Protested Innocence to the End

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 648, 27 April 1929, Page 22

Protested Innocence to the End

Moving Scenes at Execution of Jointly-Sentenced Pair

■ ME of the most dramatic murder cases iu the hisLouisiana ended when Mrs. Ada Leboeuf and her lover. Dr. Thomas E. Dreher, were hanged at Franklin for the murder of the woman’s husband. James Leboeuf, the victim, was a prominent resident of Franklin. He was shot dead in a boat on Lake Palourde on July 1, 1927. Five days later the body which had been weighted with stones and iron was found by some boys. Mrs. Leboeuf and Thomas E. Dreher, a local doctor, were charged with the murder. The prosecution, at the trial, contended that they had killed Leboeuf so that he could not interfere with their love affair. Then started a long legal battle. After the conviction a new trial was refused and an appeal was made to the State Supreme Court. The Pardon Board refused to recommend the Governor to exercise his prerogative of mercy. The Governor described the case as one “of coldblooded murder.” Next a plea of insanity was overruled. Appeals to the Federal District Courts *and the United States Supreme Court iu Washington were also unavailing. The couple woke on the morning of their last day on earth after a fitful drug-induced sleep and stared blankly out through the bars of their cells. A negress nurse sat in Mrs. Leboeuf’s cell throughout the night, as for several days she had been in a state of collapse. She was given Hoiy Communion early and then drank a cup of coffee, after which she became calm. She asked again and again to see her 72-year-old mother, but the latter refused to visit her. The hanging of Mrs. Leboeuf was trying even to the hardened nerves of the officials present. She struggled as she stood blindfolded on the trap and complained bitterly that the rope hurt her neck. Wearing a plain silk dress, she made a pitiful picture. She rambled off into prayers interspersed with in-

coherent reminiscences of her childhood. The black cloth was placed over her head and her hands and feet were tied. She held a small rosary of black beads. Dreher approached the trap with firm step. Before •walking up the steps to the scaffold he shook hands with the sheriff. As the assistants were binding him he said in a low voice, “Poor Miss Ada.” His last words as the rope was being adjusted were: “Please don’t let me choke to death.” In the space of a few seconds he was dead. Half an hour before the executions the couple bade each other farewell. The doctor walked to Mrs. Beboeuf’s cell, where they shook hands, and he said: “I hope 1 shall meet you in heaven.” On the eve of his execution Dr. Dreher wrote a letter to the Press. It read: “As I sit here iu my sad and lonely death cell to-night with an aching heart, I want to write my last message to the living people of this world who know something of this tragedy,” the message said. “I want these words to be published to the world. “This is ray message: “Poor Mrs. Lebouef and I go to our doom to-morrow. Two innocent souls. “Neither Mrs. Lebouef nor I fear death. We do not fear death'because we have made our peace with God and we will soon be where suffering and punishment are no more. Thousands know, as well as Mrs. Lebouef and I know, that we are innocent. “Yet Mrs. Lebouef and I have been led to the slaughter like sheep. For a year and a-half we have been fighting for our lives. We have fought with truth for our weapon ever since we were put on trial. We have lost. Wo will die game. “All this story that Mrs. Lebouef and I were lovers is untrue. 1 had been the Lebouefs’ family physician for 20 years and Jim Lebouef was my best friend until that lying j anonymous letter came to light. “God knows and I know we both are innocent and yet we never have had the benefit of the faintest shadow of doubt. “I will try not to be bitter. 1 have forgiven those who have lied about me aud X have prayed to God to forgive them. Mrs. Lebouef has done the same. We can face our God with clear consciences. “To them this is our last mess-age on this earth. We are going home and we will be waiting to welcome you where there is no more sorrow.”