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Show . MRS. MARY FARMER EXPIATES HER CRIME AT DAWN IN . ' ELECTRIC CHAIR Murderess of Ars. Brennan, Before Going to Her Death, Exonerates Her Husband 1840 Volts Pass Through Woman's Body, and Three Contacts Are Made Before She Is Pronounced Dead History of the Ghastly Crime i I to the Brennan house, while she walked walk-ed along and directed where It should be placed in a back room where other things were piled upon it. She then proceeded to do some washing. When the constable, who had been employed by Brennan, went to tno house and asked where Mrs. Brennan was, Mrs. Farmer told hlra she hart 'Seine to Watertown to get her teeth fixed." She sent Tor the parish priest, told him a similar story and had him bless the home. " On tho following Monday, the sheriff sher-iff with several others again visited the Farmers and asked Mrs. Farmer Farm-er to produce the deeds, and atter Eomo delay she pulled the black oilcloth oil-cloth envelope from a cradle and showed tho papers. Then a search ot the house was begun. Inquiry was ; made In regard to the trunk tied with a clothes line, whereupon Mrs. Farmer Farm-er denied that she owned It. saying it belonged to her husband, and be, with an oath.sald It did not belong to him. The rope was removed, the lock broken brok-en and In the trunk the sheriff found tho body of Mrs. Brennan Tully dressed. dress-ed. The head and face were horribly mutilated by many blows from a blunt instrument, but the body was not ln-1ured. ln-1ured. The turban-hat which the woman wo-man wore was missing, but the burned burn-ed wire framework of a hat, similar to the one she wore, was found in Mrs. Farmer's 6tove. Mrs. Farmer and her husband were arrested, charged -with the crime. ' which the woman at' first Btoutly denied. de-nied. Then she stated that Mrs. Brennan Bren-nan was In her house and stood by ; the door looking out .of the window, and that she stepped up behind her 1 and hit her with an axe. Subsequently, Subsequent-ly, she said to the sheriff, that she had not told the truth; that "Jim" ; did it. She said Mrs. Brennan had ' been with her uptown and that when , they came back, "Jim" was angry be- , cause she had left, her baby at a neigh- j bor's. She said she then went tor the baby and on her return. "Jim" was just putting the body In the trunk, j At the jail, Mrs. Farmer made an- ' other statement in which 9he said that j Mrs. Brennan came to her house and said she was not feeling well. She said that Mrs. Brennan said "sho . would give anything If she would take bat old axe that laid there and knock j her brains out, and I said all right, here she goes, and 1 takes the axe i ano kills her." She. said theu he put j the body In the trunk, washed up the i things that were bloody, and burned up the things from which she could , not remove the blood. She said Mrs. Brennan was sitting down in a chair by the window when she killed her. The cases of Mrs. Fanner and her husband were appealed to the court of appeals which has yet to determine the husband's ease: Mrs. Farmers conviction was afllrmed. and 1. K. Wll cox, her counsel, asked the governor to appoint a commission to examine into the woman's mental condition, expressing the belief that the womau was insane. Auburn. N. V.. March 29. Murmuring Murmur-ing a prayer for her soul, Mrs. Mary Farmer was quietly led to the electric r'.ialr in Auburn prison shortly alter ; o'clock this morning, and executed for the murder of Mrs. Sarah Breu-1 nan at Brown vtlle, last April. The execution of Mrs. Farmer the ncond infliction of the death penalty u a weman by electrocution In this , (a(ewas effected without sensallon-2il sensallon-2il incidents. Five women, two ot bom were prison attendants, were witnesses. Father Hlckey, spiritual adviser of the condemned woman, following fol-lowing the execution, gave out a statement state-ment signed by Mrs. Farmer, In which t-he declared that her husband. James Farmer, was entirely Innocent, and knew nothing of the crime until it had been committed. Led by Father Hlckey and with Mrs. Ihmnlgan and Mrs. Gorman, who havo nttended her constantly since she was Lrought to Auburn, Mrs. Farmer walked walk-ed unfalteringly to the death chaiu-ler, chaiu-ler, her eyes half closed and clasping clasp-ing a crucifix In her hands. As she vas being strapped in the chair, Father Fath-er Hlckey stood at her side and ol-U ol-U red prayers for the dying. Dr. John Gerln, the prison physician, physic-ian, said that the woman was dead atter at-ter the first shock, but as there wan t. c 1 1 1 a .tremor of muscles reacting, to succeeding contacts were given. Ftate Electrician Davis said that 1.-810 1.