| Show PUT TO DEATH deadly pale but unnerved As she went to her execution governor bell refused to interfere with the hanging a windsor dec 8 mrs daiy mabel rogers was hanged at the vermont sate ai windsor at this for the murder of her d marcus rogers at august 1902 mrs rogers WAS pronounced dead by tho prison officials at the execution took place after the woman had been twice reprieved on account 0 appeals made in her case by her counsel and after the united supreme court had refused to lake action in the case only a comparach com e few persons witnessed the hanging tho number being restricted ta those permitted to attend by the laws 0 vermont by agreement between governor bell sheriff peck and superintendent lovell the following official account of mr rogers last days was given by the prison authorities and sirs M H loukas ono of the death watch the death watch began nov airs rogers was placed in soll ary confinement in n cell on the southwest corner of the comans womans department part ment on the third floor the death baach consisted of mr and mrs M HH loukes ot the prison who every hour ol 01 the day with mrs rogers except for an occasional brief relief by gom other prison official this room has contained two beds curtained biff from each other and here mrs rogers and her death watch slept night after night and here too on a small table they have eaten together the windows overlooking the prison are painted so that tha inmates of ane room have absolutely no wotty to see out of it the only in the death room istace solitary confinement began have been superintendent lovell warden palmer mias S J durkee tha matron ROT W H hayes the prison chap aln bev father C C delaney ana marguerite the 4 of mr and airs loukes the girl baa helped to divert mrs rogers mind by her childish pranks ard rogers has dept well most of the nights sanco the death watch began and her appetite has not failed her last night she did not go to bed without some urging she retired about 11 and slept airey airly well until five this morn ing mrs rogers maintained her composure to the last and mounted the fallows with a steady step although a deadly paler overspread her conn finance hardly a muscle quivered as deputy sheriff fi pafford pronounced the fatal words 1 I now proceed to execute the sentence 0 the law and may god have mercy on your soul when the words were pronounced deputy sheriff angus mccauley sprung ilia trap and the drop tell promptly at deputy sheriff spafford who was in charge at tho execution dispatched two of his deputies to mrs rogers cell in the central section of tho state where tho women prisoners are confined in the meantime a little group consisting of sheil tt deputies prison guards military guards legal nesses and three vermont newspaper representatives gathered in the wing ot the prison where the scat tam had been erected mra rogers has been in boea bif its all the time considering of course what must have been passing in her mind in anticipation ot the awful hour ot she has conversed with ha death watch but has talfred but little of her case except when super lovell was present sho had occupied her lima to a great extent la crocheting lace for aprons to be sent to relatives and persons who have sent money to her at night her crocheting needle was taken away from her and given to her the next day sue has read tho bible and has even committed some passages to memory aho has written a few let aws to relatives and sympathizing persons she has never lost hope that la ome way her life might be spared and even this morning appeared to tain faint idea that at the last something to aate her the gallows was erected yesterday but every precaution waa taken to the bounds of the hammer and no intimation whatever that tho work was in progress reached Ms boscn cell even the death watch did not know about it mrs rogere however was being mado ready toward night matron burko told her that all ivr yesterday morning rev cathor C delaney of the roman catholic CaL holic church administered communion to M rogers and gave her spiritual consolation in the forenoon rev wil H bayee alie aileon cb aplaon her cell and read the scriptures nod prayed with her after he went mrs rogers joined with mr kiima mrs loukes in singing hymns sirs rogers asked for tho visit bt the clergyman and appeared to believe that her sins had been forgiven she had not her crime directly and positively nor had isha explicitly alts 4 tt indeed she ha said little about it lately she said sho did not consider it brave to go to the scaffold and make a confession and that it i would boado her any good to teu what other people done when she allowed herself to dwell upon the or ail ot today sho appeared to be mak ine every effort to go to her ate brave ly firmness the usual talk omo kind 0 tin administered to her to sensibilities but it is 0 unqualifiedly false mrs rogers did t not drink coffee or CA but contented herself solely with cold waier superintendent lovell visited mrs r roger ceu and talked 3 her a few moments she was in c parit pl rit and even lold a hop just be lore left she nail dijt ca als t bot properly managed 11 the jiin iet for execution wais i f f weeti 1 and 2 and li was ln 9 tended to start the death procession auer 1 soon afler L V the news was broken to sirs rogers that governor bell had declined to kraut her further reprieve matron durkee went to the condemned wo mans cell to prepare her for the execution mrs durkee ached mrs rogers to dress in a simple gown 0 black all of the deputy sheriffs wele at the prison more than an hour before the time of the execution in the street in the vicinity 0 the prison just before 1 a small crowd numbering perhaps thirty persons gathered apparently hoping to get in to see mrs rogers ns she was led from the from tha comans womans section 0 the prison to the scaffold nothing could be seen of the gallows as a curtain had been drawn across a window near which it stood windsor vt dec 18 A telephone message from white river junction to the state drigon here sent by attorney charles A mccarthy representing mrs mary M rogers to the effect that governor bell bad declined to grant a reprieve indicated that the last possibility of interference with the execution of the woman set for this afternoon had vanished the lawyers information was verified a few minutes later by an official telephone call from governor bell to sheriff henry IL peck the final arrangements for carrying out the death sentence were made aside from the presence ot an unusual number of deputy