H A N G E D
---------
Steve Clark and Will
Gatlin Pay Extreme
Penalty.
---------
BOTH DIED GAME
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Many Persons Witness Hanging of the Two Murderers. Clark Hanged First.
The Daily Republic
Vol. 1 POPLAR BLUFF, BUTLER COUNTY MISSOURI, FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 1903
The first hanging in Butler county for twelve years took place this
afternoon at 2 o'clock, when Steve Clark, the murderer of Pearl Clark, paid
the penalty of his crime by being hanged. At 1:55 the march to the scaffold
began, headed by Sheriff James R. Hogg, followed by W. C. Yost, John Cox
and Lennis Hogg. At 1:56 the black cap was adjusted, and in four minutes
more Steve Clark hung at the end of the rope.
The body twitched and contorted for 11 � minutes, and was dead at 2 15�,
and was cut down at 2.23. His neck was broken. So tender was the flesh that
the rope cut his neck on the left side just below his chin. He talked a few
moments and declared himself not guilty of the crime of murder in the first
degree, but admitted to have done an awful act while insanely angry.
He was cut down and the body placed in a coffin and conveyed to the court
house. He requested that his body be buried beside that of the woman he
murdered. He forgave all and went out of the world with no felling toward
any one. He was dressed in the same black suit he has worn continually
since his imprisonment, blue striped shirt and no collar.
The second hanging was close upon the first, and at 2:40 Will Gatlin headed
by Sheriff Hogg and Rev. Fr. O'Flaherty, followed by a force of deputies,
began the march.
Gatlin mounted the scaffold in a steady step, and proceeded to talk, pray,
preach and pray for 34 minutes.
At 3:12 the black cap was adjusted and at 3:14 the body of Will Gatlin was
jerked to eternity. Gatlin talked at length upon religious lines, and the
history of his crime. He paid a few parting words of an inflammable sort to
Pat Hill, one of the witnesses for the prosecution.
Gatlin was perfectly composed, and seemed anxious while in jail for the
time to go.
He was dressed in his train porter uniform of blue-black clay worsted,
fancy silk vest, white shirt, lay-down collar and black string tie.
----------------
CLARK'S CRIME
The crime for which Steve Clark paid the extreme penalty demanded by the
laws of the land is still fresh in the minds of most of the people of
Poplar Bluff and Butler county. Steve Clark was a professional gambler and
pimp, who "toiled not, neither did he spin," but lived a life of apparent
ease and leisure. It was very necessary that some one furnish the money
upon which he might lead a life of idleness.
In the woman he so foully murdered he found the coveted one. Pearl Clark
was a prostitute and conducted a house of prostitution in a two-story
yellow frame house in the southwest corner of the city, and Steve Clark
lived with her as her husband, or rather, to use a common phrase among that
class of people, as her "lover." He was clothed, fed and furnished with
money at the expense of this poor, ignorant, degraded woman. He encouraged
her loathsome profession by pimping for her resort, and thus did his share
to assist her in her nefarious vocation, in order that he might evade
"earning his bread by the sweat of his brow."
In the course of her affairs it was necessary for her to look and act sweet
on all men who might be caught in her web. To this Clark acquiesced until a
"green-eyed monster" appeared, in the personage of one Ed Lewis, and Iron
Mountain railroad brakeman. At first the wary smiles of the woman toward
Lewis were regarded by Clark as being "legitimate" and strictly in the line
of business; but the smiles and glances became too serious to suit Clark,
who had begun to notice the waning of his erstwhile reigning star, and then
it was that murder began to take a foothold in the bosom of this fiend
incarnated Steve Clark and the woman, who went to her grave as a human
sacrifice to his love and lust, began to quarrel; he in an effort to
maintain his easy living, and she to rid herself of a burden which had
grown tiresome for her to carry.
