In fact, he boasted of them with a curious pride. Arson,
murder, robbery, he admitted with a lavishness which first aroused a
doubt as to his sanity and truth, but when in many of the cases he
recited details which were later verified, all doubt as to his evil
triumphs vanished.
On the morning of July 11 he was sentenced. In the afternoon his body
swung from a waterfront derrick at Battery and Market streets.
"Get it over with," he urged his executioners, "this 'ere's damned
tiresome business for a gentleman." He begged a "quid o' terbacker" from
one of the guards and chewed upon it stolidly until the noose tightened
about his neck. He did not struggle much. A vagrant wind blew off his
hat and gently stirred his long and wavy hair.
When Benito next saw Broderick he asked the latter anxiously if all were
well with him. The latter answered with a wry smile, "I suppose so. I
have not been ordered to leave town so far."
"You've remembered what we told you--Alice and I?"
"Yes," said Broderick, "and it was good advice. Tell your wife for me
that woman's intuition sometimes sees more clearly than man's
cunning.... It is nearer God and truth," he added, softly.
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