The Kootenai herald. [volume] (Kootenai, Idaho) 1891-1904, 1895-07-06
LAST APPEAL OF BUcnANAN's WIFE
Governor Morton Compelled TO Refuse
a Stirring EntrcatY.

Poughkeepsie. N. Y, July Mrs. Blu
chanan, wife of the condemned murderer,
made an unsuccessful effort to induce
Governor Morton to commute her hus-
bands sentence to life Imprisonment At
o'clock this morning the woman sank
on her knees before the governor and
pleaded for her husbands life. Grief al
most prevented her speaking. Governor
Morton was overcome. Tears stood in his
eyes as he lifted her to her feet and told
her he could not grant her request
THE EXECUTION.
Sing Sing, July 1.-The following dis
patch was received at the prison from
New York:
ITO Warden Sage. Sing Sing Prison.
New York: The opinion of the attorney
general is misleading and misstates facts
as to the appeal. The Buchanan case is
in the supreme court of the United States,
and by United States law your authority
is stayed You must choose between
your supposed duty to the state and ODE
dience of the supreme laws of your coun>
try. ARTHUR c. BUTTS,
GEORGE w. GIBBONS"
Mrs. Buchanan arrived on the train,
reaching here at 1880 a. M, and was taken
to the residence of the pastor of the Pres
byterian church. Warden Sage sent her
word that she could not see the prisoner.
When she arrived the prison officials
were already preparing him for the cleo
trio chair.
At II IA the witnesses were called to the
execution chamber. Electrician Davis
was at the switchboard. In the closed
box was the convict. who upon the signal
was to turn the switch. When the party
was seated the electrician put a bank of
incandescent lights on the chair and sent
the current through them. There were
lao volts in the bank. When the current
was switched off the warden and two
guards appeared at the door with DR..
Buchanan. He walked in without a word
and took his seat. In about thirty sec
onds he was strapped and in forty sec
onds pronounced dead. A voltage of LAO
was kept on thirty seconds more. 1t was
the quickest and most successful execu-
ton ever seen at the prison.
BUCHANANS CRIME.
His crime was one of the most skillfully
planned and executed that has ever ia
ken place in this state, and every possible
technicality of the law has been resorted
to by his attorneys to save him from it's
consequences. Buchanan came to New
York from Nova Scotia in 1886, and es-
tabhshed a prosperous medical practice.
In 1890 he obtained a divorce from his
wife. with whom he had appeared to live
very happily, and soon after secretly mar
ried Anna y. Sutherland, who kept a
house of designation in Newark. She had
amassed a small fortune, and was induced
to make a VIII IN Buchanan'S FAVOR, De-
sides deciding him property to the value
of nearly $4,000 At the time of her last
illness two physicians were called in,
and afterward certified that her death re-
suited from cerebral hemorrhage. A book
on poisons was, however, found in Blu
chanans library with leaf turned down,
upon which was the statement that all
traces of poisoning by morphine could
be concealed by mixing it with atropine,
which would counterfeit the outward
symptoms. Before this discovery had
been made Buchanan had remarked his
first wife. A post mortem examination
confirmed the poisoning theory.