Their quarrels were at first only trivial, but time soon worked them into
matters noticeable to the other inmates and habitues of the resort. Clark
realized that his star was on the wane and that the pleasant smiles an d
gallant attentions of Lewis toward "his woman" were having a-telling
effect, and to one who had sunk so low in the mire of human degradation it
was but natural that he attempt to curb the tide. But he had waited too
long, for the love of the woman who had supported him for the many years
past had flown and had found a safe resting place in the bosom of another,
Ed Lewis. Several times Steve and Pearl Clark had quarreled, and finally he
forbade her ever speaking to Lewis again.
In order to pacify him, and possibly realizing what desperate efforts he
might resort to, she promised him she would have done with Lewis. This
seemed to be a balmy oil for a troubled sea, and their friendly relations
were again renewed. This lasted for several weeks, when on June 25, 1901,
Steve Clark saw Lewis and Pearl Clark talking together near the Iron
Mountain freight depot. He went to where they were standing and created
quite a disturbance in reprimanding the woman and warning the man against a
repetition of the event. The woman finally induced him to desist his
demonstrations and return home with her, promising fidelity and all things
good. He agreed and the two left the scene of the encounter between Clark
and Lewis and returned to her resort, where Clark told the woman that he
would positively kill her should he ever find her in the company of Lewis
again. She promised him his words should be law, and that she would obey
his mandates.
But a prostitute's word is no better than her morals, and as a consequence
that same afternoon Clark found Lewis and Pearl Clark in a wine room in a
south end saloon. It was like flaunting a red flag in the face of an
enraged bull. On the impulse of the moment Clark seized a large iron
cuspidor, which he attempted to use on the wrecker of his happiness, Lewis,
but before he could put his murderous intentions into execution he was
looking down the barrel of a large revolver, which Lewis had pulled in his
defense. Lewis did not shoot, more is the pity, but forced Clark to drop
his weapon and retire.
The woman, realizing the awful condition of Clark's mind, soon left Lewis
and returned to her home. In the meantime Clark came up town and attempted
to borrow a revolver from several of his acquaintances. He was
unsuccessful, and failing in this he returned to the home of the woman and
procured a large butcher knife and again returned up town, where he whetted
the blade to razor-like sharpness and returned to the house, with one
thought raging in his poisoned mind - that of murder.
Without a word to any of the female inmates, or their male friends, he
walked through the house with his murderous weapon encased in his trousers
between the waistband and shirt. Pearl Clark was drawing a bucket of water
from a well in the rear of the house. He walked up to her and told her to
get ready to die, as he was going to kill her. The woman regarded it as
only a mad raving, and told him to go into the house and let her alone.
That was the straw that broke the camel's back, and without another word he
drew his death-dealing knife from its place of secretion and plunged it
into her breast, just over her heart.
Throwing her arms around him and her eyes to Heaven, she begged him in the
name of God to spare her life. Seeing that her entreaties were vain, she
then imploringly called to some men and women sitting on a porch, "For
God's sake, are you going to sit there and see me murdered?" But one glance
from the fiendish eyes of this human devil was sufficient, and as if by
magic they vanished and left the heartless murderer and his helpless victim
alone.
But the work of this brute in human form had been accomplished, and
writhing in her own blood at his feet lay the dying woman who had
sacrificed her virtue, her honor and her all, that he might live a life of
absolute ease and leisure. After all had left, the awfulness of his hellish
deed dawned upon his inflamed mind, and he made a feeble attempt at self-
destruction. But it was only a half-hearted one. Taking a small penknife,
he inflicted an abrasion of the skin, just over the heart, and then lay
down near the body of his victim, who was then cold in death, and awaited
the awful results.
The news of the tragedy soon reached the ears of Chief of Police John
Harding, who post haste repaired to the scene, where he found the lifeless
body of Pearl Clark lying in a pool of blood, and not far from her lay the
blood-stained knife that had but a few moment previously been the means of
sending her soul before the judgement bar of God, without a moment's time
in which to prepare to meet her Maker. Not far away lay the red-handed
murderer, rolling and tossing and praying that God might relieve him of the
awful predicament into which he had maliciously plunged, by letting him
die. But while the troubles of Pearl Clark were over and her soul had
winged its flight to the merciful God who gave it, the life and death
struggle of Steve Clark had only begun. He was arrested by Mr. Harding and
taken to the county jail, where he suffered for several days from the self-
inflicted wound. His wound was dressed and he was soon nursed back to good
health. An information was filed against him before Judge A. S. Armstrong,
justice of the peace, by Prosecuting Attorney D. W. Hill. He was arraigned,
pleaded not guilty, and held to await the action of the October term of the
Butler county circuit court. He was placed in jail, where for nineteen
months and twelve days he remained, secluded from the rays of the sun, the
ravages of the wintry blasts, except to go to and from the court room where
his fate was fixed and his doom sealed.
