The gory tumult of the hanging of convicted murderer John Gordon caused then-Gov. Nelson Dingley Jr.’s Executive Board on July 6, 1875, to vote 4-3 to commute Lowell’s sentence to life in prison. With that, Lowell no longer faced the gallows.
According to Mark Mogensen, managing editor/days, “among Steve Collin's many qualities, the one I respect the most has nothing to do with his many talents as a writer, as a researcher, as a communicator, as a trusted co-worker or a knowledgeable journalist. It's his fundamental understanding of how important local journalism is to all of us. His regard for the truth and accuracy."
The public “betook themselves to the courthouse to hear one of the last, and most solemn, of the many scenes which the Switzerland road tragedy has afforded,” the Journal reported an hour later. “There they were, promptly on hand to hear the doom which the law should affix to the guilt it had already decided.”