A TRAGEDY.

Gisborne Times, Volume XIX, Issue 1649, 16 January 1906, Page 3

A TRAGEDY.

SYMPATHY FOE A MURDEREB. t—t»»-J Now York Deo. 9. In tko ease of a woman hangod in tho Stato of Vormont it was brought to light that under tho laws of the State of Vormont a death sentence can* not be executed until a sossion of the Legislature has intervened between ihe time of sentence and the date set for execution. When the Legislature net in October, 1901, a bill was introluced providing for the commutation >f Mrs Roger’s sentence to imprisonnent for life. At the same time another bill abolishing the death penalty was also introduced. Both bills went down to defeat, the first by a vote of 137 to 81, and the second by a vote of 139 to 91. The next step in the fight for the life of the convicted woman was the introduction of a bill providing for the appointment of a. commission to inquire into her sanity. This bill passed the State House of Representatives unanimously, but was defeated in the Senate. The vote on the bill was not made public, but it was announced that it was defeated in the ratio of three to one After this the only hope of the friends of the condemned woman was for Governor |

Charles J. Bell to grant a reprieve. Governor Bell asked Attorney-General Clarke C. Fitts for an opinion on the matter, and the Attorney-General reported that the Governor had no power to reprieve. Then came an appeal to the United States Supreme Court, which acted as a stay of execution until that Court refused last month to interfere. The woman was then sentenced for the third time, she having boon convicted two years ago. The strange thing to many ‘people is the interest incited, as the woman seems to have been, although only 20 years old, of the most depraved character, and the murder most deliberate. Under the deception of a reconciliation with her husband, from whom she had been estranged, she beguiled him to a lonely spot near the banks of a stream, where she induced him to lay his head in her lap. A male accomplice sprang upon him, while the woman pressed a handkerchief of chloroform into his face. When dead the body was rolled into the stream, but the murderers did not look for scientific evidence against them. The woman set up the story that the man had probably committed suicide ; but when the body was found

it was shown by the condition of the lungs that death had occurred before it was put in the water. The man and woman were arrested and the man confessed.' He was sentenced for life.