THE STORY OF BUCK HARDY, CONDEMNED MAN TURNS TO RELIGION JUST IN TIME
Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On January 16, 1926, The Washington Times reports a story retold in a letter received by Rep. Frederick N. Zihlman*, chairman of the House District Committee favoring a bill "to prevent clergymen...from visiting the cells of condemned men" because it leads to "a mockery of religion."
The story goes...
Buck Hardy, a condemned man, was visited by ministers and prayed over by religious women for three days. Then he was baptised in the Ohio River and the next day he was standing on a scaffold ready for the sheriff to give the order to spring the trap. Just in time, a message arrived from the governor commuting his sentence. Buck turned to the crowd & said...
"That was a damn close call."
*Frederick Nicholas Zihlman (1879-1935) was born in Carnegie, Pennsylvania & served in the Maryland State Senate 1909-1917, & the US House of Representatives (R-MD) 1917-1931.
SOURCE
"'Converted' Prisoner Cussed on Scaffold," The Washington Times, Washington, D.C., January 16, 1926, Chronicling America, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/
