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Contents vii
CHAPTER 6| 191
Developmental Care of the Well Newborn
Barbara A. Overman and Dorinda L. Welle
Conceptual Foundations of Developmental Care
of the Well Newborn 192
Developmental Care and Neonatal Behavioral Transition 198
The Predictable Behavioral Sequence 199
Newborn States: Co-regulation for Process Completion 201
“Co-regulation Boot Camp”: Bringing in the Milk 205
Newborn Growth Spurt: Expanding and Maturing the Milk 207
Co-regulation for Conformity: Days, Nights, and Elimination 208
Saying Goodbye to the Neonatal Period: Colic, Fatigue, and Mother/Baby Blues 209
Conclusion 212
Student Practice Activities 213
References 214
CHAPTER 7| 219
Newborn Discharge Timing
Katrina Wu and Rachel Stapleton
Introduction 219
Historical Perspective 220
Ethical Considerations 220
Data Collection 220
Teaching and Counseling 222
Standards of Care 223
Birth Center and Home Settings 225
Risk of Readmission 226
Cultural Considerations 228
Conclusion 229
Student Practice Activities 229
References 231
viii Contents
CHAPTER 8| 235
Discharge Teaching
Cara Busenhart
Timing of Discharge 235
Standard of Care/National Guidelines for Care 236
Preparation for Discharge 238
Follow-Up Care 247
Student Practice Activities 248
References 250
CHAPTER 9| 253
Hyperbilirubinemia of the Newborn Born After 35 Weeks’ Gestation
Susan Dragoo
Incidence 255
Bilirubin Metabolism 256
Current Guidelines for Management 259
Pathologic Jaundice 268
Student Practice Activities 271
References 272
CHAPTER 10 | 275
Infection in the Neonate
Sandra L. Gardner and B. J. Snell
Definition and Etiology 275
Prevention 278
Data Collection 278
Differential Diagnoses 301
Standard of Care for Treatment 302
Cultural Considerations 304
Parent Education 305
Student Practice Activities 306
References 308
Contents ix
CHAPTER 11 | 313
General Considerations of the Newborn with Complications
Sheron Bautista and Curry J. Bordelon
Factors Affecting the Developing Fetus 313
Fetal Growth 316
Delivery Complications 319
Genetic Complications 321
Structural Complications 323
Conclusion 326
Student Practice Activities 327
References 329
CHAPTER 12 | 331
Health Maintenance Visits in the First Month of Life
Karla Reinhart and Sandra L. Gardner
Introduction 331
Outpatient Visits 332
Newborn Development 333
Health Maintenance Visits 336
Standard of Care/National Guidelines for Care 348
Cultural Considerations 348
Conclusion 350
Student Practice Activities 351
References 353
xi
xii Preface
community leadership through invited presentations and publications and continues to work
with the March of Dimes.
Sandy Gardner is currently Editor of Nurse Currents, NICU Currents, and Pediatric
Currents (http://www.anhi.org) and the Director of Professional Outreach Consultation
(http://www.professionaloutreachconsultation.com), a national and international consulting
firm established in 1980. Sandy plans, develops, teaches, and coordinates educational
workshops on perinatal/neonatal/pediatric topics. She graduated from a hospital school of
nursing in 1967 with a diploma, obtained her BSN at Spalding College in 1973 (magna cum
laude), and completed her MS at the University of Colorado School of Nursing in 1975 and her
PNP in 1978. Sandy has worked in perinatal/neonatal/pediatric care since 1967 as a clinician
(37 years in direct bedside care), practitioner, teacher, author, and consultant. In 1974, she was
the first Perinatal Outreach Educator in the United States funded by the March of Dimes. In
this role, she taught nurses and physicians in Colorado and the seven surrounding states how
to recognize and stabilize at-risk pregnancies and sick neonates. She consulted with numerous
March of Dimes grantees to help them establish perinatal outreach programs. In 1978,
Sandy was awarded the Gerald Hencmann Award from the March of Dimes for “outstanding
service in the improvement of care to mothers and babies in Colorado.” For 30 years, Sandy
has co-edited Merenstein and Gardner’s Handbook of Neonatal Intensive Care; of the eight
editions, the first (1985), fifth (2002), seventh (2010), and eighth (2015) have all won Book of
the Year Awards from the American Journal of Nursing. Sandy is a founding member of the
Colorado Perinatal Care Council (now the Colorado Perinatal Care Quality Collaborative),
its treasurer, and a member of the Executive Committee. She is also an active member of the
Colorado Nurses Association/American Nurses Association, the Academy of Neonatal Nurses,
and the National Association of Neonatal Nurses.
