The spectre of the hangman didn’t diminish Clement Arthur Day’s appetite or sense of humor. The veteran, who had served General Custer, had a relatively jovial time on the day he was hanged for the brutal murder of his girlfriend in upstate New York. The execution took place in Utica, and the Brooklyn Daily Eagle filed a report about the unusual proceedings in its February 9, 1888 edition. An excerpt:

“Clement Arthur Day was hanged here this morning. He ate a hearty supper at 6 o’clock last evening, and at 12:15 called for shrimp salad, bologna sausage, bread and oranges, which were furnished and of which he ate heartily. Before this lunch he sang several songs, danced a jig and imitated the crowing of a cock, which being answered by some women prisoners in another portion of the jail pleased him immensely. At 12:39 he retired and was soon sleeping soundly. He did not awaken until 6:30 this morning when he arose complaining of a slight headache and a sour stomach and asked for a seidlitz powder.

This being furnished and taken, Day proceeded to make away with a hearty breakfast of ham and eggs, toast and coffee, and then practiced for a while on his guitar. At 7:30 he was shaved and dressed, ready for the expected visit of his spiritual adviser. He spoke lightly of his now rapidly approaching doom and asked that he be furnished with a substantial lunch before the march to the gallows began.

The Rev. E. Owen, Day’s spiritual comforter, arrived at 9:15 and was at once closeted with the condemned, who seemed the less nervous of the two. Just before the clergyman’s arrival Day announced his attention of making no remarks at the scaffold or to the press and walked down the corridor humming a lively tune. He was most particular about his dress and allowed a deputy to spend considerable time over him with a brush broom. During the brief interval before the reading of the death warrant the Rev. Mr. Owen offered prayer. He was followed by Day with an eloquent supplication in which the doomed man said he was not guilty of premeditated murder. Sheriff Batchelor then read the warrant, to which Day listened with a grin on his face. His arms were then pinioned and the march to the scaffold was begun. Day laughed at a reporter who slipped on the icy walk. Then the murderer mounted the platform with a firm tread. He even assisted in placing the noose under his chin and yawned during the operation. A brief prayer was said and the drop fell at 10:24 1/24 and nine minutes later he was pronounced dead. The neck was broken and the face not contorted. But twenty-four persons witnessed the execution.

The crime for which Day was executed was the murder of Josie Rosa Cross, near Boonville on the 8th of June last. The victim was the daughter of a respectable woman who resides in Rome. She met Day after having separated from her husband by mutual consent. She was prepossessing and well educated, having formerly an excellent reputation as a teacher of music. After residing with Day at different places for a year or so the couple moved in May last to the scene of the crime, where they resided with Day’s father, who was a lock tender on the Black River Canal. The girl’s mother wrote Josie that she was dying and wanted her at her bedside. The letter infuriated Day, who declared that it was a scheme to part him from Josie, but he finally consented to her going, threatening that if she did not return he would kill both her and her mother. On the morning of the date the crime was committed Josie started to walk to Boonville to mail a letter to her mother in reference to the proposed visit. Day left the house with her and when only a short distance from it threw his arm around her and with a large butcher knife stabbed her fourteen times in the breast and heart.”