148 Years Ago Today

[MaddieM]

(07-04-2013 08:16 AM)BettyO Wrote:  Since we're closing in on the execution date - thought I'd pull in some blurbs as to what was going on -

Since it was the 4th - the boys were given their usual hour in the prison yard at the Old Arsenal and perhaps were even given a bit longer to walk around and exercise.

Rath recorded that Powell played a game of quoits with himself and Spangler, "Three Days Previous" which would make the date on the Fourth of July. The other guys probably joined in as well.... Of course, the scaffold hadn't been built yet.

Hartranft states in his Letter Book that they were all given haircuts again on July 3rd..... perhaps in anticipation of the hanging which the Commission knew was imminent and fast approaching....





Portsmouth Journal of Literature and Politics July 15, 1865

I'm not sure I could 'play' anything knowing I was to hang. Makes you wonder how the human mind and heart copes in times of stress.