Care of the Well Newborn focuses on care at birth and through the first month of life. It is
written by teams of advanced practice nurses (nurse–midwives and nurse practitioners) and
is intended to be a comprehensive text for midwifery and nurse practitioner students and pro-
viders. A secondary group of students (physician assistants; medical interns and residents) and
providers will find that Care of the Well Newborn also enables them to provide evidence-based
care to this resilient yet fragile population.
While concentrating on care of the well newborn, this text presents the reader with
assessment criteria for recognition of deviations from normal and strategies for management
based on national recommendations, guidelines, and the standards of care in the literature.
Following a format that includes description of physiology and pathophysiology, data collec-
tion, differential diagnosis, cultural considerations, and parent education, each chapter pres-
ents the latest evidence-based practice. Each chapter also clearly identifies the necessity of
consultation, collaboration, and transfer of care to medical colleagues and specialists when the
“well newborn” develops a complication or becomes “at risk” for a compromised outcome.
Preface xiii
Most chapters include activities intended to augment learning and assist faculty in evalu-
ating learning. These activities include multiple choice questions, case studies, and student
activities. The content is influenced by the core competency requirements for advanced prac-
tice nursing programs and medical education programs. An appendix listing available parent-
education information is also provided.
In the introduction to the sixth edition of Handbook of Neonatal Intensive Care, one of
our medical colleagues, Brian Carter, MD, wrote:
The goals of care should be patient-and-family centered. It is the patient we treat, but
it is the family, of whatever construct, with whom the baby will go home. Indeed, it is
the family who must live with the long-term consequences of our daily decisions in
caring for their baby.
Provision of skilled professional care is included in these goals. An effective perinatal care
team consists of educated, skilled professionals of many disciplines. Our hope is that Care of
the Well Newborn becomes the text that many disciplines use for evidence-based care.
It has been our honor and privilege to work with our co-authors, all of whom are patient-
and-family centered. We also deeply appreciate our amazing editing team of Danielle Bessette
and Teresa Reilly, who have produced this text in 9 months, an appropriate time frame for the
birth of this effort!
B. J. Snell and Sandy L. Gardner
Co-editors
Foreword
This book is designed to facilitate the efforts of students to learn about the care of the well
newborn. It differs from textbooks in which the newborn is just one part of the totality of the
practice of a specialty (e.g., midwives and family nurse practitioners), and even from textbooks
that address all aspects of care of the newborn, including the critically ill newborn. Care of the
Well Newborn is a comprehensive text that focuses exclusively on the well newborn.
Care provided by nurse–midwives has always included care of the well newborn, but the
scope of this care has greatly evolved over the years. Nurse–midwives from the mid-1920s to
the early 1950s were also public health nurses; thus, they provided health care for the entire
family. The move of nurse–midwives into the hospital for births began during the mid-1950s.
In the hospital setting, nurse–midwifery care of the newborn was limited to immediate
evaluation to determine the need for resuscitation and to the provision of whatever care was
needed. Once in the nursery, the baby was under the care of a pediatrician.
The education of a nurse–midwife regarding the care of the newborn needed to cover
more than this immediate resuscitation evaluation and provision, however, because of the
expanded care provided for babies born out-of-hospital and the extended care determined by
the needs of the population served. For example, nurse–midwives in Mississippi during the
early 1970s were able to cut the infant mortality by nearly half in the population they served.