sheriffs and a large number of news correspondents ach telegraph operators the town 01 windsor proceeded its business as usual today there waa apparently little interest in what was taking place in the prison sheriff peck came from white river junction on an early train he seemed considerably affected by ahe prospect before him it was recalled that he hd at one time headed a movement among the county officers to schura a reprieve for the condemned woman sheriff peck was not personally to act as executioner chehad delegated all the actual work to deputies As high sheriff of windsor county the law required him to be present at the hanging however at the prison nc one was admitted during the forenoon except persons directly connected either with the institution ution or the execution all attempts to gain information concerning mrs rogers condition were frustrated by the guard at the prison entrance finally however three newspaper representatives bythe ruling officials were the only press men permitted to witness the hanging and they were escorted into the prison COV BELL REMAINED FIRM refused to grant the appeals of law or women white river junction aty dec S the conference between sirs rogers I 1 attorneys and governor bell for another reprieve tor mrs rogers was fruitless governor charles J bell and party arrived from chicago by way of montreal at a m today E B flohn i of springfield one of the lawyers who has been active in he interest of mrs rogers and attorney charles J me carthy of fall N Y came OB the same train as the governor the governor agreed to hear anything that the lawyers had to say at 10 a m secretary walters stated early today that there were in the governors mall sixty six letters only one of which was written by a resident of vermont beggins clemency tor the condemned woman among the other arrivals here early today was mrs jessie of cincinnati cin nati who brought two suit cases said to contain signatures of ohio people who are in favor of saving tho life of mis rogers attorney mccarthy brought a number of document including several f fl davits in support ct he allegation that mrs roger antecedents and not all been sound mentally mccarthy and fainn declared they de dedred ired to get a reprieve until the case could be taken before the legislature or falling in that to be permitted an opportunity port unity to enter it again m the supreme court of vermont on a plea of bewly discovered evidence this new evidence relates to the comans womans mental condition her counsel maintaining that she was insane at the time he dime was committed early today attorney flynn handed governor bell a letter from attorney powers a doimer justice of the vermont supreme cobit and now a corporation po ration counsel who has become in lei ested in mrs rogers case requesting him to how clemency former judge powers argued in his letter that the ends of justice would be sub served if another reprieve should be granted he said that he had traveled throughout the and was convinced that abr sentiment of the vermont people was overwhelmingly dp posed to the execution mr powers contended thai some of the new evidence in the case had come to light 0 o recently that it boon impossible to present it before two justices of the slate court as the law des and expressed tho beliet that a reprieve of three or four weeks would furnish sufficient opportunity for this to be done a the conference lasted about thuly minutes it was terminated by the pos jiow declaration of governor bell that ha tailed not interfere with tho exe i thi offered by the at clorn s were not bew they ed the case and reminded the governor bluit as wa not foi the woman to pay tholo who had thear aei alce hal nw been able to talie csont almo from ol business to go ltv thecie thoroughly as magui evidence cocu to lately which thiry desired to go into thoroughly 0 o is the cojei nor sue a in older that they might examine more critically along this line they did not contend that the evidence was new they simply argued for boic time at one or two points in his attorney flynn manifested considerable heit he it governor bell listened quietly until the lawyer had finished then lie heard sirs portion who said that she had brought the petition from ohio not for the purpose of interfering with the execution of the law of vermont but in the interest of humanity the signatures to the petition which she brought and which were secured by a cincinnati newspaper appeared on slips cut from that publication the documents acie to the hotel in a number of suit cases and were placed on a table in the room where alio conference was held governor bell examined them with some interest then ho said 1 I believe I 1 know the sentiment of the people of vermont as well as does any one I 1 see nothing to discuss and I 1 know of no law that is not as anch tor a woman as tor a man I 1 consider that for me again to meddle in this cate would place me as an executive and the of vermont and its laws in a ridiculous position this closed the conference governor bell announced that ho would remain at the hotel here until this afternoon 0 o ibe available in case of emergency BEFORE THE EXECUTION windsor 8 for the second time this town is crowded with strangers iho have sought the vicinity of tho death scene of mary mabel rogers whose execution was set for the hour between noon and 1 today few received permits to actually witness the hanging hope tor the condemned woman was practically abandoned early today the sheritta deputy chosen to spring the trap arrived during the night and concluding arrangements were promptly made awaiting governor bells arrival at 6 this morning at while river junction a few miles north of here were mrs rogers attorneys are ready to make the final legal plea in her behalf mrs jessie carlton of cincinnati armed with a petition for clemency signed by thousands of women had also come on from rutland and the executive ohp career of mrs rogers has been a remarkable one A wife at ac 5 cars of age and murderess at 19 she is but 22 on the day set for her death ignorant and depraved she still had a strange influence on those ehe met and her admirers were many in 1902 having won the affections of three men she encompassed the death of her husband marcus H rogers with the aid of another admirer icon perham to the end that she might marry a third lover edurice krapp perham confessed and Is serving a life sentence here mrs rogers was born in hoosic falls N Y and when married removed to bennington vt where the murder was committed |
