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HARGUS, Adam, PRETTYMAN, William and PURNELL, Webster, blacks, hanged New Castle
County, Delaware (Convicted Sussex County) on September 28, 1917,
Ages: Hargus, 3h; Prettyman, 293; and Purnell, 36,
"Wilmington, Delaware, July 28, 1917. Fifty minutes before the first of their num-
ber was to have mounted the scaffold at the New Castle County workhouse, Greenbank,
Dele, three negro murderers were reprieved for sixty days, Secretary of State
Everett Johnson telephoned to warden Cross that the reprieve papers had been signed
by Governor Townsend and would be forwarded, The men were on their knees in their
cells, swaying to the rhythm of an old-fashioned hymn, The rope was in place, the
jury assembled and three lone relatives of the condemned men were sitting on the
roadside, their heads in their hands, when notice of the reprieve was telephoned from
the state capitol at Dover, Nothing more dramatic than what followed is in the
criminal annals of Delaware. The cells of the three men face upon a wide corridor,
The warden closed the telephone, went hurriedly up to the cell rooms and stood be-
fore the open gratings, where he could see all 3 men, 'Boyx,' he said, 'the gover-
nor has granted you a stay. You are reprieved for 60 dayse' Two of the men fell face
downward on the floor, as if they had been clubbed, and began to weep, The third,
Adam Hargus, wavered to his feet and lifted long arms toward the ceiling, ‘Oh, the
good God§! he whispered, 'Oh the good God} The good God} He does not forget those
who are weary and under great burdens,' He was quoting from the scripture lessons
learned in his cell,' THE EVENING SENTINEL, Carlisle, Pa., July 28, 1917 (1:h.)
"Wilmington, September 29, 1917=-Declaring their innocence to the last, three Sussex
Countynegroes, Adam Hargus, Webster Purnell and William Prettyman were hanged at the
New Castle County workhouse, They were accused of killing Harry Parker, also colored,
in a cabin at Lewes a year ago, All 3 were cool on the scaffold, The men were hanged
separately, being selected for death according to apparent nerve force, Purnell
who was apparently the weakest, led, He mounted the steps to the platform without a
tremor, Asked if he had anything to say, he replied: 'I don't know anything about
the death of Parker, but God tan take care of my soul,' Twelve minutes later he
was pronounced dead, After his body had been taken down Prettyman was led oute He
was QHSSXRZ885 smiling, 'I'm innocent,' he said from the scaffold, ‘All I can say
is that God will take care of me.' Hargus, the lst man, sang on the way to the
scaffold,and chatted lightly with his guards, 'I am before you,' he cried, ‘an
innocent man, but I will suffer this for the Father in Heaven, I'm marching home,
You'll learn the truth some day, that's all,' He looked up to the sky just before
the black cap was placed over his head and the lever pulled, The murder of Parker
occurred in a cabin at Lewes, were all of the men concemed and some women, it is
said, wad been having a carouse.e Some of them got into a quarrel and Parker was
struck over the head, The blow probably killed him, but to make sure of his death,
he was mangled with a knife. Several days later the body was thrown into the bay.
The negroes were convicted in February in Georgetown, On Paril l, they were sen-
tenced to be hanged on Friday, July 27. Governor Townsend granted a reprieve just
before the hour set for the execution on the plea of newly discovered evidence,"
THE EVENING SENTINEL, Carlisle, PA, Septe 29, 1917 (1:2.)
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