HOW CRIMINALS FIGHT FOR THEIR LIVES.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXVIII, Issue 7023, 10 November 1906, Page 1

HOW CRIMINALS FIGHT FOR THEIR LIVES.

In England when a condemned prdsone,] is reprieved ihe knows thai ihe can. neve) be sentenced ito death again for the saimt J crime, but murderers in the States sanjoj no snch certainty. They can be -reprieved for a week oir a month, oir iity definitely at the pleasure, of /the Goveamor of the State, fcu-t until the dinead sentence has .been actually commuted! they vac<& in constant fear of the rope or ihe chair. There are -nimnerous prisoaieins in tihe States to-day wlio lhave beein sentenced to death three' and four timieSi and who .aa 1© still awaiting execution), 'hopimg aJmost against hop© that their terrible anxiety will be .permanently allayed, buit they obtain :lifctle satisfaction. The postponing ; of the carrying out of the death-sentence , on the. slightest pilea is omei of the worst features in American criminal Jaw to-day, i and but an. added cruelty to the ia.dmin.istratfc«i of justice in that country. Maxy Rogers, wtfio was so recently hanged (or, rather, strangled', if the witnesses are to .be< believed) at 'Windsor, Vermont, for; the murder of her husband a ooupila of yeaiis ago, had be&ai sentenced to death no fewer than three timies, Each time the date of her execution, approached her friends' managed' to secure fresh, evidence, which, they declared, would mitigate 'her guilt, and the 'woman was 'reprieved for some monthis. Wheta the evidence had beien sif.ted and found to contain nothing to warrant' a commutation the sheriff of the State, Mr, H. H. Feck, would go to Mrs Rogers-'® cell ■with, the death warrant and there read it to her once more. Each time the oldi man (he is over 70) Would halt in ibis speech and stammer, 'I 'have- come—l 'have come—' and Mrs Rogers, perfectly calm, would help him out 'by saying: 'Yes, I know; you have come to read it to me again.' It was the duty of Sheriff Peck not only to read the death-warrant but to spring the trap at the execution, thougih ihe) was spared ihe latter .task on account of a weak heart. In the States it is customary always to, hold a. 'dress neheaaisal' of every execution, whether it is to b@ performed by electricity or the rope. Mrs Roger's execution was no; exception, and: the rehearsal duly took place in all its gruesome details, a bag of sand weighing 2001b doing duty for the victim, while one. of the wardens; of the prison allowed himself to be 'pinioned' according to the laws of laid down in the Penal Code. The, iexe- . cution of a woman in the States 1 as -not usual, and Mrs Rogers was only the second of lier sex who has ever been executed- in Vermont. On the morning of the hanging Mrs Rogers, was .requested not to ,put on a collar or corsets, as shie would be more 'comfortable.' She was obliged to- mount the scaffold (the third which, had bean raised for heir execution) by 'half-a-dozen steps, and when she reached ithe top she was told to step into a black bag, which was then pulled up and. fastened round her neck. Then her ankle® and arans weaie tied and a, cap wa\si drawn over her head. Previous to this, .however, she re>-

moved- her glassies and, hamdiing them to

the- sheraff, .begged ;him .to sand itfem to ; her sister 'with her. love.' She was 'bareilry twenty-one. A remarkable prisoner is now .resident (together with maary otters) in the condemned cell of Sing Sing—a- man .accused

| of murdering a Texas niiliMonaine -named J Rice, and who has> 'been sentenced to e'JecI trocution four times. This oft-sentenced

prisoner is. a very shrewd and olever lawyer named Albert T. Patrick, and> the crime for which ihe was sentencied to death for the first time nearly four years ago is one which hasl never yet been: condlusiviely proved. For tbr.ee and a 'half years Patrick ihias been am, inmate of the oondeimneid cell, and during, that time be has sieen fourteen prisoners pass out on their; way to the dreaded chair. Paltrick is fighting for Ms hie. by .himself, .\.nd he spends aJI his days preparing his defence and covering reams- of

paper with minute writing, showing how

necessary it is .that he <ha,ve a. reprieve i<n order to gain time to -.bring forward fresh

evidence which is bound to dear him Patrick is the Mayor of Sing Sing, anid

has filled the little-coveted office for tfhe

last two years. During the time hie has occupied the conidemnied celll Patrick has

cheerfully prepared the defence of mamy prisoners sentenced to death, and has had

J the satis faction of knowing that at least threo convicts have escaped the chair through ihisi clever argument® 1. At the time when he was fiiist semteinioed to death Pa-trick was a man with a jetblack liai-r and moustache, 'but thlei yeans he has. spent in the death house (it is. always 'the 'death house' in ike States, never the 'coaidem-ned cell') have-.made it

as white as snow. Almost any prisoner tseratienced to dmih in the- States cam obtain a 'stay of axe-

cutionj' if he only poseesaeis friemidls: with

money. The writer was lat Sing Sing a couple of years ago (not ais aa* inmate, but raeirely aa a, visitor) and took the opportunity to ask Chief Warden Joihnßon

1 about a mam caliled Suliivain, a. negax>, who • was then em-ioyiiig a liepaipve, jfcnough still under tihe sentence of ideafh. It iajppea/is that t-'he imurdierser (tiher,e was no doubt about h,is> cri,m.e) possessed a fervv pool' frieiuds who, with mistaken kindness, liad done itheir best' to obtain for ihim «a- reprieve, but hairl fariiled. Them Ms brother discovered som-e fresh icvidenoe which, had it beem greinuinie, might lhave opened a Jtoophole of elscape, kind, as it was, ib influenced the Governor siufncientily for him to grant a reprieve. ,So the day before the execution should 'have taken .place the Chief Warden entered Sullivan's ceil!' and | said, 'Sullivan, you a>re< repriieived.'

The negro was overjoyed, ex claim ing, 'Da<t good, s>a,h,' when ifchei warden: once more reduced 'him to despair by adding, 'It is only far a week. If itihenel is< no good reatson. shown why your sentence should not be carried out, tlhte d*ea"f)h----waiTan/b will b& read to you again) next Friday.' The writer asked the warden if Sullivan would escape the. chair, arid he replied, dryly, 'He thinks lxerwiil.l, but I guess he -won't.' The guess of the warden was connect. In 1894 there* was sentenced to be ! hanged in the State of Illinois a man named John Jensen, a na-taraljiseid Norwegian, who had been found guilty of the murdetr of a jeweiler mamed Eoibertpon whom he robbeid. Jemsieai was TOpraeved five times, a stay of execution) being ob- : fcained by ihis counsel each time; on some - technical point of law which in no way

affected tihe guilt or innocence of the pris soaer.

I So many times was Jensen reprieved "j that it. ,was popularly ibeiieved hie had a parsonal appeail to the GoveainoT of the State begging that 'no .further delay might take place, but that he be executed forth/with. In spite of .this, however, the friends of Jensen continued to hunt Tip fresh 'evidence' by which they hoped to secure the clemency of the State, the fourth reprieve being obtained in 1897, nearly three, yeara after Jensen) ted .beeoi first iseto.teaiced. On thisi occaision the m<aji had prepared for death, and it waisi lonly a few minaifes feefoiie the execution) wias to take, place when the Gkwernior teleiphoned to the prison ondtercing the postpoaememt of the .oarryimg out of/ thei senl--tence for three days.

This was done, and at thle .emid of ithai time, as. 'no cause was shown* u Jhy the sentence should be further decayed, the death warrant- was read to Jensen for tJhe lasit time, and 'he was duly executed.