"THAT WAS A DAMN CLOSE CALL"

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/

Frederick Nicholas Zihlman

R-Maryland

Photo by George Grantham Bain

Library of Congress

"MAKES PURCHASE OF ELECTRIC CHAIR UNNECESSARY"

DC COMMISSIONERS 'STRONGLY IN FAVOR' OF ABOLISHING CAPITAL PUNISHMENT

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On December 17, 1925, The Evening Star reports that Representative Frederick N. Zihlman*, chairman of the House District Committee, has been informed by District commissioners that they "are strongly in favor" of abolishing capital punishment.

The commissioners stated that this recommendation...

"is in harmony with progressive and humanitarian thought of the present day."

In the last Congress, electrocution replaced hanging and the means of carrying out capital punishment in the District of Columbia.  If the recommendation of the commissioners is followed, the Star says "it will make the purchase of an electric chair unnecessary."

*Frederick Nicholas Zihlman (1879-1935) was born in Carnegie, PA & served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives (R-Maryland) 1917-1931.

JFK+50 NOTE

There was a movement in the 1880s to replace hanging with electrocution as a more humane means of capital punishment.  The first electrocution was on Aug 6, 1890 of William Kemmler at New York state's Auburn Prison.

SOURCE

"Commissioners Oppose Death Penalty In D.C.," The Evening Star, Washington, D.C., December 17, 1925, Chronicling America, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/

Rep. Frederick Nicholas Zihlman

R-Maryland

Photo by George Grantham Bain