Show I Lights of New York By B L L L. STEVENSON I He lie Is the theman man who walks s alone His Ills name is Robert G. G Elliott and he Is In his early sixties In the thelast thelast thelast last el eight ht years he lie has killed more than OO men and two women But Instead of breaking the law he lie has hns obeyed It DC ne makes his living by I killing human beings s. s He is the official executioner of the states of New York Massachusetts Us Penns Pennsylvania Pennsyl Pennsyl- l vania anla New Jersey and Delaware He Is the one who adjusts the straps the electrodes and that steel cap that looks so much ll like e a football football foot foot- ball baIl helmet His Is the hand that I throws the switch that sends a n death dealing current Into human nerve ner centers His are the eyes that watch the meter thai that registers amperes lest there be smoke and blue flame For each cacti execution he lie receives UiO At Sing Sing from froni 20 to 30 persons are executed each ench year Twice this year there have ha been three executions one nl night ht S S S Thin gaunt gray is Robert Hobert Elliott His ills face Is lIn lined 11 and furrowed Ins Ills e eyes es are piercing black His nIs us forehead fore forc ore ore- head bulges slightly and there are hollows at his temples His hands are large possibly because he has handled bandIed tools all his life For 20 years yeal'S he was In the the service of the state as ns an electrician at Sing Sing In 1917 1017 he lie retired Davis DavIs the sta states state's tes te's first executioner brol broke c under the st strain ln of threats resigned and went wandering from town to town John Hulbert took his place In time Hulbert also brol broke c. c Elliott had assisted Davis In preparations for executions He lie was the only one who knew about the business So he came out of or his retirement and took over o the Job That was in 1925 1025 S S S For a n year ear Elliott was not theman theman the theman man who walks alone He wasn't the tue state executioner then then then-so so faras faras far faras as the public knew The executioner executioner was merely Mr Ur X whose Identity was as concealed by a n black mask Robert Elliott was a retired re re- retired re- re tired electrician who had turned turne 1 to the real estate business Even his family believed that Nights when he was wearing that black mask at nt Sing Sing he was supposed supposed supposed sup sup- posed to be out closing deals deals denIs deals which means Deans a commission of HjO each But after he lie had put ten men to death there was a n revelation revelation rc ela tion and reporters and photographers photographers photographers raphers rushed to the two two-stor two story frame Elliott home hom In Queens S S S SRobert Robert Elliott is a man of ot nerves He lie has hns been known to sleep on the way down from after an nn execution But the newspaper newspaper newspaper news news- paper men perturbed him Two things worried him that that his daughter daughter daugh daugh- aughter ter should learn of his occupation and possible reprisals from survivors survivors sur sur- sur- sur and friends of those whom he put to death But he gave e a out an Interview lew lie He had taken the Job through h a sense of d duty t he said Some one has to do those things s die added But he lie was no more revealing re re- re than that S S S Within a n few months his fears seemed Justified His ills house was wrecked by a bomb lon loaded ed with steel slugs sugs He and his his' family were In it at nt the time but hut escaped in in- injury Jury The bombing hns has never ne been solved At the time It was suggested suggest suggest- ed cd that radicals brooding over the execution of Sacco and performed by Elliott had hind attempted attempt f ed cd belated revenge But within a n I month Elliott n again aln threw the switch at Sing SI Sing l S S SIn S In all four women have been electrocuted ted In New v York York Mrs Martha Place of Brooklyn who 1 killed her step step- step daughter au in lS 1899 U Mrs Irs l Mary Farmer larmer of Watertown who JIO killed lIlIed a neighbor woman in 1909 1000 Mrs Irs Ruth nuth Gray Grav of Queens who with Jud Snyder killed b her husband in 1928 1022 and a little while ago Mrs Anna Antonio who with two accomplices killed her Elliott threw the switch that took the lives of ot Mrs s. Sn Snyder and Mrs Irs Antonio S S S Mrs Irs Antonio executed after two last minute reprieves es was the mother moth moth- er of three little children Elliott Is the father futher of a son and ine nd a daugh daugh- ter tel What Elliott thought as she died will never never be known He has hns given hen on only one olle interview He J IF Jr I the man who walks alone j j Dell Bell Sj s ServIce r lea |