The babies were born in the hospital with nurse–midwives in attendance, but the nurse–mid-
wives then continued to provide well-baby evaluation and care combined with parental educa-
tion through an intensive postpartal/neonatal/infant home-visiting program for the first year
of life. In addition, midwifery care has always emphasized facilitation of breastfeeding regard-
less of locale of birth.
When the first American College of Nurse–Midwives (ACNM) Core Competencies docu-
ment was published in 1978, it included expected competencies in the care of the newborn.
The 2002 revision of the Core Competencies made it clear that nurse–midwifery care of the
newborn was specifically care during the first 28 days of life.
The creators and editors of this text are two deeply committed and highly experienced
expert clinicians and educators who have lived much of the history of the early movement of
nurse practitioners and their professional organizations, as well as that of the involvement of
the March of Dimes in perinatal outreach and education. The nurse practitioner movement
started in 1965 at the University of Colorado. Women’s healthcare nurse practitioners followed
the path first tread by family planning nurse practitioners during the 1970s and the obstetric
and gynecologic nurse practitioners of the 1980s. In addition to the emergence of the nurse
xiv
Foreword xv
Nicole Boucher, PhD, RN, CPNP-PC Donna J. Marvicsin, PhD, PPCNP-BC, CDE
Clinical Assistant Professor Clinical Associate Professor
Department of Health Behavior and Health Behavior and Biological Sciences
Biological Sciences School of Nursing
School of Nursing University of Michigan
University of Michigan Ann Arbor, MI
Ann Arbor, MI
Barbara A. Overman, CNM, PhD
Cara A. Busenhart, PhD, CNM, APRN Associate Professor
Program Director, Nurse-Midwifery College of Nursing
Education University of New Mexico
Clinical Assistant Professor Albuquerque, NM
School of Nursing
University of Kansas Medical Center
Kansas City, KS
xvi
Contributors xvii
xviii
CHAPTER
1
Professional Responsibilities
in the Provision of Newborn Care
Sandra L. Gardner and B. J. Snell
Newborn care is provided by a wide variety of providers, ranging from nurse practitioners,
certified nurse–midwives, certified midwives, and certified professional midwives, to clinical
nurse specialists, physicians, and physician assistants. Education with a focus on the newborn
and initial month of life ensures the stabilization and ongoing transition of the baby from
birth. Care of the newborn requires the provider to not only have current expertise but also
be cognizant of and meet the standards of care.
The purpose of such standards is to assist clinicians in providing effective neonatal health
services, and to encourage them to use resources appropriately to achieve optimal healthcare
outcomes. The term newborn resulting from an uncomplicated pregnancy and birth requires
more surveillance—rather than intervention—after the initial stabilization. Neonatal resus-
citation guidelines label this practice “routine care.” Early surveillance and development of a
plan of care provides a foundation for the baby to make the transition to extrauterine life and
thrive in the first month of life.
While the information included in this text is addressed to nonphysician providers, the
content is not specific to any particular profession. In 1980, the American Nurses Association
(ANA, 1980) defined nursing as “the diagnosis and treatment of the human response to actual
or potential health problems.” In 2003, the ANA updated the definition of nursing to include
the following elements:
• Alleviation of suffering through the diagnosis and treatment of the human response to
actual or potential health problems
• Advocacy in the care of individuals, families, communities, and populations
A newer definition of nursing includes important components of the ANA’s (2015a) Code of
Ethics for Nurses.
In addition, advanced clinicians (i.e., certified nurse–midwives [CNM], certified midwives
[CM], certified professional midwives [CPM], nurse practitioners [NP], clinical nurse specialists
[CNS], and certified registered nurse anesthetists [CRNA]) are responsible for taking medical
histories, performing physical examinations, performing diagnostic testing, establishing di-
agnoses, and providing treatments. Consultation, collaboration, co-management, and referral
of the patient to medical colleagues and other health professionals, when necessary, are other
responsibilities of the advanced practice provider.
