STALKED BY DEATH.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 137, 11 June 1932, Page 3 (Supplement)

STALKED BY DEATH.

ESCAPED "THE CHAIR." TO FALL TO GANGSTERS' GUNS. After having escaped the electric chair in Sing-Sing Prison by a matter of seven minutes, Joseph Cohen, known as the "Poultry King," met his death at the hands of New York gangsters. Cohen lived in Brooklyn surrounded by a staff of servants. He had three motor cars, and dispensed rich hospitality to his neighbours, none of whom knew his record. While he was playing cards the door bell rang, and as the servants were out Cohen answered the door himself. Three men stood outside. There was some whispering and then Cohen's voice was heard, raised in a.-.ger. Then shots rang out and Cohen's huge bulk tell at the door, pierced by six bullets.

A passing neighbour was almost run down by a large car which sped away with the murderers. When assistance arrived Mrs. Cohen was sobbing across the unconscious body of her husband, who died two hours later in hospital. The belief is that vengeance was the motive for the murder.

Eighteen years ago a poultry dealer named Bnrnett Baff was shot dead. Cohen was arrested for complicity in the plot and condemned to death.

While seated in the electric chair a reprieve arrived seven minutes before the current would have been switched on. Cohen lived to fight his way out ot prison in a legal battle which made historv. He built up a fortune and reestablished himself in the eyes of his fellow citizens as an honest person.