Chicago (IL) Press and Tribune, "Old Brown to be Gagged," November 30, 1859

 

The evident meaning of the dispatch which we publish elsewhere relative to the hanging of John Brown is, that the brave old man is to be gagged on the gallows. A file of soldiers is to be drawn around the scaffold to keep all persons at least one mile from the place of execution. It is added that under such an arrangement it will be impossible for any one to hear anything the dying man may have to say before taking leave of the world. Virginia has had one speech too many from John Brown. The device put forth by Gov. Wise in extenuation of this proceeding – to wit, that in case of an attempted rescue the soldiers will be compelled to shoot the prisoner, and if the crowd were near the gallows somebody might get hit, - is the merest tom foolery. Equally with John Brown’s bullets, Virginia fears his ideas. Having placed herself out of reach of the former, she is bound not to take another dose of the latter. She will rather go a mile out of the world to choke him to death! It would be quite in keeping with the other arrangements if the military were privately ordered to fire on the hangman as soon as soon as the breath is out of Brown’s body – on the principle that dead men tell no tales.