SAVED BY A CONDEMNED MAN.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIII, Issue 1028, 10 August 1911, Page 4

SAVED BY A CONDEMNED MAN.

SIGNS CONFESSION BEFORE EXECUTION.

A generous and final act of a man who suffered death in the electrical chair the other day at Sing Sing Prison, New York, will, it is believed, have the effect of re-opening the case of a convict named John Williams, who is serving a life sentence in a New Hampshire prison, having been convicted of murder in 1901, Phos. Barnes, the man who was executed, made a confession before going to the electrical chair, which exonerates Williams, who, he declares, was wrongly convicted. Barnes was executed for murdering a companion in crime who informed against him, but he also was concerned in the crime of ten years ago lor which Williams was sentenced.

In his confession Barnes states that Williams was not present at the burglary ot a house at Dover, New Hampshire, when the owner of the premises was killed. He states that the murder was committed by a man named Chester, who, with him, was robbing the house. Chester and Barnes escaped, but Williams, towards whom suspicion pointed, was arrested and convicted on circumstantial evidence. In making his confession, Barnes said; “I do not know Williams, but I do not like the idea of an innocent man suffering lor a crime he did not commit when I can clear him.” Practically Barnes’ last act on earth was the signing of this confession before witnesses,