even going so far as to refuse to meet with Gordon's supporters. Lincoln said at the time, "I believe I am kindly enough in nature, and can be moved to pity and to pardon the perpetrator of almost the worst crime that the mind of man can conceive or the arm of man can execute; but any man, who, for paltry gain and stimulated only by avarice, can rob Africa of her children to sell into interminable bondage, I never will pardon." On the question of a commutation, Lincoln wrote that "I think I would personally prefer to let this man live in confinement and let him meditate on his deeds, yet in the name of justice and the majesty of law, there ought to be one case, at least one specific instance, of a professional slave-trader, a Northern white man, given the exact penalty of death because of the incalculable number of deaths he and his kind inflicted upon black men amid the horror of the sea-voyage from Africa." Lincoln did give him a two-week stay of execution to "[make] the necessary preparation for the awful change which awaits him", setting the new execution date for February 21, 1862, on the grounds that Gordon had been misled into thinking he would not be executed. Early the morning before the execution, Gordon unsuccessfully attempted suicide with strychnine poison. Three doctors worked four hours to keep him alive by pumping his stomach, catheterizing him, and force-feeding him brandy and whiskey. After regaining consciousness, he cried out "I've cheated you! I've cheated you!" Gordon then begged the doctors assist his suicide, saying he would rather die alone than suffer the humiliation of being publicly executed. He was sufficiently revived to make a speech before approaching the gallows, in which he asked his friends to take care of his wife and child and falsely claimed the prosecutor had misled him into believing he would be spared. His last words, spoken to his executioner, were: "Make short work of it now, Bill. I'm ready." References Citations Sources Further reading Hugh Thomas, The Slave Trade: The Story of the Atlantic Slave Trade: 1440-1870. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1997 Annual reports and charter, constitution, by-laws, names of officers, committees, members, etc., etc. googlebooks Retrieved September 12, 2009 External links , Worcester Aegis and Transcript, December 7, 1861, p 1. (From Letters of the Civil War