRLY LEAPED INTO THE AIR, The legs were jerked up to the bedy convulsively,, and opening wide as they relaxed, the heels came together with a sharp click. The left hand was also thrown upward, but fell immediately by his side. In the first half minute following there were five distinct nervous writhing motions of the trunk. After these there was no sign of struggle. The cervical vertebra were evidently dislecated by the shock. After hanging five minutes the body was lowered that the doctors might examine for signs of life. At twenty-seven minutes past nine @ faint trill was felt in the pulse, At thirty min- utes past nine pulsation ceased at the wrist. At thirty-three minutes past nine the heart had ceased beating, and justice had EXACTED THE FULL PENALTY for the murder of Avery D. Putnam, Such were the physicians’ reports as they stood taking turns in listening at the breast of the thing of clay. But the crowd were wild with excitement. After the first shock the line of police moved closer to the scaffold, and the throng behind pressed close upom them. Necks were craned to catch a glimpse of the sight of sname. Men ELBOWED AND SHOVED EACH OTHER, and a loud buzz of conversation arose, half im anger and half in comment on the clay that once was @ murderer and long before that again the carefully nurtured child of opulence, withou§ @ stain upon his name. The Sherif beyeree | the jury to aroom in the female prison, diately behind the scaffold, and they passed, som heedlessly and some with @ shudder, by wha fifteen minutes since was @ man. The Coroner’ inquest was @ short matter and Coroner Yor | CONTENVER_OM TOT ZAG