The Lexington Advertiser

Wade, Negro Murderer Calmly Meets Death on Scaffold Friday

Will Wade, convicted murderer of Hubert Jones, marshall of the little city of Pickens, satisfied the laws of God and man Friday afternoon in compliance with the orders of the court, he was hanged "by the neck until dead, dead, dead!" The condemned man was summoned from his cell at 2:44; at 2:46 the trap was sprung; and at 2:59, District Attorney Hairston officially pronounced him dead.

The negro maintained until the very end a stoic calm that is amazing. So calm was he, in fact, fearing that he was relying on an attempted jail delivery by friends, Sheriff McRae deputized Claude Reid and John Lucas to remain in the jail all night and safeguard the law. They report that the negro went to sleep at about ten o'clock and appeared to sleep peacefully all night. He has maintained all along that he was prepared for the end.

Immediately before the hanging, when interviewed by a representative of the press, Wade maintained his innocence, but would make no further statement. Relatives of the negro, together with Rev. Standifer Raper and a colored preacher, conducted a song service outside of the cell, singing "'Till We Meet Again."

The only request the negro made was that Former Sheriff D. J. Crawford, supervise the hanging and make sure that everything was all right.

Wade marched with firm tread up the steps to the gallows and stood without a quiver while the instruments of death were being attached. When asked if he had anything to say, he bid his brothers and sisters farewell, and in the midst of the last word, Sheriff McRae cut the rope that upheld the trap door, and the negro dropped to eternity.

There was no convulsive movement, and death is thought to have been instantaneous, though the body remained for several minutes before being officially pronounced dead.

Despite the high feeling at the time of the crime, not the slightest sign of disorder was evident. Only a few officials witnessed the hanging and possibly a hundred people were in and about the court yard.