At the October term circuit court, 1901, he was summoned to appear before
the court, and plead, answer or demur to a charge of the gravest crime in
the annals of Butler county. With steady step and a brazen countenance he
walked into the court room, guarded by two officers, and said, "Not
guilty," when told of the crime which he was charged with having committed.
Judge fort then asked him if he had employed counsel to defend him, and he
replied he had not, and asked the court to supply him with legal talent
necessary to fight for his miserable life. Judge Fort, realizing the
importance of the trial, and wanting to give the prisoner at the bar every
chance to purge himself of the terrible accusation, appointed Hon. S. M.
Chapman, Judge L. R. Thomason and Hon. John H. Raney, three of the best
lawyers in the state of Missouri. The fight for life with Steve Clark was
then on, and it proved to be a battle between legal giants, with d. W. Hill
for the prosecution and the three above named lawyers for the defense.
A special venire was issued to Sheriff Henry Turner, for forty jurymen,
returnable on the 18th day of October, when the battle that meant so much
to Steve Clark was to begin.
Of the forty jurymen the following were chosen and accepted: J. W. Wood, W.
P. Gross, Wes Kearby, J. G. Riley, A. J. Huskey, J. C. Lucy, James D.
Hendrickson, C. A. Hoskins, Albert Miller, John Macom, John A. Hayes, and
W. J. Randles. After listening to the almost blood-curdling testimony of a
large list of witnesses, after one of the hardest fought legal battles ever
witnessed in the Butler county court house, where every technicality known
to the legal profession was taken advantage of, and after listening to the
grand display of oratory on behalf of the defendant and on behalf of the
people and society, and after listening patiently to the long and numerous
pages of instructions by the court, the jury repaired to the seclusion of
their room, with the life of Steve Clark closer and closer to the scaffold,
where he would, and to-day was, compelled to atone for one of the foulest,
most inhuman, diabolical and unmitigated murders ever recorded upon the
annals of the criminal history of Poplar Bluff. The jury was composed of
representative men of the county, who were not inclined to act hastily, but
who believed that in all cases justice should be done. They were out all
night, when they arrived at the following verdict:
"We, the jury, find the defendant guilty of murder in the first degree, as
charged in the information. "JOHN A. HAYES, Foreman."
The prisoner was sent for, and walking erect and defiantly, he marched
between two officers to the court room, where he heard the words which
meant so much to him read out by the clerk of the court. Without a quiver,
or the least sign of emotion, he accepted his fate, and seemed to look to
his lawyers for protection. He was remanded to jail, where he remained
until the latter part of the term of court, when he was again ushered
before the tribunal, to show cause why sentence should not be passed upon
him. There being no apparent cause, Judge Fort, in solemn through distinct
tones, said: "The jury have found you guilty of murder in the first degree.
The penalty is death, and it is therefore the order of this court that you
be taken by the sheriff to the county jail and there safely kept until
Friday, December 10, 1901, when he shall take you to a place in the jail
yard, arranged as the law directs, and at the hour of 2 o'clock in the
afternoon of said day, hang you by the neck until you be dead."
The attorneys for the defense then asked for a new trial, which was denied.
They then filed a motion for an appeal to the supreme court of the state,
and were given twenty days I which to file their bill of exceptions. They
complied, and the case went to the supreme court for a final hearing. By
some irregularity, the case went over to the last October term of the
supreme court, when it was taken up and the decision of the lower court
sustained, and the date for the execution set for December 19, 1902.