The newly born human infant and the neonate (defined as an infant from birth through
the first 28 days of life) rely on nurses and advanced practice providers to render care that
meets national, state, and local standards. This chapter outlines the professional responsibili-
ties of such healthcare providers, including an overview of why newborns are different; profes-
sional practice including standards of care, scope of practice, and evidence-based practice; and
ethical and legal guidelines that apply to all providers of care to newborns and neonates.
Anatomic/Physiologic
System Difference Developmental Immaturity
Respiratory 22–24 weeks’ gestation: Lung development related to
(Gardner, Enzman, & Differentiation into type I and type gestational age. Surfactant
Nyp, 2016) II cells (type II create and store deficiency causes alveolar collapse
surfactant). and is the cause of respiratory
distress syndrome in premature
lungs.
24–40 weeks’ gestation: Lung Prior to 24–40 weeks, the fetal
differentiates into alveolar ducts and lungs are incapable of supporting
alveoli; decreased mesenchyme and adequate gaseous exchange.
pulmonary capillaries approximate
alveoli for gaseous exchange.
At term, the number of airways is Continues to develop from birth to
complete, sufficient for gaseous about 8 years of age. Ongoing lung
exchange, and the pulmonary development enables infants who
capillary bed is sufficient to carry suffer severe lung disease at birth to
the gases exchanged. “outgrow” their disease.
Smaller size, number, and shape of
alveoli; smaller diameter of airways.
The first breath of life occurs as a
result of changes in temperature,
handling, and changes in PaO2
and PaCO2. Exposure of the lung
to oxygen decreases pulmonary
vascular resistance, increases
pulmonary blood flow from 10%
in fetal life to 100% in neonatal life,
and results in increased pulmonary
perfusion and oxygenation.
The closer an infant is to term Adjusting supplemental
gestation, the more musculature oxygen, especially lowering the
there is around the pulmonary concentration, must be done slowly
capillary bed. Sudden increases or and in small increments (i.e., 2%
decreases in oxygen concentration to 5%) to avoid the flip-flop
(Continued)
4 chapter 1: Professional Responsibilities in the Provision of Newborn Care
Anatomic/Physiologic
System Difference Developmental Immaturity
may result in a disproportionate phenomenon. Lowering oxygen
increase or decrease in PaO2 caused concentration, or any hypoxic
by vasodilation or vasoconstriction. insult, initiates pulmonary
vasoconstriction, which causes
hypoperfusion and increased
pulmonary vascular resistance.
Cardiac (Gardner, The first breath of life initiates the The ductus arteriosus is functionally
Enzman, & Nyp, 2016) change from fetal to adult cardiac closed at birth, but is anatomically
circulation as the ductus arteriosus closed only at around 3 months of
closes in the presence of oxygen age. Any hypoxia event occurring
and the foramen ovale closes in the before anatomic closure results in
presence of increased left-sided opening of the ductus arteriosus.
heart pressure.
The ductus venosus in the liver is The combination of pulmonary
an anatomic shunt that also closes hypoperfusion and increased
at birth. pulmonary vascular resistance in
the lungs and the opening of the
ductus arteriosus is a return to fetal
circulation, a pathologic condition
called persistent pulmonary
hypertension of the newborn (PPHN).
Central Nervous
System (CNS)
Thermoregulation Humans are homeotherms—able At birth neonates are able to
(Altimier, 2012; to increase and decrease body respond as homeotherms,
Gardner & temperature so as to maintain but within a narrower body
Hernandez, 2016a) normal core temperature over temperature range than an adult.
a wide range of environmental
temperatures.
The first neonatal organ that The basal metabolic rate of a
responds to cold stress is the skin. newborn is twice that of an adult,
A skin temperature of 36.5°C (97.7°F) so more energy is necessary to
is the temperature at which a maintain normal body temperature.
newborn is thermal neutral or is in a
thermal neutral environment (i.e., the
Why Newborns Are Different 5
Anatomic/Physiologic
System Difference Developmental Immaturity
temperature at which oxygen
consumption and basal metabolic
rate are minimal). Waiting for
the core temperature (i.e., rectal
temperature) to fall is too late for
intervention.
