News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1883-04-05

| Meaker passed quiet mShC, reIlflhS
at the usual hour, and sleeping well
till toward morning, when she became
somewhat restless. She arose little
past six, took thorough bath be-
tween seven and eight, and ate a
hearty breakfast. About nine o'clock
the prison matrOn helped her don a
black cambria dress, relieved by a
white ruche at the neck. Three-quar-
tiers of an hour later Sheriff Amsden
and Chaplain Hull, in accordance with
her wish, took her to view the gallows.
Firm and mistaken, she assembled the
eight steps and stood coolly upon the
trap, and under the ugly rope. She
being deaf, Chaplain Hull wrote, de-
scribing the traps position and out
lining some of the features OF the
| final exercises. She read 1t all with
out the slightest emotion and returned
firmly to her cell. When asked by
Prison Director Thatcher if she had
anything new to say, she replied:
NO If they wish to murder me they
can, but they will have to answer for
it, for l am innocent" She asked
Sheriff Anterior to tell Nellie that she
walked out and viewed the scatfold,
and to be a good girl. She spoke as
calmly as if preparing for a pleasure
trip. As Almon walked out Of the
east prison wing in the morning to his
work, he cast nervous glances at the
grated windows and few spectators in
the office windows above him, his
countenance betraying sleepless
night. At y, Mrs. Meaker, by her
own order, was served by Matron
Durkee with a hearty Vermont din
ner, which she ate with apparent rel
ish. Just before the dinner Chaplain
Hull wrote; Mrs. Meaker-this is
the last time | shall ask you. DO you
say now, in the presence of death,
that you are innocent Of the crime for
which YOU are executed" Mrs. Mea-
ker replied emphaticallY, ''Ies, sir !?
Sheriff Amsden passed a sleepless
night.
About 1.2O P. NJ. Sheriff Amsden,
his deputies, two physicians and Chap
lain Hull were seen going toward Mrs.
Meaker's cell, at the southwest end
of the PRISONS west wing, and ten
minutes later they appeared IN the cor
ridor. The Sheriff and Chaplain led
the solemn procession, Mrs. Meaker
following firmly between two deputies,
who supported her. Ascending the
gallows, the last three steps by con-
siderable effort, she was seated in a
chair. Chaplain Hull offered feeling
PRAYER and descended to the floor.
Sheriff Amsden and the two deputies
handed Mrs. Meaker the following on
a printed slip: ''Emeline L. Meaker,
have you anything to say why the SEN
tence of the law should not now be
executed upon you; there is now an
opportunity" Her reply was, MAY
God forgive YOU all for killing me: !
am as innocent as that man who
stands before YOU" Her face was
pale and expressiOnless, and her lips
compressed. The cap was quickly
drawn over her head, and within five
seconds, at SO o'clock, the trap was
sprung, letting her fall six feet. Her
neck was broken, and at lag her
heart ceased to beat, Prison Physician
Brewster, who was assisted by Dr.W
NJ. Wright, of Orange, Mass, pro-
nOuncing life extinct. At 2.O5 the
body was lowered into a cheap pine
coffin, paper lined and stained, end
then borne to the narrow prison
lot in the village cemetry, half q
mile west, and lowered INTO the grave.
the only service there being brief
prayer by Chaplain Hull. Neither
Prison Director Thatcher nor Super
intendent Rice witnessed the eXecu'
ton.
Emeline Lucy Meaker, the first
woman to eXpiate crime on the gallows
in Vermont, was born at Barre, VT,
in 1889, and married Horace Meakel
at Plainfield when she was Is years
old. Three children were born to her
Louis AlmOn, Nellie, and a son who
is now dead. The family, always poor
never lived long in one place, nor dc
they appear to have been cherished by
their neighbOrs. While at Stowe il
1878, Mrs. Meaker, who was restless
and strong willed, caused their home
there to he sold at loss and a place
to be bought in DuXbury in AlmOn's
name. Their DuXbury home was O
the meanest kind. Mr.. and Mrs
Meaker were both ignorant and deaf
and AlmOn was foolish and stupid
Into this home came little orphan
from South Burlington, Alice Meaker
nine years Old, and q half sister tC
Horace Meaker. The Meakers were
to get S4O0 a year for keeping her
She was lrail child and the neighbOrs
knew little of her existence, though il
was plain that she was bright and
sweet tempered, and it was known
that she did the household drudgery
and that Mrs Mealer whipped her in
humanity for alleged disobedience.
Toward the end of April, 1880,
Alice was missing. The suspicious
ncignbors, knowing Mrs. Meaker's
hatred Of her, and healit g that AL
mon had bought strychnine Of the vii
Iage druggist, notified the authorities.
When questioned by the officers, bOtL
mother and son said they did not
know what had become of Alice, but
soon the weak boy broke down and
confessed that he had poisoned the
Girl and buried her body in q swamp.
Later he acknowledged that his moth,
er had helped and directed him. TAX
ing her in a hired wagon they carried
her by night six miles away from hui
man dwellings, forced her to drink
from a cup in which sugar and strych,
nine were mixed with spring water
and held her in their arms till she
ceased screaming and was dead. AL
mon guided the officers to the lonely
spot, mile further en-, where they
covered her body with brush and
boards. Almon pleaded guilty, hop
ing to save his mother, and was sen
fenced to be hanged in February OF
this year, a sentence changed to life
Imprisonment by the last Legislature.
Mrs. Meaker's counsel fought hard for
her life, but both the County and the
Supreme Court found her guilty. The
death sentence stirred mp the wild
beast in the woman. She tried to FIRE
the Windsor Jail and TO kill the jailor,
and til recently has made the prison
walls ring With yelIs as Of mad
woman. But of late she had been do
Gle and attended strictly to her knit