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The gallows by I W. D. Peters to morrow morning at sunrise.

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I am to hang for the murder
of a man at sunrise on the ninth

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of June, the anniversary of my
wedding day. I am to be hanged

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by the neck until I am dead. I am glad this state has not

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yet adopted the use of electricity in
executions. I prefer to spend my last

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moments out in the open under the
sky. The building of the gallows is

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finished, the workmen are gone,
and it seems that the execution at sunrise

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is certain to take place. But
every step along the corridor sends my heart

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into my mouth. Gladys is working
for a reprieve. I am praying she

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will not succeed. The governor is
off fishing away from railroad and telegraph.

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If they do not locate him in
a few hour hours, I shall be

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hanged. God grant they fail to
find him. It is Gladys's will against

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mine. She usually wins, but
every passing minute lessens her chance to have

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her way in this. It is
now ten minutes to midnight. Doctor Brander,

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the prison chaplain, has left me
gratified, poor fellow, that he

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has succeeded in reconciling me to my
fate. If he had known that the

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tall skeleton of wood outside, with
its lank line of rope, was in

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my mind a refuge, he would
have turned from me in horror. The

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next five hours will be the longest
of my life. Every step in the

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corridor strikes fear to my heart.
It is not because I am guilty of

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the crime for which I was sentenced
that I am glad to die. I

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am guilty, but that doesn't mean
I deserve to die. I am going

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to hang tomorrow at sunrise because I
want to be hung. I could have

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saved myself, but refused to do
so, solely because life had lost its

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savor. A great wave of disgust
with living possessed and still possesses me.

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I am writing these words now that
Gladys may know the truth. She has

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tried to see me ever since I
was brought here, and I have refused

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to be seen. That is one
right a condemned man has to refuse to

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see visitors. From the day we
were married, Gladys demanded to know my

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every thought, my every act,
every hour of the day. If ever

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one of them was not connected with
her. She criticized, condemned, or

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cried. She resented, in bitterly
spoken words and equally bitter acts, the

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small recesses of my soul that I, for the sake of my own sine

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self respect, kept to myself.
Finally, she determined to show me that

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there were other men who appreciated her
if I did not. For a while

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after that, all hours of the
day and night my home was infested with

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lounge lizards. I endured it without
a word, which infuriated her. Lester

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Kane, a young fellow, honest
and simple, was her first victim.

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The first time I found him seated
beside her on the dimly lit porch,

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I welcomed him warmly. We smoked
and talked of our days in the army

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together. I felt that Gladys could
safely flirt with such as Leicester, if

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that was what she wanted. But
Lester called only a few times after that.

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For two months there was a succession
of young fellows about the place.

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Our house is not far from the
west More Country Club, and the golf

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links came almost up to our side
yard. Our porch was a convenient place

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to drop in. Suddenly, all
that sort of thing ceased. Gladys was

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away a great deal, but as
her mother lived in a town just a

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few miles away, I thought nothing
of it. She became very quiet,

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was thoughtful, absent, minded,
flushed easily, seemed not herself. At

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first I was a good deal puzzled. Then suddenly an explanation for the change

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in her dawned on me. Joy
filled my soul. I was inordinately gentle

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with her, bought her a small
automobile for her birthday, did everything I

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could think of for her comfort and
pleasure. After all, I told myself

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the emotional phase she had passed through
was natural. Marriage is a more difficult

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readjustment with some than others. It
had evidently been so with Gladys. If

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a child came to us, it
would make everything right. A child,

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our child, it was wonderful to
think of. She had always refused to

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consider the subject, saying that she
wished to enjoy life while she was young.

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But she knew I wanted a son
to bear my name, a daughter

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to inherit her beauty, and she
had accepted the inevitable. A wave of

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excitation made me feel as if I
were treading on cloud I longed to mention

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the subject to her, but I
felt that the first word about it should

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come from her. I spent hours
thinking of tender, loving things to do

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for her. She accepted everything quietly, sometimes with averted face and flushed cheeks.

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I would draw her inert figure into
my arms and hold her close,

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but she made no response to my
demonstrative affection. At this stage, the

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affairs of my firm sent me on
a ten day trip to close a western

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deal. It was hard to leave
Gladys, but now more than ever,

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I felt that we would need money, and lots of it. We arranged

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for Gladys to go to her mother's
and I was to join her there on

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my return. It is the same
old story. I came home before I

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was expected, and went straight to
our cottage with the intention of having Gladys's

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room redecorated before bringing her home.
At the gate stood Gladys's car. I

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rushed into the house, but there
was no one on the lower floor,

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nor in Gladys's room, nor mine. I was about to descend the stairs

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when I heard a low laugh from
the third floor. I dashed up there

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and stood gazing at the closed door
of the spare room what's the idea of

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running away from me, asked the
man. You can't blow hot and cold

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with me. I told you not
to come here again. It's not safe.