Skin-to-skin care with parents at Lack of subcutaneous fat for
and after birth maintains thermal insulation, lack of brown fat for
neutrality in newborns. In response nonshivering thermogenesis,
to a drop in the newborn’s and lack of the ability to flex to
temperature, mothers automatically conserve heat compromise the
raise their body temperature (a preterm infant’s ability to maintain
process called thermal synchrony) thermal neutrality. In addition, the
to warm their infant. hypothalamus of a preterm infant
is immature and unable to maintain
temperature. The ability to maintain
normal body temperature is related
to gestational age. Younger, smaller
neonates, including late-preterm
infants (34 0/7 to 36 6/7 weeks’
gestation), are unable to maintain
their own body temperature and
may need assistance.
Term newborns may be able to Infants less than 36 weeks’ gestation
sweat, first on their foreheads, then do not have the ability to sweat, so
on their chest, upper arms, and they are unable to cool themselves
lower body. if they are environmentally
overheated or if they are febrile.
Pain (Gardner, Myelination of pain pathways
Enzman, & Agarwal, occurs between 30 and 37 weeks’
2016) gestation. Unmyelinated fibers
carry pain stimuli more slowly, but
in the neonate this is offset by
the shorter distance the impulse
must travel.
(Continued)
6 chapter 1: Professional Responsibilities in the Provision of Newborn Care
Anatomic/Physiologic
System Difference Developmental Immaturity
Neonates, including preterm Pain perception is well developed
infants, have a CNS that is mature in the premature infant, but the
enough to carry and interpret pain inhibitory ability of the CNS to pain
stimuli. is not well developed. Therefore,
neonates of younger gestational
ages experience more—rather
than less—pain. With decreasing
Pain responses include behavioral, gestational age, behavioral pain
physiologic, and metabolic/ responses are less robust because of
hormonal changes. the immaturity of the CNS.
Sensory (Gardner, At birth, term newborns have fully
Goldson, & developed and functional sensory
Hernandez, 2016) perception:
• Hearing: Have been hearing
since 20–22 weeks in utero;
react to loud noises; able to
distinguish parents’ voices from
those of strangers; turn toward
auditory stimuli; able to turn
toward preferred story heard in
utero.
• Vision: Able to see light/dark in Eyes are fused until approximately
utero; able to see 8–10 inches from 26 weeks’ gestational age.
face; able to distinguish/prefer
parents’ faces; able to follow
objects horizontally/ vertically;
prefer human face and patterns;
recoil from bright light.
• Smell/taste: Able to taste flavors Unable to differentiate salty
in utero and know mother’s scent solution.
from scent in amniotic fluid; able
to find maternal nipple by smell;
by 5 days of age, term babies are
able to turn toward own mother’s
nursing pad and start sucking;
recoil from unpleasant smells
Why Newborns Are Different 7
Anatomic/Physiologic
System Difference Developmental Immaturity
(vinegar, ammonia) and tastes Noxious smells cause apnea in
(bitter, acid, sour); prefer sweet younger gestational-age infants.
taste.
• Tactile/kinesthetic: Major method
of communication and highest
developed sense. Touch is
especially well developed in face,
around lips (root reflex), and in
the hands (grasp reflex). Able to
“read” an adult by the manner
in which the adult handles and
cares for the infant.
• Communication: Crying is the
language newborns and infants
use to communicate their needs.
Crying may also be a response
to a noisy, cold, boring, or over-
stimulating environment. The
more responsive adults are to the
infant’s cries and needs, the less
crying is necessary. Infants learn
to associate comfort with the
responsive caregiver.
Circadian rhythm/ Humans cycle body functions Development of circadian rhythms
sleep–wake cycles (i.e., blood pressure, temperature, in infants is influenced by genetic
(Gardner, Goldson, & hormonal changes, urine volume, factors, gender, brain maturation,
Hernandez, 2016) and sleep–wake) in a 24-hour period. and the environment.
Active sleep: Rapid eye movements At birth and in the first few weeks
(REM) and muscle activity such as of life, term newborns begin sleep
sucking, rooting, and startles. Adults in active (rather than quiet) sleep,
dream in REM sleep. spend more time in active sleep
than do adults, sleep 16–19 hours/
day, and distribute their sleep over
a 24-hour period.
