Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1893-05-12
9MONT PHOENIX, BRATTLEBORO FRIDAY, MAY y, 1898
Carlyle Harris sits in the Chair.
GOV. Flower Refuses to Commute His
sentence---HIstOry Of His Crime.


Carlyle W. Harris the murderer Of his girl.wife,
Helen Potts. executed in the electrical chair in
Sing Sing prison just before / O'Clock Monday.
one application Of the electric current killed
him and there were no sensational or revolving
details Of any kind. Harriss showed the same cool
ness Of bearing which has marked his course ever
since his arrest.
1t had been commonly believed that Gov. Flow
er would commute his sentence. and twas some
thing Of a surprise. therefore, when, on Thursday,
| the governor announced that he found no reason
for interfering with the sentence of the court.
The governor acted with:great care, appointing a
commissioner to examine alleged new evidence in
Harriss favor But the more carefully this So
/ called evidence and all the fac in the case were
| studied the more evident Harris's guilt became.
| In his evidence the governor says:
| The witnesses for the defendant have entirely
| failed to establish the alleged fact that Helen
| Potts was addicted to the use of morphine No
| valid evidence has been produced to prove that
| she ever took morphine except on few occa.
siOns for medicinal purposes. Indeed, the result
OF this hearing, taken in connection with certain
afdavits filed after the determination of the cas-
| by the courts, tends to support more strongly
than before the theory Of the defendant's guilt "
The evidence, taken by the commissioner, of
one Of Helen Potts's schoolgirl companions Of
| what happened on the night when Helen took the
fatal pill, of the most convincing cha racter
After taking the pill or capsule the girl began to
| feel strangely and said she thought she going
| TO die Fighting against her own dread she said
| III anybody else but Carl had given this to me
would think was going to die; but, of course,
| Carl would not give anything to me but what was
| right As she fell of to sleep she asked her
companions to look at her every few minutes to
make sure she was breathing. From this sleep
| she never awOke
The case will go down to history as one Of the
| notable murder trials. Harris was born in Glens
| Falls n. Y in 1869. As he grew up he decided to
| be a physician and went to the College Of Physi-
| clans and Surgeons in New York. In August
| 1889, he made the acquaintance Of Helen Potts.
and beguiled her into a secret marriage, which he
| persuaded her to keep from the knowledge even
| Of her mother A few weeks after the marriage
| he began TO neglect her. 1t not until some
| time in 1890 when Helen was at her uncle's in
| scranton Penn suffering from a criminal opera
| ton which Harris had performed upon her, that
| her mother knew the secret of her marriage. II
was on the Dist of January, 1891. at a boarding
| school which she was attending, that Helen took
| the last OF four capsules which Harris had pro-
vided for her. IL was this fourth capsule which
| contained the morphine which caused her death
Harris was first tried early In 1892 was convicted
and the court of appeals refused to reverse the
| sentence. Afterward Recorler.Smyth patiently
heard great mass of so-called new evidence to
see whether new trial ought TO be ordered.
| II was not disputed that Harris a man o!
| vile character So far as his relations with women
were concerned. His mother, who now lives at
| East NOrthfed Mass for the education of
younger and daughter. went to Sing Sing as
| soon as the governors decision announced
| and remained there until after the execution
Immediately after II she gave out to the reporters
statement in which, in strained terms, she re
atfirmed her belief in her son innocence, said he
| had been judically murdered and professed To
| see In the whole an act of God
The Rev. Father Van RenSseae Of New York
| declares that Harris died a Roman Catholic. and
says that, by his request he visited him in his cell
last Friday heard his confession and granted him
| al