Campbell Hanged -- Witness: Silhouettes And Shadows

WALLA WALLA - Even for those of us seated directly in front of him, it was difficult to tell precisely how Charles Campbell met his end.

With a slight struggle? With passive resistance? Or simply limp with fear and weakness?

One thing seemed clear: Once he dropped through the trapdoor of the Washington State Penitentiary's gallows, death came quickly.

Minutes before midnight, 12 media witnesses had been led into the dimly lit execution chamber.

Already seated, wearing white carnations and white ribbons to honor Campbell's three 1982 murder victims, were Donald and Daniel Hendrickson, husband and son of Barbara Hendrickson, and Lorene Ahlers Iverson, sister of Renae Wicklund and aunt of 8-year-old Shannah Wicklund.

Also present were Snohomish County Prosecutor Seth Dawson, sitting upright, and Campbell's attorney, James Lobsenz, bent forward, head in his hands.

Above and in front of us, we saw the silhouettes of a noose and a microphone, hanging behind a translucent curtain.

At 12:05 a.m., we heard a slight scraping sound and saw a shadow pass quickly behind the curtain.

At 12:07, we heard the voice of Penitentiary Superintendent Tana Wood announce: "Mr. Campbell has declined to give any last words."

No last words, we had been told, meant no parting of the curtain between us and Campbell, no clear view of the man about to die.

Instead, we watched the shadows of three upper bodies move behind the curtain.

Clearly, there was some difficulty. Campbell had been strapped to a vertical board to hold him upright; prison officials later said he had been too weak to walk from his cell near the gallows.

The silhouetted figures - one with bushy, shoulder-length hair - moved about one another.

At one point, it appeared one of the guards held Campbell by the hair; at another, his head moved away from the hood a guard tried to place over it. Tightening the noose took several tugs. But there was no outcry or shout of protest, just the shuffling of feet.

At 12:08, the trapdoor opened with a "thunk" and Campbell's hooded body appeared in full view in a lower window directly in front of us. The body, still strapped to the board, bounced slightly as it hit the end of the rope.

But there was no movement from the body itself, other than a gentle turning clockwise away from us.

In less than a minute, Wood came down a spiral staircase and pulled a curtain inside the lower window, eliminating our view.

The Hendricksons turned quietly and touched the hand of Iverson, sitting behind them.

A penitentiary staffer touched Lobsenz on the knee, asking if he was all right; he indicated he was.

At 12:15 a.m., a light blinked on a telephone on the wall.

Prison spokesman Veltry Johnson answered it, then hung up and told witnesses, "The execution of Charles Rodman Campbell by hanging has been completed. The doctor pronounced death at 12:14 a.m."

Within moments, witnesses were led from the room.

The media witnesses went to a holding room to compare notes before conducting a briefing for the rest of the assembled press.

But the indirect view created varied conclusions. Most reporters were unsure whether they had seen a struggle or a brief awkwardness in putting the hood and noose in place.

Johnson said the superintendent told him Campbell had not struggled, but the official word did not erase the uncertainty of the eyewitnesses.

Prosecutor Dawson, speaking to reporters afterward, also said he believed he had seen "some form of resistance."

"I thought clearly," Dawson said, "he did not die willingly."