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Chapter 11: the victory over death.
The sun rose clear and bright on the 2d of December.
A haze, that presently veiled it, soon disappeared; and ere the hour appointed for the hero's death, not a cloud was to be seen in the ethereal expanse.
The temperature was so exceedingly genial, that, until late in the afternoon, the windows of all the houses were open.
The scaffold.
On the previous evening, the timber for the scaffold had been removed from “the enclosure of the new Baptist church,” to a field about half a mile distant from the jail, which had been fixed on by the
General in command, and marked out with white flags on short stakes, to indicate the position the several sentries should occupy.
At seven o'clock the carpenters began the work of erecting the scaffold.
When finished, it was about six feet high, twelve wide, and fifteen or eighteen in length.
A hand rail extended around three sides and down the flight of steps.
On the other side, stout uprights, with a cross beam, which was supported by strong braces.
In the centre of the cross beam was an iron hook, from which the rope was suspended.
The trap beneath was arranged to swing on hinges, attached to the platform so slightly as to break from