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I'm not afraid of that husband of
yours. You are mine, and

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you're going to stay mine. I
had listened intently but could not recognize the

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man's voice. Go now, pleaded
Gladys, and I'll come to your rooms

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this evening. Not on your life. I'm here now and I'm going to

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stay. Let go of me.
You're hurting my shoulder. There was a

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sound of a scuffle. I tried
the door. It was locked. I

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put my shoulder to it. The
lock snapped. Gladys gave a cry leapt

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away from the man, A man
whom I had never seen before, the

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lipped, black browed type, big
soft As I took in the scene,

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the tousled woman, the flush faced
man, a great wave of disgust almost

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overwhelmed me, well, said the
man, sneeringly. What are you going

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to do about it? If you
take her away now and treat her right,

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nothing, And if I don't take
her away, I'll meet that situation

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when it comes. It has come, he said, with a laugh,

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and walked out. I am tall, slender, delicate looking, but I

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knew I was a match for that
overfed brute. I listened to the clatter

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of his feet on the stairs.
Then I followed him. The man was

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hastening toward a street car. I
cranked Gladys's car and followed. It was

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easy to keep the street car in
sight and to keep eye on his sleek

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black head. He left the car
at Hanson Street. I, without a

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glance toward him, kept on a
head. I turned at the corner in

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time to see him enter an office
building. I was not far behind him

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when he took the elevator. The
man in the elevator gave me the number

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of his office. He was telling
a joke to his typist as I entered,

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but his laughter died when he saw
me, You dirty thief. You'll

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never cheat another man out of money. His look of astonishment as I shouted

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these words was amusing. He tried
to give blow for blow, but I

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meant what I said when I shouted
at him, I've come here to kill

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you. To choke the life out
of an over fed beast is not so

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hard to an infuriated man. In
less than a quarter of an hour he

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was dead. The police, for
whom the Typist had called, filled the

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room even before I had straightened out
my disheveled clothing. I practically tried my

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own case, and I was skillful
enough to make every word apparently uttered in

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my own defense, sound black against
me. Gladys tried to save me by

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telling the true story of the affair, but I made a picture of her

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as a devoted, self sacrificing wife, willing to ruin even her spotless name

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to save her husband. I enjoyed
seeing her cringe as I did this.

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So skillfully had she and the big
brute managed that there was not a bit

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of evidence to substantiate her story.
On the other hand, there was a

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typist story to help me, and
too, it was known that I had

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speculated in the past, and that
I had lost some money. I made

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the most of every everything against me, and it was enough, And it

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was enough. I was sentenced to
hang on the ninth day of June at

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sunrise. Gladys came to the jail
to see me while the trial was going

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on. But I managed to act
just as if my story were the true

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one and hers not. And though
she pleaded with me to let the truth

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come out. I would not admit
that the truth had not come out.

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The sentence was a terrible shock to
her. Her mother carried her from the

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courtroom in a faint before she recovered
I was in prison. I shall welcome

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the hour of sunrise, as I
have never welcomed any moment in my life.

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Not until then will the fear of
a reprieve leave me. Gladys is

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moving heaven and earth to locate the
governor. God grant that she does not

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succeed. It is four forty five. I have spent much of the night

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of the window gazing out into the
darkness. What comes after death? That

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is the question I suppose all men
ask at the end of life. I

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have never done so. It is
a feudal question, one which none of

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us can answer. But I believe
there will be a circes from the nausea

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that comes to those who have known
disillusion and disappointment. Ten minutes to five,

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Now, surely I am safe from
the chance of a reprieve. Footsteps

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in the corridor. Is it my
escort to the gallows? Or what I

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fear most on earth? A statement
from the warden of Larson penitentiary. If

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Taylor had spent the brief period always
allotted to a criminal for a few last

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words, his reprieve would have reached
us in time to stay the execution.

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But he walked calmly, unfalteringly up
to the gallows and helped us, with

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steady hands adjust the cap and ropes, and he was dead two minutes before

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the governor's message reached us. The
end of the gallows