Stay of execution in Mineral Point

Another great idea shot to hell.

There'll be no reenactment of a hanging in Mineral Point next weekend, George Hesselberg reports in the Wisconsin State Journal.

What's to blame? Simply:

The delicate sensibilities of the populace, the recommendation of a tourism consultant and the uncomfortable and unplanned connection to the November election referendum on the death penalty doomed the ambitious plans of a pair of local boosters.

In a way, it's too bad. Maybe they could have combined it with a reenactment of the Kenosha hanging of John McCaffrey in 1851, when it took him about 15 minutes on the end of the noose to die in front of a crowd of thousands. It was the only legal execution in the State of Wisconsin (Wisconsin was still a territory for the Mineral Point hanging), and was so gruesome it led to abolishment of the death penalty.

Maybe they could take the show on tour around the state during October, reminding the people of Wisconsin why this state hasn't had capital punishment for 153 years -- and why they should vote to keep it that way on Nov. 7.