-810 volts and 7 1-2 amperes was tho strength of the current that passed through tho woman's body. Alter ;Warden Bonham announced that tno physician had pronounced Mrs. Farm-"er Farm-"er dead, Dr. Edward Spltzka of I'nll-odnlphia, I'nll-odnlphia, and Dr. Charles Lambert, ot ihe Pathological Institute at Wards Island, N. Y., performed the autopsy. . All night long, the .wretched woman had prayed within her cell on the second sec-ond tier of tho woman's department In the condemned row, 'after sho bade farewell to her husband. Separated by steel bars and an intervening in-tervening screen, husband and wire tpent their final hour together In quiet conversation. Tho final word was oken, a last good-bye, the keeping husband returned to his cell and tho hapless woman was ledlown tho narrow nar-row corridor. Early this morning. Father Hlckey joined the watchers at Mrs. Farmer's cell-door. In the pale nehre light of tho corrldnr. the woman and priest prayed together, the last hacrnment was administered and Mrs. Farmer said pho was not afraid to die. in. The priest led the way, offering an almost Inaudible prayer, while just behind him came Mary Farmer. Her hands clasped a crucifix and she murmured mur-mured until the end came: "JeBus, Mary and Joseph have mercy mer-cy on my soul." It might hae been only a few seconds sec-onds before tho starps were adjusted, though It seemed an Interminable period. pe-riod. The two women attendants stood by the wall, and the two nurses and Dr. Westfall ranged themselves in front of the black-gowned figure, whllo Captain Patterson adjusted the leg electrode. The rubber mask was adjusted over the eyes and the head electrode attached. A word from tho state electrician and the attendants, nurses and Warden Benham stepped back from the thick rubber mat upon which the death chair Is placed. The hand of State Electrician Davis traced a slow arch with the switch, behind the curtain. A hastily spoken prayer was halted as the condemned woman convulsed In the leather harness har-ness that bound her to the chair. A woman attendant covered her face with her hands. Only the clicking of the tightening straps "and the murmur of dy namos In an adjoining room could be heard. The first contact lasted a full minute, min-ute, the voltage starting at 1,840 and being gradually lowered to 200. then raised again to the full limit of 1.840 volts. The current wsb applied at 6:05 o'clock. The current was shut off. and a strange pound half moan and half murmur came from the woman's Hps. Dr. Gorln and Dr. Spltzka Spltz-ka applied the stethoscope to tho heart, while Electrician Davis felt the artery In the neck. Muscular action was noted by the physicians and again the current passed through the woman's wom-an's body for a period of a few seconds. sec-onds. Once more the physicians stepped forward and applied the test to determine deter-mine if llfo still remained In the limp figure In the chair. For the third time, the state electrician sent the current through the body. The woman was then pronounced dead, and Dr. Gerrln directed the prison pris-on attendants to remove the body to the autopsy room. Locked in his cell In a faraway corner cor-ner of the prison, Jim Farmer, the husband, prayed during the hour of his wife's execution. She had told him 6he had to die at dawn and that she had made a statement that he was innocent in-nocent of the crime. The man verged on collapse from grief, and he fro- The body of Mrs. Brennan was found on the following Monday in a trunk owned by Mrs. Farmer and in her possession. pos-session. Mtb. Farmer and her bus-hand bus-hand were given separate trials, and although ihe evidence was circumstantial, circum-stantial, both wero convicted and sentenced sen-tenced to be electrocuted. Mrs. Farmer's Farm-er's counsel attempted at the trial to establish that she was Insane and irresponsible ir-responsible for the crime, but the court of appeals declared that it was I ' clearly a deliberate and Intentional i act," and that there were no clrcum-ttances clrcum-ttances that "mitigated against its heinousness." - Mrs. Farmer came to this country f.ora Ireland in 1900, and worked tor a time as a domestic in Blnghamton, fcoing from there to Buffalo, where she married James D. Farmer in 1904. Early In 1905, they moved to Brown-vllle, Brown-vllle, where they remained for a few months at one of Farmer's relatives, after which they kept boarders In an adjoining village. In May, 1907, they moved Into a portion of an old building build-ing formerly U3ed as a hotel In a part of Brownville known as Paddy H1IL' Mrs Brennan and her husband, Patrick, Pat-rick, lived in a house nearby, which they had occupied for twenty years and which was owned by Mrs. Brennan. Bren-nan. Mrs Farmer became a frequent fre-quent caller at the Brennan home ami Mrs. Brennan occasionally called on ; the Farmers. Mrs. Brennan kept the deed to her property, Insurance pap-cis pap-cis and a savings bank book In a black oilcloth pocketbook In a tin case in her bedroom. Months before tho homicide, in October, Oc-tober, 1907. Mrs. Farmer went to a lawyer's office. in Watertown, produced produc-ed a deed of tho Brennan property and. Impersonating Mrs. Brennan, had the deed transferred to Jams l). Farmer, signing the name "Saran ' Brennan." The deed was returned , from the clerk's office to James D. I F.itmer on November 26, and on Jan j uu.ry 7, 1908, Mrs. Farmer and her I husband went to another lawyer in I Watertown and had the