An appeal was made to Governor Dockery for an extension of time, and a
respite was granted to January 16, 1903. Afterwards another appeal was made
to the Governor, asking for the second extension of time, in order that
Clark and Gatlin could be hanged on the same date. It was granted, and to-
day the curtain was run down on one of the most brutal tragedies of life,
where two souls went before their Maker as a result of love, lust and
intemperance.
The witness who testified in Steve Clark's life and death struggle were
Maggie Dawson, Ed Bone, Amanda Sloan, W. Clemmons, Ed :a;ard, John Harding
and Henry Turner, for the prosecution, and James Young, M. James, Joe
Kennedy, T. J. Roberts, Lou Burnham, Mr. Atkinson, Steve Clark and Jake
Kerns, for the defense.
----------------
GATLIN'S CRIME.
The history of the crime for which Will Gatlin was hanged to-day could be
summed up in two words - wine and women - as is usually the cause with such
for the law being compelled to treat such desperate cases with such
desperate remedies.
For several years there dwelt in Poplar Bluff a mulatto woman named Carrie
Bryant. She was a bad woman in more ways than one. She was a prostitute,
going forth seeking whom she could ensnare in her hellish net. For some
time previous to the murder for which Will Gatlin to-day paid his life, she
had been living with a colored man named Tom Graham, in the southwest part
of the city, the next house south of where Steve Clark committed his awful
deed. Carrie Bryant enjoyed considerable popularity among the tough class
of young colored men in the city. She became enamored with a colored boy,
Zeb Crite, a boot-black in the Quinn barber shop, and when not watched by
Graham she would manifest her admiration for Crite. Graham soon learned of
the secret intimacy going on between Crite and his sweetheart, and on one
or two occasions engaged Crite in a quarrel, and it is alleged threatened
his life unless he desisted from the marked attentions he was paying the
Bryant woman. Crite was in love with her, and the thought of giving her up
was the most foreign to his mind; to the contrary, he began to devise ways
and means whereby he could in some manner outwit Graham and have the
affections of the woman all to himself. He learned that a colored fellow
named Will Gatlin, who was employed as porter on an Iron Mountain train,
was looking upon this ebonyhued damsel with a wishful glance. Crite hunted
Gatlin up, who was an old acquaintance and companion of his, and related
the circumstances regarding the recent quarrels and slight indignities
heaped upon him by Graham. Gatlin was quick in his decisions, and quicker
still in his acts. There was but one thing to do and that was to rid the
country of Tom Graham, either by fair means or foul. The deed had to be
done, and too well both Gatlin and Crite knew that an open personal
encounter, or an attempt to meet Graham in anything like an equal position,
would be suicidal. Crite was a harmless, inoffensive boy of 19 years, who
had never been in trouble of any kind before, so naturally when the subject
of getting rid of Tom Graham by means of murder was suggested to him, de
demurred and would not hear to it.
That was during the summer of 1901. A while later Graham again quarreled
with Crite, and called him some very vile names. Crite reported the matter
to Gatlin a few days later, who told him to wait a few days, until he came
in on his next trip, and they would fix Graham. Upon his return he hunted
Crite up and advised him to do the worst. Crite refused, whereupon Gatlin
placed a large revolver in his hand and said: "You take this gun and go
kill the _____ ___ __ _ ___ or I will kill you."
After which Crite, Gatlin and Ike Torrence walked toward the Graham home.
This was about 3 o'clock on the morning of September 19, 1901. A few
moments later they arrived at Graham's home, and called to him to come out.
He asked them who it was that wanted him, and Gatlin is said to have
answered that it was Lawyer Scott, an attorney of this city. Graham arose
and walked to the front door, when a pistol shot rang out and Ton Graham
was mortally wounded. He managed to reach his room and sat down on the side
of the bed. The window curtain was up and he could be plainly seen from the
street. Walking up to the window, Crite took deliberate aim and shot him
the second time. The ball struck a vital point, and the mighty frame of Big
Tom quivered and fell over dead upon his licentious bed.
