LAST MINUTE ESCAPE.

Taranaki Daily News, 19 January 1917, Page 6

LAST MINUTE ESCAPE.

INNOCENT MAN'S PREDICAMENT. WIFE CARRIES APPEAL There have been many marvellous escapes of innocent men from the scaffold, h,\it none surely so dramatic and nmazing as that of Charles F. Stielow, who has been literally snatched from the electric chair at the very moment when the electricians were timing it up so that its deadly work might bo performed as \expeditiously as possible. The anguish, .the horror, and the terrible stnse. of helplessness, knowing he was innocent, turned Stielow's hair whito. For not once, but three times, a stay was granted in his strange case at the eleventh hour.

More than a year ago a mysterious crime was committed in a lonely farm. A bluff, hale farmer, C. B. Phelps, was found fatally shot in a back room of the old rambling farm house, while in the kitchen, his housekeeper. Margaret Wolcelt, was lying dead How had death come upon them 1 Whose was the assassin's hand that had sent them to their doom? Swiftly the police followed their dues, and everything pointed to Stielow a3 the culprit. Arrested, he protested his innocence. "I am an innocent man,' he cried, his face pale, his lips trembling. Eut that was an old story. As a famous executioner once said: "They all say tiicv arc innocent." And so Charles Stielow was sentenced to death in the electric chair. A stay was granted oil some technical ground, and later a further appeal was made by the Supreme Court by Mr. Applebarm, of the Humanitarian League, and Mrs. [sa Alulliiolland, who produced evidence ten-line: to show that he was .innocent. Tnsticc Cole, of Buffalo, had previously killed a re-opening of the liparing. The appeal was then .carried to bosrnor Whitmore. Here one of the most touching scenes in the grim annals of law has to be recorded. No more earn--st and enthusiastic worker on behalf of Stielow was to be found than his devoted veim" wife. Her beautiful eyes stoning with "tears, sjie hurried from one. lawyer to another, searching here, investigating there, determined to save the man she loved from what was worse ttoin deatli--tbc -ti"ma of murder. Finally, with li.r two vouns children. Ethel, aged thirteen, and Charles, aged twelve, she appeared in person before the Governor hearing the appeal. , "I appreciate the sentiment behind this appeal," the Governor said, "but three of the best; judges m the Mate liuvo passed on this case. To wteiFere would be to reverse the courts. With a cry of sorrow, wrung fr.om her iii"uished soul, when she beard these words, Mrs. Stielow turned away, lea;l----r." her children sorrowfully by the hand. But her belief in her husband's innocence icvev failed. Meanwhile preparation* ■or the execution of Stielow went on u,ace. Nothing, it. seemed, could sav* ,im from the last dread penalty, \\ard>rs arrived at his cell, and told him to irepare for the worst. Quietly he was dressed ill his death •lothcs, and his head was shaved. Ii» mother hour his body, it seemed, would )•, still' and lifeless in the electric chair -a corpse where, before then, liad been i man. His very trousers had been cut j, evder to aid in the adjustment of tlis Ic-adly electrode. Electrical mechanic rorked dexterously at the death-chair. \nd then suddenly, taking all by suririse. came official word to stop the proceding?. A confession bad been made. Stielow was a free man. Outside the -rison gates his wife and children were iaiting.' With glad, upturned face she ;Kve liim one kiss of deep love, and then, voreome with emotion, she fell sobbing r) iiis arms —too luippy to utter speecn. :he real murderer had confessed. His iame was Carl King, aged 50. ICing'3 ■.•as Carl King, aged fifty-six. King's enfession was made in the'gaol. Nine ,-itiiesscs were present, among them a umber of women who had worked on .[■half of Stielow, as well as a number 1' private detectives engaged on the case. Cing's confession .was taken verbatim iy a stenographer.