Today, the death penalty is considered a highly debatable topic. I support the death penalty, but I see it as a means to an end because it doesn’t deter criminal behavior. Also, an execution won’t bring your loved one back. In many cases it leaves emptiness. The only comfort you can take is knowing the deceased won’t harm anyone else.

Regarding executions, our judicial system doesn’t always get it right. Our history has proven that overzealous police officers and prosecutors have sent innocent people to prison and death row. It would be foolish and naïve for us to assume our government has never executed an innocent person.

This week, I have a story about an innocent man who came close to having his neck stretched by a rope. According to some, a divine intervention from God saved this man’s life. But for those who don’t believe in miracles, they just called the man’s salvation pure luck. However, if you asked Will Purvis why he didn’t get executed, he would have told you that God himself plucked him from death’s icy grip.

In 1893, a farmer named William Buckley, his brother Jim and a farmhand crossed a stream when bullets rang out from two attackers. William Buckley died in the ambush, but his brother and the farmhand escaped with their lives. Jim Buckley said he recognized one killer as Will Purvis, a local 21-year-old farmer.

Jim Buckley reported the murder to authorities. The sheriff arrested Purvis without any resistance. Authorities charged Purvis with killing William Buckley in Marion County, Mississippi. Purvis proclaimed his innocence and said he spent the day with his family when Buckley was killed. Purvis’s friends and relatives also testified on his behalf.

The jury gave much credence to Jim Buckley’s eyewitness account and convicted Purvis. On August 5, 1893, the jury sentenced Purvis to be hanged on February 7, 1894. Afterward, Purvis filed an appeal.

While in jail, Reverend J.G. Sibley of the Columbia Methodist Church befriended Purvis. Sibley helped Purvis with spiritual guidance and comforted the convicted farmer.

Sibley believed in Purvis’s innocence and held a special service every Wednesday for Purvis. The church prayed for God to save Purvis from his impending execution. The service drew much attention from the locals as many came to believe Purvis was innocent. Unfortunately, for Purvis, his appeals failed. He would be executed as scheduled.

On February 7, 1894, the sheriff led Purvis to a scaffold erected in Columbia, Mississippi. It’s believed that a crowd of 5,000 people showed up to watch the execution. In those days, public executions were a spectator sport. Families brought their lunches to witness public executions. I consider this unusual, but then the Romans fed people to famished lions.

One woman started a chant of Confess! Confess! Confess! The crowd wanted Purvis hanged sooner than later. Before the rope was placed around Purvis’ neck, he told the crowd “You are going to take the life of an innocent man, but there are people here that know who committed the crime and if they will come forward and confess, I will go free.” No one came forward.

Only Revered Sibley and his parishioners believed in Purvis’s innocence. Before the execution, the reverend and his parishioners continued to pray for Purvis.

The executioner dropped a hood over Purvis, slipped a rope around Purvis’s neck and then tied his ankles together. In a final act of desperation, Reverend Sibley shouted to the heavens, “Almighty God, if it be thy will, stay the hand of the executioner.” The sheriff placed his hand on Purvis’s shoulder and said, “God help you Will Purvis.”

Will Purvis remained strong. He wouldn’t beg for his life or confess to a crime he didn’t commit. He would die as an innocent man.

Marc is a longtime resident of Clermont County and an avid reader. Contact him through his website at www.themarcabe.com or through Facebook: www.Facebook.com/themarcabe or his Twitter account @themarcabe.