Charles Butler
Charles Butler, a man who had once studied medicine, was held in the Whitley County jail in Indiana. A writer who said he visited Butler in custody described his pleasing face and modest, musical voice, and said that in his cell Butler tapped out a message to his wife and child. In October 1884 Butler was taken from the jail and hanged, and the writer says his neck was broken. In an opinion essay published in the Indianapolis Journal in June 1885, the writer says Butler came from a long family history of mental illness and describes Butler's own mental state as unsound.
Cause of death, as reported: Executed by the state. The writer, who says he visited Butler in custody, objects that Butler had a long family history of mental illness.
Reported by: the writer of the opinion essay.