Laura Jane Harvey Murder: Part Nineteen

On the morning of February 17, 1865, it was cloudy and snowing moderately in Ottumwa. The streets were wet and muddy. A military company from nearby Kirkville arrived and joined forces with two Ottumwa companies to act as guards for the expiation of the great crime. By 10 o'clock, there were a considerable number of strangers in town and some estimates were that some 2000 people were by noon there for the hanging. It was also noted that despite the crowd, people were still able to move freely around. 

The city mayor, in an attend to keep things calm, had already ordered that all saloons be closed for the day and surprisingly, they had listened. Twelve respected individuals from around the community were called upon to witness the execution to ensure that it was duly carried out as prescribed by law.

It was said that although McComb did not sleep well the night before his execution, he was in fair spirits when the morning arrived. The Catholic priest, Fr. Kreckle, the same one who gave him his last rites before the mob attempted to lynch him during their first attempt, was allowed into McComb's cell to once again administer last rites and prepare him for the afterlife. 

Overnight, the gallows had been erected at the west end of the hall in front of the cells, perhaps a reason for McComb's lack of sleep. A platform about five feet in the air had been built, above which a noose was suspended. While the priest was attending to McComb, the jury of 12 men chosen to witness the execution were sworn in and ushered around the platform. Besides the jury, there was also an unnamed guard, two local physicians, Judge Trimble and three representatives of the press. 

When the hour of noon arrived, the priest left the cells and Sheriff Derby along with Deputy Reed, proceeded to dress McComb in a robe. It was said that while they were doing that, McComb had remarked to Reed, "Bill, I'd make a good Priest." After checking that numerous watches all said noon had arrived, the Sheriff, Deputy, Priest and prisoner McComb exited the cell and walked to the base of the platform where they again paused while Fr. Kreckle said a few prayers with McComb joining in on some of the responses. After the conclusion of the prayers, McComb was allowed to say goodbye to other prisoners in nearby cells and shake the hands of those in the room he knew and was presumably on friendly terms with. He made his way back to the base of the scaffold and after stopping to say a few words to Judge Trimble that were inaudible to the rest, McComb finally climbed the stairs up onto the platform.

On top of the platform, McComb reflexively reached out to grab the noose as if testing it's strength and then assumed his position at the front edge of the platform. When prompted, he issues his last statement. McComb said to those in the room, "You have come to see an innocent man hung. I am here upon the gallows with but a very few minutes to live, and I say to you, I am an innocent man. I want you to recollect that, I am about to suffer on false testimony. My life has been sworn away. There is no other State where I could have been convicted upon this evidence, but the State of Iowa. Still, I do not blame any of you. I don't know that I have any enemies here. I may have but I don't know them. But although my enemies will cheat me out of my life, they can't cheat me out of Heaven. I am going to Heaven. I have no confession to make. I have made none, and I can give you, if there should be anything published, purporting to be McComb's confession, that you will know it is false. I want you all to recollect this, I am an innocent man, and in three or four years, when it is too late to restore me to life, you will know it. I have only one request to make, that my body, after I am dead, be not taken down to the Court House, and exhibited to those who are my enemies."

A black hood was fixed over McComb's face and the noose adjusted around his neck. His hands and feet were bound with rope. At 12:30 p.m., the trapdoor fell and as the newspaper reported, McComb was "launched into eternity." He struggled for some ten minutes before he was finally still and after both doctors checked him for a pulse, he was declared deceased at 12:51.

Conversely, the local Rockford press man who attended the funeral described McComb's final seconds a bit differently stating that after the trap door was sprung and the convict fell through it that, "after some convulsive struggling and nervous twitching, became perfectly motionless and apparently lifeless."

Both newspaper press agents agreed that against McComb's final wishes, his body was taken down from the gallows, dressed, placed in a coffin, and carried outside where soldiers carried him down the hill to the lower hall of the Court House and set McComb's body up for display for the local citizenry to file past. They remained there for the rest of the afternoon until that evening when McComb's body was placed on the evening Express train for Rockford, Illinois.