The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1876-12-21
HIS HEART. WAS BROKEN.
The suicide Of n Convict Whose Wife Had
Applied for "A Divorce.

"
Applied for a Divorce.
The Hartford Times says: The quiet
OF the Connecticut State prison, at
Wethersfield, was broken one morning
recently by the discovery that one of the
best liked and most exemplary of the
convicts had hanged himself. In the
cell OF john Lee Powell the officers dis
covered his dead but not entirely cold
body, hanging by rope that was fas-
tened to spike near the ceiling, that
was used to fasten no the bed against
the wall in the daytime. One end OF
the rope had been made into a running
moose, and this was around his neck.
The height of the spike was not suffi-
cient to suspend him clear of the floor
if he stood upright, and he had bent up
his knees to make sure work of it. He
was promptly cut down, but life could
not be restored.
John Lee Powell was in his thirty
ninth year. He came Of good family
in the town Of Trumbull, in Fairfield
county. his father having been a memba ar
of the Legislature and prominent and
esteemed citizen. He lived at Stepney
Depot.
He was said to have been not a bad
man at heart, and was led into the COM
mission of the crime for which he was
sentenced (placing tie across the track
of the Housatonic railroad) by the
bantering wager of some companions,
when intoxicated. The act resulted in
no accident, but the offense is serious
one, and the conviction of Powell, on
the twenty seventh of August, 1875, was
Immediately followed by his sentence to
prison for term of twenty years. He
had wife, ten years younger than him
self, and two children; and he fondly
loved his family. During his imprison-
ment his wife more than once visited the
prison, and assured him of her fidelity.
Two months ago Powel's father died,
and the news saddened the son in his
lonely imprisonment.
A few weeks ago legal document, in
vorce, came to Powell in prison from the
Fairfield county superior court. This
formal notice, in which the blanks In
the printed form were filled out with the
names of bimself, his wife and his two
children, was wholly unexpected by the
prisoner and utterly overwhelmed him.
He grew daily more and more detected,
and reached condition which compelled
him to give up work. He had been q
carriage maker and was an expert work
man; and with the contractors who OBJ
tanned his work in prison he was ia
vorite, as he was with Warden Hewes
and the officers, none of whom had
ever occasion to use a harsh word to
him.
In his pocket was found the legal
form of the wife's divorce petition, which
had been served on him as legal for
mality. Between the open printed lines
he had written in clear hand in pencil
these farewell messages to his wife and
family:
"Oh, my dear wife! Is this the way
you treat your poor Lee2 I certainly
can't tell what this ia for. L tell you
truly, for the last time, that I love you
with all my heart. You are too cruel.
I die for you. Goodbye forever.
Goodbye, little Irvie. Poor papa will
never see you again on earth. Good
bye, Charlie, Katie and mother Don't
think me- too rash, for can't live and
have Letitia leave me. Charlie, come
and get me and take me home, and lay
me by the side of my poor father. Tell
father and mother Burr and Henry good
bye for me.
"It seems hard: it is terrible ven
geance she has taken, for what used to
dol would never do so again. You
look at the bad side. We have had lots
and lots of good times together, and
my hopes have been that we would
again-but my hopes you have blasted
forever. For all you have done this, I
love you with all my heart. Whatever
l have written to you, have done it
thoughtlessly; would not have done it
for all of this world if 1 had thought
this ever of you, my dear wife. Lett
tia, never think of me. Don't think
that you ever have done wrong with me,
but enjoy yourself as much as you can.
Good bye.
GAS wicked as l have been, / never
could serve you in this way. thought
it was hard to be shut up here, but that
is nothing to this. You are too cruel.
How many good times we have had to-
gether. 1 always knew your heart was
hard, but I never thought it was as hard
as it is now. You was untrue to me in
the first, and now the last"