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Author: maryachtrh
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Classification: death
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Article from The Weekly Examiner, San Francisco, Thursday, 5 April 1900
CONFESSED AND TALKED ABOUT THE MURDER
Young Hurst Told a Clergyman of His Crime
Glendive (Montana) March 30, 3:30 a.m. - Jospeh Hurst was hanged here shortly after 3
O'clock this (Friday) morning. He met death unflinchingly, protesting innocence.
Butte (Montana) March 30 - The execution by hanging of Joseph C. Hurst for the murder of
Sheriff Dominick Cavanaugh, on December 23, 1898, took place at 2:26 o'clock this
morning at Glendive, as announced in "The Examiner" this morning.
Nothing has occurred in Montana in recent years that has aroused so much public feeling as
the conviction and execution of young Hurst. Fully two-thirds of the people of the State
believed in his innocence and had petitioned the Governor to save him.
Their belief in his innocence, however, was badly shattered today when the Rev. Henry
Warman of Glendive gave out the following concerning a confession Hurst had made to him.
The confession bears the stamp of truth, as it agrees with many facts and makes
explanations that had previously been wanting:
Now that Joseph C. Hurst has passed into eternity and died with a quotation on his lips
from Sheldon's book, "In His Steps; or What Would Jesus Do?" which neither
admitted his guilt nor denied the same. I therefore feel that in justice to all parties
concerned I should make known the fact that Hurst admitted to me that he killed Dominick
Cavanaugh. In his cell, on Tuesday, March 27, he stated to me that he followed Cavanaugh
through the alley on December 23, 1898, and after conversing with him in a friendly
manner, when he turned to shut his stable door he struck him with an iron bolt. Cavanaugh
fell to the ground, uttering two cries. A woman in the alley near Steele's house
uttered some kind of an exclamation and in looking over his shoulder toward here, he
missed his second blow at Cavanaugh's head, and striking the ground, broke the end
off his bolt. The woman disappeared and he struck the man several times. While looking
for the end of the bolt he saw the Meyers b!
oys at the end of the alley, and he fled.
When urged to give to the officers the same statement he gave me, he replied: "Damn
them, they have thirsted for my blood, and I won't satisfy them to tell them."
When I asked him if I could be of any consolation to him spiritually, he replied:
"No; this book you gave me" referring to Sheldon's book, "is good
enough for me. But I want you to keep this statement from the public until I am dead, and
not to contradict anything I may say on the scaffold if you are present. Perhaps I may
tell the whole story then, but not until I am sure that the last moment has come, for my
attorneys might be able to save me at the last moment. I may ask you to be with me if I
must hang, but I will think about it."
I have been the only clergyman to visit him during his imprisonment to my knowledge, and I
stated to him when first I visited him that if any facts came to my knowledge that would
help vindicate him I would be delighted to bring them before the proper authorities; and
on the other hand if I became aware of his guilt I would not hesitate to give it to the
public. Rev. Henry Warman
Pastor M. E. Church, Glendive, Montana, March 30, 1900, 10 p.m.
The condemned man was accompanied to the scaffold by Father Claude M. E. Benner of
Dickinson, North Dakota who was telephoned for yesterday afternoon, and who was baptized
him yesterday afternoon and who ministered the last rites of the church. The father,
mother, brothers an sisters, wife and two children, and other relatives, visited the
condemned man yesterday afternoon for the final leave taking. The scene as the member of
the family came into the jail was heart-rending, and the final leave takings and farewells
were very affecting.
From the rumors circulated the past few weeks trouble was anticipated,
and Sheriff A. E. Aiken appointed a number of special deputies to guard the jail and town,
but the rumors were groundless and a more orderly execution is not chronicled in the
Northwest.
At 2:20 Hurst, accompanied by Sheriff Aiken and Deputy George Turble, emerged from the
jail and advanced to the gallows, Hurst bareheaded and apparently cool and collected.
When placed under the drop he requested permission to say a few words:
"This is a great mistake," he said. "I will forgive all here present, as
Jesus did."
"Have you anything further to say?" asked the Sheriff.
"This is a great mistake. I forgive all, as Jesus did" he repeated. The black
cap was drawn, the drop sprung at 2:26 and in eleven minutes the physicians announced to
the Sheriff that Hurst was dead.
The reason for the unusual hour for the hanging was that there were reports that
Hurst's friends would attempt by force to prevent it and also the fear that the
Governor might at the last moment grant a reprieve.
The body was taken to Wadena, Minnesota for burial.
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