General Howe's headquarters were at this time in the elegant Beekman
mansion, situated near what is now the corner of Fifty-First Street
and First Avenue. Calm and fearless, the captured spy stood before
the British commander. He bravely owned that he was an American
officer, and said that he was sorry he had not been able to serve his
country better. No time was to be wasted in calling a court-martial.
Without trial of any kind, Captain Hale was condemned to die the
death of a spy. {59} The verdict was that he should be hanged by the
neck, "to-morrow morning at daybreak."

[Illustration: The Patriot Spy before the British General]

That night, which was Saturday, September 21, the condemned man was
kept under a strong guard, in the greenhouse near the Beekman
mansion. He had been given over to the care of the brutal Cunningham,
the infamous British provost marshal, with orders to carry out the
sentence before sunrise the next morning.

"To-morrow morning at daybreak."

How cruelly brief! Nathan Hale, the patriot spy, was left to himself
for the night.

When morning came, Cunningham found his prisoner ready. While
preparations were being made, a young officer, moved in spite of
himself, allowed Hale to sit in his tent long enough to write brief
letters to his parents and his friends. The letters were passed to
Cunningham to be sent. He read them, and as he saw the noble spirit
which breathed in every line, the wretch {60} began to curse, and
tore the letters into bits before the face of his victim. He said
that the rebels should never know they had a man who could die with
such firmness.

It was just before sunrise on a lovely Sabbath morning that Nathan
Hale was led out to death. The gallows was the limb of an apple tree.
Early as it was, a number of men and women had come to witness the
execution.

"Give us your dying speech, you young rebel!" shouted the brutal
Cunningham.

The young patriot, standing upon the fatal ladder, lifted his eyes
toward heaven, and said, in a calm, clear voice, "I only regret that
I have but one life to lose for my country."

These were his last words. The women sobbed, and some of the men
began to show signs of sympathy.

"Swing the rebel off!" cried Cunningham, in a voice hoarse with
anger. The order was obeyed.

[Illustration: Statue of Nathan Hale, standing in City Hall Park in
New York City]

Half an hour later, the body of the patriot spy was buried, probably
ben