Notice of Hanging of Rufus Binyon - Tishomingo News, 27 September 1905
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Notice of Hanging of Rufus Binyon - Tishomingo News, 27 September 1905
 maryachtrh
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Posted: 10 Aug 2007 4:31PM GMT |
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BINYON HANGED
Ardmore, Indian Territory, September 23 – Rufus Binyon was hanged promptly at 2 o’clock this afternoon and fifteen minutes later was pronounced dead. Before the trap was sprung Binyon sang, “I’m Going Home to Die no More” and said “Good-bye everybody, be good people.” After he repeated the Lord’s Prayer he said he was ready. He appeared to be the coolest man present. The remains were interred at the negro cemetery this afternoon by the government.
The crime for which Binyon paid the extreme penalty of the law today was one of shocking cruelty. On the 18th of May, 1900, he became enraged over some trival matter with his 8 year old step-daughter, May Hathorne, and while the child’s mother was in the garden whipped the child to death and in order to conceal the crime, placed the lifeless body into the burning fireplace. The child’s mother soon gave the alarm and the negroes of the Ran Community where the crime was committed, captured Binyon and brought him to Ardmore in chains. He was placed in the federal prison, here he remained until today. At the first term of court, the negro was sentenced to hang. Negro attorneys took the case to the territory court of appeals. Here the judgment of the lower court was affirmed. The case was then taken to the supreme court of the United States, where it was dismissed for want of jurisdiction and the trial court ordered to carry out its judgment.
A petition for commutation of sentence to life imprisonment was then filed with the board of pardons and a direct appeal was made to President Roosevelt by Bishop Arnett of Wilberforce, Ohio. Negro attorneys, equipped with funds donated by colored people, made a stubborn fight. They attempted to quash the indictment on the grounds that no negroes were on either the grand jury or trial jury, but their motion was overruled. They reserved their exceptions but lost out for the reason that they failed to prove that the negro had been discriminated against. During the May term of court, Binyon was re-sentenced by Judge Townsend and today paid the penalty. The condemned negro was listless. He seemed not to realize the fate that awaited him and spent the last days of his life in a listless stupor.
Ardmore, Indian Territory, September 23 – Rufus Binyon was hanged promptly at 2 o’clock this afternoon and fifteen minutes later was pronounced dead. Before the trap was sprung Binyon sang, “I’m Going Home to Die no More” and said “Good-bye everybody, be good people.” After he repeated the Lord’s Prayer he said he was ready. He appeared to be the coolest man present. The remains were interred at the negro cemetery this afternoon by the government.
The crime for which Binyon paid the extreme penalty of the law today was one of shocking cruelty. On the 18th of May, 1900, he became enraged over some trival matter with his 8 year old step-daughter, May Hathorne, and while the child’s mother was in the garden whipped the child to death and in order to conceal the crime, placed the lifeless body into the burning fireplace. The child’s mother soon gave the alarm and the negroes of the Ran Community where the crime was committed, captured Binyon and brought him to Ardmore in chains. He was placed in the federal prison, here he remained until today. At the first term of court, the negro was sentenced to hang. Negro attorneys took the case to the territory court of appeals. Here the judgment of the lower court was affirmed. The case was then taken to the supreme court of the United States, where it was dismissed for want of jurisdiction and the trial court ordered to carry out its judgment.
A petition for commutation of sentence to life imprisonment was then filed with the board of pardons and a direct appeal was made to President Roosevelt by Bishop Arnett of Wilberforce, Ohio. Negro attorneys, equipped with funds donated by colored people, made a stubborn fight. They attempted to quash the indictment on the grounds that no negroes were on either the grand jury or trial jury, but their motion was overruled. They reserved their exceptions but lost out for the reason that they failed to prove that the negro had been discriminated against. During the May term of court, Binyon was re-sentenced by Judge Townsend and today paid the penalty. The condemned negro was listless. He seemed not to realize the fate that awaited him and spent the last days of his life in a listless stupor.