Chapter XV, by Ernest Hemingway

Day 2,456, 10:33 • Published in Ireland Ireland • by Lexone
They hanged Sam Cardinella at six o'clock in the morning in the
corridor of the county jail. The corridor was high and narrow with
tiers of cells on either side. All the cells were occupied. The men
had been brought in for the hanging. Five men sentenced to be
hanged were in the five top cells. Three of the men to be hanged were
negroes. They were very frightened. One of the white men sat on his
cot with his head in his hands. The other lay flat on his cot with a
blanket wrapped around his head.

They came out on to the gallows through a door in the wall.
There were seven of them including two priests. They were carrying
Sam Cardinella. He had been like that since about four o'clock in
the morning.

While they were strapping his legs together two guards held him
up and the two priests were whispering to him. 'Be a man, my son,
said one priest. When they came toward him with the cap to go over
his head Sam Cardinella lost control of his sphincter muscle. The
guards who had been holding him up both dropped him. They were
both disgusted. 'How about a chair, Will asked one of the guards.
'Better get one? said a man in a derby hat.

When they all stepped back on the scaffolding back of the drop,
which was very heavy, built of oak and steel and swung on ball
bearings, Sam Cardinella was left sitting there strapped tight, the
younger of the two priests kneeling beside the chair. The priest
skipped back on to the scaffolding, just before the drop fell.


Taken from my complete short stories of Ernest Hemingway book.