Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1899-03-20
TO-DAT'S TELEGRAPHIC NEWS.
Mrs. Place EIectrocutcd.


SING SING, n. Y, March 20.-Mrs.
Martha Place was successfully electro.
cuted in the prison here at lilo q. ~,
today. 1t was pronounced the best
execution that ever occurred here, and
the prison physician said death WAS in
Simultaneous. Mrs. Place did not lie
down until 2:30 this morning and then
did not take off her clothes. She slept
well until six, when she arose and made
her toilet. Mrs. Place spent the fore
part of the night in religious devotion.
Part of the time she read heI Bible and
when she tired, the night matron read
to her. A number of times after reading
chapters Mrs Place knelt with her st.
tendant and prayed. This morning
sitter completing her toilet she seemed
reasonably composed. The woman's
spiritual adviser, the Rev. DR.. Cole,
was at the prison all night and remain
ed with Mrs. Place until the end. He
talked and prayed with her and she
told DR.. Cole she was resigned to death
and that she believed that she would
be saved in the hereafter. Mrs. Place
was the first woman and the twenty
xth convict to be executed in the cleo
trio chair at Sing Sing, and also the
first woman in the world to meet death
in that manner Mrs. Place was
thoroughly composed and she walked
to the chair with steady steps. As she
dropped into the chair, she sank back
and the warden placed her female atten-
dants in front OF ner so that the adjust-s
ment OF the electrodes was not visible
to the witness at first. When the ad.
justment to the leg was made, however,
the women for some reason separated
although they had previously held their
skirts SO that nothing could be seen.
This gave full view OF the process.
TIE head had previously been shaved
at the crown and the hair drawn over
it so that it had only to be parted to
apply the elecirode. This was done
quickly, and exactly one minute after
she enterad the chamber, the current
vas turned on. When the current was
first turned on, the woman's body be-
came rigid and the exposed portion OF
the face became liyid. 1t seemed as if
the woman WAS straining 10 break the
straps with direct outward pressure.
An instant later, however, the pallor
of death spread her face and life
was extinct. 1t was not found necessary
to slit her skirts, the electrode being ap.
piled to the cali of the leg, from which
the stocking was drawn.
The crime for which Mrs. Martha
Place was executed was one Of ex-
frems brutality ard atrooity. More
than FIVE Year5 ago, aud eighteen
months after the death of MIR. Places
fret wife, Mrs. Place, who was then a
widow. entered the Place home, in
Brooklyn, as housekeeper. Two
months later she became Mrs. Place.
Mr.. Place was devoted to his daughter
Ida. They studied amateur photogra-
ply and often took long walks to-
gether. The girls stepmother regard
cd this as neglect of her on the part of
her husband, and as Ida Place grew
older the bond between father and
daughter grew stronger and the dissen-
sions between husband and wife in
creased. On February s OF last year
while Ida and Mrs. Place were in an
upper IOOlui ZIG latlSA lulcW ludu-
lity of carbolic acid in the girls face,
binding her, after which she knocked
her senseless, presumably with an axe.
Then she carried her to s. bed and
smothered her with pillow. After
getting the servant out Of the house
Mrs. Place lay in wait for her husband,
and when he came home attacked him
with an axe. She struck him on the
head several times, but he managed to
escape and alarm the neighbolhood.
Mrs. Place was discovered locked in
her room with sheet over her face
and the gas jets open, indicating an
attempt at suicide, but subsequent |
developments showed that the woman |
had made complete preparations for
flight. Evidence was found which
showed that the crime was carefully |
planned several days ahead. The |
woman YVES tried and convicted of |
murder in the first degree and SEN
fenced to death.