Gatlin, Crite and Torrence then left, and each of them returned tho their
homes. The murder was reported to the authorities the next morning, and a
search was begun for the trio. Crite was found peacefully sleeping at his
room in the colored rooming house just across the street from Hogg's livery
stable, and placed under arrest. Gatlin and Torrence were arrested the next
day, and all three were placed in jail on a charge of murder. They were
later arraigned before Judge A. S. Armstrong, where they waived examination
and were each held to the circuit court on a charge of murder in the first
degree, without bail. They were remanded to jail, where they remained until
the October term of the circuit court. They were brought before the court,
pleaded not guilty and asked for counsel to defend them. The court
appointed H. N. and Sam Philips. The Crite case was set for trial Oct. 11.
On that date the prisoner was brought into court to face a jury of his
peers and given an opportunity to show his innocence.
In the trial of the case it was soon seen that Torrence was not connected
with the murder, and he was accordingly released. He returned to his work
as passenger porter on the Iron Mountain,, where he is still a trusted
employe. Gatlin and Crite were called into court, and announced ready for
trial. A jury was called from a special venice of forty men, and the
following men sworn to try Crite's case in a fair and impartial manner:
John P. Treece, W. P. Gross, J. W. Wood, John Lucy, G. M. Harman, A. J.
Huskey, J. W. Tate, David O. Lutes, J. W. Ferguson, Daniel Smith, L. H.
Prior and Wiley Owen. All that day the jury listened to the evidence from
the following witnesses: Fannie Sanders, Carrie Bryant, Theo. Johnson, Pat
Hill, A. T. Bozarth, Tom Davis, John Harding, T. C. Bullock, John
Hightower, Joe Hicks and James Sloan; then the arguments of the lawyers and
the instructions from the court, after which they retired to the jury room
for undisturbed deliberation. They were out only a short time, when the
following verdict was returned:
"We, the jury, find the defendant guilty of murder in the first degree, as
charged in the information. "GEO.H. HARMEN, Foreman."
Crite was called into court and heard the reading of the verdict, which
meant "an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth." He received the verdict
coolly and without the least sign of emotion. He was taken back to his
cell, to await further action. A motion for a new trial was overruled and
an appeal taken to the supreme court.
Before the supreme court reached Crite's case, he had settled the whole
affair and his soul had left this vale of tears by a route not laid out by
the law. About April 1 Crite became sick with a stomach trouble, and grew
rapidly worse until the night of April 18, when his life went out, and
lying still in death his troubles were over. It is alleged that Crite ate
soap left in his cell, for the purpose of killing himself. Whether this be
true or not will never be known, but he died, and thus cheated the gallows
of a victim. Before he died he called the county physician, Dr. C. F.
Greens, to his bedside and told the whole story of the crime for which he
was then under sentence of death. He said had it not been for Gatlin he
never would have killed Graham, and laid all the blame of his misfortune to
the bad advice and forced execution of a bad mind at the feet of Gatlin.
On the morning of October 23 Will Gatlin was ushered before the bar of
Justice, and announced ready for trial. The following jury was chosen and
sworn to try the case: O. S. Roberson, C. J. Appleby, John Macom, James P.
Scott, George Raferty, J. H. Voiles, D. H. Allison, J. H. Shuck, John
Freer, Wm. Treece, S. P. Stotler and W. M. Montgomery. With pronounced
patience they listened to the testimony, the arguments and final
instuctins, and on the evening of October 23 they were allowed to retire to
determine as to the futre of Will Gatlin. The deliberated the entire night,
there being one for acquittal and eleven for conviction. The obstinate one
was finally convinced, and when the court convened on the morning of
October 25, the following was returned:
"We, the jury, find the defendant guilty of murder in the first degree, as
charged in the information. "JOHN J. FREER, Foreman."
As in Crite's case, a motion for a new trial was overruled, and he stood a
doomed man. He, too, was remanded to jail, to await the final passing of
sentence upon him. Judge Fort waited until the latter part of the term,
when he commanded the sheriff to cause the prisoner to appear before him.