deed drawn to t Vcler J. Farmer, a child, who had been J b-in to them the preceding September j 2iid. j On the day of the crime, Mrs. Brem-; Brem-; nan's husband left early for his work, Ills wife telling him she was going to visit a dentist in Watertown. Between 9 and 10 o'clock she was seen to leave l.er home and enter the Farmer house. Shy was never Been alive again. Early the same day, Mrs. Farmer took her baby to the home of a neighbor and left It, saying Bbe was going up town. I Between that time and the time Mrs. Brennan went to the Farmer hoube, Mrp. Farmer passed back and lorth beiwec-n the two houses several times. Shortly after noon, she went for her baby and arranged for a young daugh-l daugh-l ter of tho neighbor to assist her in caring for the child. The girl, upon her arrival, found Farmer and his wife at lunch, and later lat-er he left for tho home of his sister where he was laying a walk. Soon after af-ter Mrs. Farmer went Into tho Bren-1 Bren-1 nan house, sho returned and told the gin to go for her husband, but Farmer Farm-er refused to return home. Mrs. Farmer Farm-er then went to the sister's home with a package which proved to be the black oilcloth pocketbook of Mrs. Brennan containing the deeds. Insurance Insur-ance and. other papers, and said she wasted to leave It for a while. . Brennan, upon his return from work 1 j that afternoon, wag unable to get into I I his house. The keys, which his wire , was. In the habit of leavlngt were not 1 I In their accustomed place. ' While he I ! was trying to get In, he' saw Farmer standing nearby who remarked: "Brennan. don't you know J bought : this place?" Brennan finally secured a ladder, entered a second-story window win-dow and occupied the house that night. The next morning he went to work as usual. Mrs. Farmer that same -morning went to the sinter's houBC. took Mrs. iTrennan's oilcloth pocketbook from where It had been hidden In a chair, and with her husband went to Water-town, Water-town, where they had an attorney prepare papers ordering Brennan on tho premises, which were served on hin. that night. Brennan went to Watertown and made Inquiries for his wife, but failed fail-ed to find her. and Saturday morntng lelt for his work as usual after spending spend-ing the night In the house. He returned return-ed home, however, later and found Mrs. Farmer and her husband occupying occupy-ing the house. Mrs. Fanner told him that so long as he used tho Farmer s well, he could stay. Brennan then reported the matter to the dlbtrlct attorney's at-torney's office, and engaged a constable con-stable to search for his wife. The FarmerB, In the meantime, wltn others who wore induced to help by free access to ale, which was furnlBn-ed, furnlBn-ed, commenced moving their goods to the Brennan houao. In one of the Lack room was a large black trunk which Mrs. Farmer aaked one or the ivicn to tie with a rope. Mrs. Farmer Farm-er lifted the cncls of the trunk while a clothe3 line was wrapped around it ii:l tied Hecurely. Mrs. Farmer said "she had stuff In there she dldn"t want b:nken," and had two roen'carry it Mr. Farmer was dressed in a plain black waist and Bklrt. Her hair wa I brushed back from her forehead and fell In two braids. Two or three locks wero cut from the pcalp so that the head electrode might bo properly ad-Justed, ad-Justed, and the woman attendants slit the left side of the skirt as far as the knee and cut the stocking None except those having official lnltatlons were admitted to the execution. The three women witnesses were Dr. H. ' M. Westfall of Moravia, N. Y., Miss Agnes Baird of Troy, N. Y.. and Miss Margaret T. Byrne of Auburn. Miss Baird and Miss Byrne are nurses. When all was In readiness, the witnesses wit-nesses were formed In line, after being be-ing cautioned against any demonstration, demonstra-tion, and led Into the death chamber. State Electrician Davis tested the dynamriB and wires leading to the nath chair. Every thing was found tr he In working order. Warden Benham nodded to Captain Patterson. There "as a low knock at the steel door, the door was opened by someone within with-in and the wretched woman was led fluently gave way to tears. The husband hus-band will not bo taken back to the "death row" until Wednesday morning. morn-ing. Tho witness sheet was signed in the warden's office, a file of witnesses, unstrung un-strung and nervous, passed out from the main prison gate and the official proceedings of Mary Farmer's execution execu-tion were over. The physicians report that the autopsy disclosed that Mre. Farmer was normal In every respect and that the brain showed no lesions that would indicate a criminal tendency. Auburn, N. Y., March 29. Mre. Mary Farmer la the second woman to meet doath in the electric chair. The crime tor which she was executed, and for which her husband, James D. Farmer, Farm-er, is also under sentence of death, was the murder of Mrs. Sarah Bren-pan, Bren-pan, a neighbor, In the village ot Brownsville, Jefferson county, about four miles from the city of Watertown, Water-town, on Thursday, April 23rd, 1908. |
