| Publication information |
|
Source: Echoes from the Beat Source type: book Document type: poem Document title: “Retribution” Author(s): Hair, Dell Volume number: 3 Publisher: Newell B. Newton Company Place of publication: Toledo, Ohio Year of publication: 1908 Pagination: 128 |
| Citation |
| Hair, Dell. “Retribution.” Echoes from the Beat. Vol. 3. Toledo: Newell B. Newton, 1908: p. 128. |
| Transcription |
| full text |
| Keywords |
| Leon Czolgosz (execution: poetry). |
| Named persons |
| Leon Czolgosz; William McKinley. |
| Notes |
|
From title page: Echoes from the Beat: A Collection of Poems.
From title page: By Dell Hair, the Policeman Poet. |
| Document |
Retribution
There was silence in the chamber;—
Czolgosz seated in the chair,
Wires hummed the sad death rattle,
Flashing blue light here and there.The warden grasped the lever
That switched the well-aimed blow,
And asked the trembling culprit:
“Are you ready, sir, to go?”Czolgosz Replies:
“I own I shot McKinley,
For shooting is my creed,
Nor can I say before I die
I’m sorry for the deed.“I swore that I would kill him,
The deed at last was done,
And now that death doth claim me—
Farewell! my race is run.“Turn on the current! I’m ready!”
No sign of pain he bore;
A corpse now in the chair he sat—
The murderer is no more.