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Dorothy Copus Brush (Low Tax) not the only By Dorothy Copus Brush Cumberland County had existed for only 44
years, and this was the first hanging they had ever been required
to carry out. A statute gave Sheriff Garrison specific instructions
on how to proceed. The gallows were to be erected not farther
than two miles from the jail, and it must be put in an enclosure.
Between 30 and 50 people will be allowed admittance to witness
the execution. The rope used for the hanging is to be a one-inch
manila hemp; pliable, yet firm in texture. The rope must be placed
in position on the night before the execution and is to be greased
and must have suspended on it twice the weight of the criminal.
This is done to take out the slack. H.H. was returned to Crossville from Nashville
the third week in March, and a <I>Chronicle<I> reporter
visited him in his cell. He wrote, "Considering the position
he is in, he seems wonderfully resigned to his fate. He was but
to glance." The night before the execution the paper stated
that 50 to 100 visitors arrived in town "awaiting expectantly
the coming of the morrow, when it was known H.H. would surely
hang." The time of the execution was not published. Sheriff
Garrison had yielded to the wishes of the prisoner and his father
that it be early morning. On April 13, 1899, the trap fell at
6:53 a.m., and H.H. was pronounced dead at 7:04. By mid-morning a crowd of not less than 1,200
or 1,500 people were in town, and the paper stated, "Many
were much disappointed when they learned the thing was over.
The remains in a casket were exposed to view in the jail yard
and not less than 100 people viewed the corpse." Shortly after H.H. had been imprisoned in
1897, he gave the details of the murder, but on the night before
his execution, he wrote the full and true confession of all that
had led to his crime. After his marriage, he and his wife lived
with his family. His mother was not pleased with his young wife,
and she urged him to kill her. At last "driven almost crazy
by her persuasions," H.H. made two attempts at murder before
he finally succeeded. He told his mother that all was ended now,
and that he was in a "pretty fix." She told him to
keep quiet, and it would never be found out. "But within
48 hours I was being guarded by the sheriff to prevent a mob
from wreaking vengeance on me." Then, H.H. added another dimension to his
confession. Again, because of his mother's nagging, he tried
twice to kill his father. The confession ended with these words,
"In view of all the horrible crimes which my mother has
caused me to attempt, and knowing she is the cause of me doing
all these things, I still love her and hope to meet her in Heaven." This sad chapter in Crossville history came to mind when, as the Looper trial ended, it was described as the most shocking in local history. It is for you to decide. |