Quiet sleep: No rapid eye Infant sleep-cycle duration:
movement (non-REM). 50–60 minutes.
(Continued)
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Two lifted the door, while Smith Ball drew his revolver and stood
ready. The remainder seized the boots.
On lifting the door, Pizanthia was found lying flat, and badly hurt.
His revolver was beside him. He was quickly dragged out, Smith Ball
paying him for the wound he had received by emptying his revolver
into him.
A clothes line was taken down and fastened round his neck; the
leader climbed a pole, and the rest holding up the body, he wound
the rope round the top of the stick of timber, making a jam hitch.
While aloft, fastening all securely, the crowd blazed away upon the
murderer swinging beneath his feet. At his request—“Say, boys! stop
shooting a minute”—the firing ceased, and he came down by the
run. Over one hundred shots were discharged at the swaying
corpse.
A friend—one of the four Bannack originals—touched the
leader’s arm, and said, “Come and see my bon-fire.” Walking down
to the cabin, he found that it had been razed to the ground by the
maddened people, and was then in a bright glow of flame. A
proposition to burn the Mexican was received with a shout of
exultation. The body was hauled down and thrown upon the pile,
upon which it was burned to ashes so completely that not a trace of
a bone could be seen when the fire burned out.
In the morning some women of ill-fame actually panned out the
ashes, to see whether the desperado had any gold in his purse. We
are glad to say that they were not rewarded for their labors by
striking any auriferous deposit.
The popular vengeance had been only partially satisfied, so far as
Pizanthia was concerned; and it would be well if those who preach
against the old Vigilance Committee would reflect upon the great
difference which existed between the prompt and really necessary
severity which they exercised and the wild and ungovernable
passion which goads the masses of all countries, when roused to
deeds of vengeance of a type so fearful, that humanity recoils at the
recital. Over and over again, we have heard a man declaring that it
was “A —— shame,” to hang some one that he wished to see
punished. “——, he ought to be burnt; I would pack brush three miles
up a mountain myself.” “He ought to be fried in his own grease,” etc.,
and it must not be supposed that such expressions were mere idle
bravado. The men said just what they meant. In cases where
criminals convicted of grand larceny have been whipped, it has
never yet happened that the punishment has satisfied the crowd.
The truth is, that the Vigilance Committee simply punished with
death, men unfit to live in any community, and that death was,
usually, almost instantaneous, and only momentarily painful. With
the exceptions recorded (Stinson and Ray) the drop and the death of
the victim seemed simultaneous. In a majority of cases, a few almost
imperceptible muscular contortions, not continuing over a few
seconds, were all that the keenest observer could detect; whereas,
had their punishment been left to outsiders, the penalty would have
been cruel and disgusting in the highest degree. What would be
thought of the burning of Wagner and panning out his ashes, by
order of the Vigilantes. In every case where men have
confessed their crimes to the Vigilantes of Montana, they dreaded
the vengeance of their comrades far more than their execution at the
hands of the Committee, and clung to them as if they considered
them friends.
A remarkable instance of this kind was apparent in the conduct of
John Wagner. While in custody at the cabin, on Yankee Flat, the
sound of footsteps and suppressed voices was heard, in the night.
Fetherstun jumped up, determined to defend himself and his
prisoner to the last. Having prepared his arms, he cast a look over
his shoulder to see what Dutch John was doing. The Road Agent
stood with a double-barrelled gun in his hand, evidently watching for
a chance to do battle on behalf of his captor. Fetherstun glanced
approvingly at him, and said, “That’s right, John, give them ——.”
John smiled grimly and nodded, the muzzle of his piece following the
direction of the sound, and his dark eyes glaring like those of a
roused lion. Had he wished, he could have shot Fetherstun in the
back, without either difficulty or danger. Probably the assailants
heard the ticking of the locks of the pieces, in the still night, and
therefore determined not to risk such an attack, which savages of all
kinds especially dislike.