Gatlin, with smiling face and steady step, appeared before the court, and
after saying he had no cause to offer why sentence should not be passed,
Judge Fort, with a voice that showed his regrets for such an act, spoke the
following words, which, eventually, meant death to Will Gatlin:
"The judgement of the court is that you be returned to jail of Butler
county, Missouri, and there safely kept until Friday, Dec. 19, 1901, at
which time and place the sheriff of Butler county will take you to an
enclosure in the jail yard, constructed as required by law, and will hang
you by the neck until you are dead.."
Gatlin received his sentence in an indifferent manner, and was remanded to
jail. His case was taken to the supreme court, where last October the
finding of the lower court was affirmed and the date for the execution set
for Friday, Jan. 8, 1903. A few weeks elapsed, when Governor Dockery
granted a respite of 33 days, and set the final day for to-day.
Thus ends one of the most dangerous gangs of colored people ever known to
Poplar Bluff. Tom Graham was a teamster for W. B. Hays & Co., and a bad man
when drinking, but a splendid workman. To-day the curtain went down on the
last actor in this tragedy, when Sheriff Hogg sprung the trap and caused
Will Gatlin to shoot into eternity, with the blood of Tom Graham upon his
hands.
Fannie Sanders died last winter. Zeb Crite died while under sentence of
death, Ton Graham was murdered, Will Gatlin was hanged, and the cause of
all the trouble, Carrie Bryant, was a few days ago given hours in which to
leave Poplar Bluff never again to return. The curtain is dropped, the drama
is closed, and the murder of Tom Graham has been legally stoned for.
Thus ends this chapter of human devotion, love of lust, and last but by no
means least, the almost inevitable result of young men associating with
lewd women and drinking to excess.
----------------
SONG OF A PRISONER IN JAIL.
I use to be a railroad man, A porter on the train;
but Now I am a prisoner, boys, In Butler county
jail.
Chorus
If the courts don't change my sentence I am going
to hang, I know they will find out some day they
have hanged an innocent man, The jury has found me
guilty, The clerk has wrote it down, The judge has
passed my sentence, On the scaffold I must hang.
Chorus
They have got me charged with murder, I have never
harmed the man, The judge has passed the sentence,
On the scaffold I must hang.
Chorus
I had to go with them, I thought they were friends
to me, But since I have been a prisoner, They have
turned their backs on me.
Chorus
If I had listened to my mother's advice, I
wouldn't have been here today, But drinking
whiskey and women, boys, Have brought me to my
ruin.
Chorus
And if they hang me for this crime, I know they
will do wrong, And they will find it out some day,
When I am dead and gone. - Composed by Will Gatlin
----------------
A LETTER FROM GATLIN. Poplar Bluff, Mo., Feb. 5, 1903
I want to give special credit to Bro. Chas. H. Hicks for his kindness, his
time and attention to me in my time of trouble. He has devoted his time and
energy toward me, such as no other colored man has done. I want him to have
due credit for this, as he has done this out of the goodness of his heart,
without any reward, and I desire that he accompany my body to Malvern, Ark.
WILL GATLIN. D. B. DEEM, Witness
----------------
The following letter was written a few days ago by Gatlin, addressed to the
colored preachers of this city: Poplar Bluff, Mo., Jan. 26, 1903
To the colored elders of Poplar Bluff:
I write you to express my feelings for the way you have treated me since I
have been in jail. You have never been to see me to speak one word of
consolation to me concerning my soul. I don't want you all to think I have
forgotten to pray, for I have not. I have prayed every day, and know that
God has heard my prayers and has forgiven me of my sins, and I am glad that
I am not ashamed to confess the love of God.
I write you because I feel that it is your duty as ministers to visit the
prison. It is true that I have had good instructions from the white
ministers; also from the Catholic priest. But I would have highly
appreciate to have had a word of consolation from one of my own race. It
would have shown a Christian act of you. Certain colored brothers have
given me good instructions in regard to my being prepared to meet my
Savior, which I have prepared to do.
Dear brothers, read St. Luke, 22d chapter, 31 to 33 verses, and you will
see what your duty is when you are converted; also read St. John 21: 15-25;
St. Luke 6: 7, Dear brothers, have you all considered that I should have
holy communion? Read St. John 6:8; read Sr. Luke 17:1-15; also read St.
