Idaho County free press. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho Territory) 1886-current, 1894-01-19
NOTHING COULD SAVE him
Painter, the Chicago Murderer, Pays the
Death Penalty.
STOUTLY PROTESTED HIS INNOCENCE
Appealed 10 the Authorities 10 ALLOW Him 10
be HypnotIzsd, In Order to Thus
Prove Ills Innocence

CHICAGO, Jan. 12.-Chicago's noted
criminal, George II Painter, was hanged
today, the last day Of respite having ex-
PRED. Fills crime was the murder Of
Alice Martin, a woman with whom he
had lived several years as his wife. The
crime was committed ON Sunday, May
II, 1891. From the day OF his arrest and
up to thu present time Painter has al
ways stoutly protested his innocence,
and on the trial the evidence was purely
circumstantial. He is the son of once
prominent Methodist preacher OF New
York, now deceased. His first employ
ment was as a clerk in Brooklyn, and
after trying the same occupation for a
while in Chicago he turned his attention
to gambling, and became sporting man
about town in every sense Of the word.
His agreeable presence and fascinating
manner made him a favorite with
all the women whose tastes were like his
own, and out OF his many acquaintance
he chose Alice Martin for his paramour.
The two lived together on the west side
Of the city, but the life they led was
naturally not happy one, and quarrels
between the two were frequent. 1t was
claimed at the trial that he had not only
lived on the wages OF her shame, but had
beaten and threatened to kill her for not
supplying him with as much money as
ne needed.
The circumstances surrounding the
murder were involved in mystery. All
that is known is that on the Sunday
night in question Painter came out Of the
room and yelled to the tenants in the
other parts OF the building that his wife
had been murdered. When the neigh
bors rushed to the room they found the
woman lying dead on the floor. Her
body had been terribly gashed and mu-
tilated, and there was blood all over the
floor and on the walls. Painter notified
the police and pretended to be Frustrated
over the affair. Suspicion was directed
against him, however, and he was ar
rested. "A few days later the overcoat
which he always wore was found in q
closet literally saturated with blood.
On the trial he attempted to prove an
abb, and witnesses were called who
said he had spent the day and night up
to midnight at West Side saloon. The
tenants Of the house, however, swore
that they heard him quarelling with the
woman some time before he gave the
alarm, and that they had seen him act
ing suspiciously about the building
earlier in the evening He was promptly
convicted, and upon being brought into
court for sentence created a sensation by
asking Justice Clifford to grant him a
twenty -miRute interview, saying that if
he was given the ear of the Judge he
would never be hanged. The request
was refused and sentence passed. The
Case was taken to the supreme court,
where the verdict was affirmed, and the
date for the execution was set for Dec
IA. On the morning of that day the
governor respited him to this day.
Recently Painter created something of
a sensation by trying to induce the au-
thorities TO demonstrate his innocence or
guilt by putting him under hypnotic in
fluence. He appealed to Annie Besant,
Professor Carl Sextus and theosophists
and hypnotsts in all parts of the coun-
try, but without success. Within few
weeks he caused an appeal to be made
to the court to sanction the experiment,
but an exhaustive examination OF the
records failed to develop any precedent
for granting such a request. Painters
idea has been based upon the expert
ments of DR.. Charcot in Paris, that II q
man was guilty Of crime he could,
under hypnotic influence, be made not
only to confess. but also to describe the
surrounding circumstances down to the
slightest detail. The condemned man
has all along strenuously insisted that
such an experiment would demonstrate
his entire innocence of the crime.