The evening after the death of Pizanthia, the newly organized
Committee met, and, after some preliminary discussion, a vote was
taken as to the fate of Dutch John. The result was that his execution
was unanimously adjudged, as the only penalty meeting the merits
of the case. He had been a murderer and a highway robber, for
years.
One of the number present at the meeting was deputed to convey
the intelligence to Wagner; and, accordingly, he went down to his
place of confinement and read to him his sentence of death,
informing him that he would be hanged in an hour from that time.
Wagner was much shocked by the news. He raised himself to his
feet and walked with agitated and tremulous steps across the floor,
once or twice. He begged hard for life, praying them to cut off his
arms and legs, and then to let him go. He said, “You know I could do
nothing then.” He was informed that his request could not be
complied with, and that he must prepare to die.
Finding death to be inevitable, Wagner summoned his fortitude to
his aid and showed no more signs of weakness. It was a matter of
regret that he could not be saved for his courage, and (outside of his
villainous trade) his good behaviour won upon his captors and
judges to an extent that they were unwilling to admit, even to
themselves. Amiability and bravery could not be taken as excuses
for murder and robbery, and so Dutch John had to meet a felon’s
death and the judgment to come, with but short space for
repentance.
He said that he wished to send a letter to his mother, in New York,
and inquired whether there was not a Dutchman in the house, who
could write in his native language. A man being procured qualified as
desired, he communicated his wishes to him and his amanuensis
wrote as directed. Wagner’s fingers were rolled up in rags and he
could not handle the pen without inconvenience and pain. He had
not recovered from the frost-bites which had moved the pity of X.
Beidler when he met John before his capture, below Red Rock. The
epistle being finished, it was read aloud by the scribe; but it did not
please Wagner. He pointed out several inaccuracies in the method of
carrying out his instructions, both as regarded the manner and the
matter of the communication; and at last, unrolling the rags from his
fingers, he sat down and wrote the missive himself.
He told his mother that he was condemned to die, and had but a
few minutes to live; that when coming over from the other side, to
deal in horses; he had been met by bad men, who had forced him to
adopt the line of life that had placed him in his present miserable
position; that the crime for which he was sentenced to die was
assisting in robbing a wagon, in which affair he had been wounded
and taken prisoner, and that his companion had been killed. (This
latter assertion he probably believed.) He admitted the justice of his
sentence.
The letter, being concluded, was handed to the Vigilantes for
transmission to his mother. He then quietly replaced the bandages
on his wounded fingers. The style of the composition showed that he
was neither terrified nor even disturbed at the thought of the fast
approaching and disgraceful end of his guilty life. The statements
were positively untrue, in many particulars, and he seemed to write
only as a matter of routine duty; though we may hope that his
affection for his mother was, at least, genuine.
He was marched from the place of his confinement to an
unfinished building, where the bodies of Stinson and Plummer were
laid out—the one on the floor and the other on a work bench. Ray’s
corpse had been handed over to his mistress, at her special request.
The doomed man gazed without shrinking on the remains of the
malefactors, and asked leave to pray. This was of course, granted,
and he knelt down. His lips moved rapidly; but he uttered no word
audibly. On rising to his feet, he continued, apparently to pray,
looking round, however, upon the assembled Vigilantes all the time.
A rope being thrown over a cross-beam, a barrel was placed ready
for him to stand upon. While the final preparations were making, the
prisoner asked how long it would take him to die, as he had never
seen a man hanged. He was told that it would be only a short time.
The noose was adjusted; a rope was tied round the head of the
barrel and the party took hold. At the word, “All ready,” the barrel was
instantly jerked from beneath his feet, and he swung in the death
agony. His struggles were very powerful, for a short time; so iron a
frame could not quit its hold on life as easily as a less muscular
organization. After hanging till frozen stiff, the body was cut down
and buried decently.
CHAPTER XX.
THE CAPTURE AND EXECUTION OF BOONE
HELM, JACK GALLAGHER, FRANK PARISH,
HAZE LYONS AND CLUB-FOOT GEORGE (LANE.)