Matthew 10 and 11 chapters. Dear brothers, did you ever read who Christ
said was his brother and sister? I will ask you to read St. Matthew 12:46-
50; read St. Matthew, 18th and 19th verses; read Corinthians, chapters 7
and 8; read Romans, chapters 6 and 7.
My dear beloved brothers in Lord, and sinners, I pray, you who are out of
Christ, seek him for your refuge. He can give you eternal life. He will
save you from the world and guide you in the path of righteousness. Seek
him while you are at liberty; if you will exalt him, he will guide you from
all trouble. I hope you will read the points in the Scripture I have
pointed you to. Read them and understand them. They will keep you from the
hour of temptation.
Dear elders, I hope you will not be offended when you read this. If you
will be kind enough to read St. Luke, 15th and 16th chapters, you will find
the words of our Lord Jesus Christ to the Pharisees and Sadducees. I hope
to meet you all in heaven. Peace and grace of God be with you. So will
close for this time, now and forever.
Yours truly, WILL GATLIN
Good-bye, bye. Meet me in heaven. I must say C. H. Hicks has been very kind
in advising me in regard to my soul, and I highly appreciate his kindness
to me.
----------------
NOTES.
Gatlin was 26 years old.
Clark was 38 years old.
Mrs. W. C. Yost made the black caps.
The scaffold and stockade were built by Joe Scales.
Will Gatlin was in jail 1 year, 4 months and 25 days.
Clark broke down and cried last night while talking to Ed Mayhew.
Clark was a member of the Catholic church; Gatlin a Baptist.
Clark was born and raised in Middle Tenness; Gatlin at Hope, Ark.
Gatlin was an Iron Mountain passenger porter. Clark was a professional
gambler.
The ropes were 21 feet long and cost $12 each. They were three-quarter-inch
size hemp.
Both were men of bad disposition and quite quarrelsome. Both were regarded
as "bullies" among their associates.
Clark's breakfast consisted of two eggs, a slice of fried ham, cup of
coffee and a glass of sweet milk. He ate very little.
The physicians who attended the execution and determined when the two men
were dead were Doctors Adams, Greene and Eskew.
Gatlin had been married, but his wife died several years ago. He leaves a
7-year-old son, who lives with an aunt at Melvern, Ark.
Among the visiting sheriff's to witness the execution of Clark and Gatlin
we noticed S. B. Stone, the very popular sheriff of New Madrid county.
Clark's breakfast was sent him by friends from Graham's restaurant. It
consisted of two eggs, a beefsteak, two cakes, and a cup of coffee. He ate
with a relish.
The ropes were tested this morning at 10:30 by Sheriff Hogg. The test was
made by looping the ropes around a sack of sand weighing 200 pounds. Both
tests were successful.
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Clark Intended to Suicide.
Last night about 10:30 Joe Murphy, a colored prisoner in the county jail,
whispered to Deputy Sheriff Hogg that Steve Clark was contemplating
suicide. Clark was handcuffed and taken from his cell to the front room of
the jail occupied by the guards and his cell searched. A small piece of
paper containing a white powder was found concealed in his bed. A while
after he had been in the front room he turned to Deputy Sheriff Livingston
and said:
"Mr. Livingston, you are a good man and have been kind and good to me, and
I won't do anything to cause you harm. If you will take off my shoes you
will find some steel springs with which I had intended killing myself, but
you fellows watched me to closely."
His shoes were removed, and concealed between the insole and bottom of his
shoes were two springs in each shoe. Clark no doubt would have committed
suicide had his nerve not failed him. He was compelled to spend the
remainder of the night in the front room, with his hands fastened behind
him.
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Clark's Dying Statement.
I know I have shocked the community by my dreadful deed of June 25th, 1901.
When my anger and excitement passed over, I must say I was more shocked
myself.
To-day I pay the penalty of my crime; I command myself to the mercy of God,
who said to the sinner: "If thy sins be as red as scarlet, I will make them
as white as snow." May the Lord have mercy on my soul.
Steve Clark.
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