Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1899-03-11

low were hanged here to-day. Inc
drop fell at sos.
Life was extinct in eight minutes
the necks of both having been broken.
Mrs. Poirier who said farewell TO her
relati .es last night, was firm and coli
lected throughout She took part IN
the mass said at o'clock this morning.
and ON the scaffold shook hands with
the hangers without a tremor OF rear.
The crowd inside the Jail jeered her,
but even then her composure dld not
desert her and at the suggestion OF the
executioner she turned and faced the
ieerers, and stood erect and prayed to
the last
Parslow exhibited much less courage
and was more dead than alive When
the drop fell. The condemned were
taken to the scaffold separately and
were prevented from seeing each other
by a screen placed between them.
Six hundred men who had remained
up all night witnessed the execution.
Outside the jail there were two thous-
and more who with a beam, tried 10
batter down the gate of the jail yard,
and could only be made to desist by the
provincial police firing their revolvers
into the air. The behavior of the
crowd inside was such that one OF the
priests, Rev. Father Meloche, had to
reprove them from the scdffold.
Mrs. Cordelia Poirier and Samuel
Parslow, her reputed lover, were hang
ed for the murder of Isadore Poirier,
the woman's husband, on Sunday, No
vember q, 1897. The crime was COM
mitted in the Poiriers home in ST.
Canute, Que Mrs. Poirier, who
was SO years of age, though
not especially attractive in appear
ance. possessed more than the
ORDINARY ACCOMPLISHMENTS
of the women in her situation in life.
She had fair education and was the
organist of the Roman Catholic church
at st. Jerome, where Parslow sang IN
the choir. Poirier, who was an indus
trious workman, built his wife neat
little cottage home and maintained her
In comfort. On the fatal Sunday Polr-
Ter attended church at st. Jerome in
the morning, as did his wife and Par
slow In the afternoon the husband
did not attend vespers, but stayed at
home drinking while Mrs. Poirier went
to church and played the organ for the
services. She returned home, where
she found Poirier and Parslow. Poir-
Ter being under the influence OF drink
and asleep. She asked ParSlow to
hitch up the horse, that she might
drive to her fathers, four miles dis
tant, and Parslow did so. Then he I'M
hitched the horse again, after which he
and Mrs. Poirier entered the house,
and it was at this time that the crime
was committed. Parslow took butcher
knife and slashed the sleeping husband
across the throat Poirier awoke and
sought to defend himself, when a des-
perate life and death struggle ensued,
resulting in the death of Poirier. Par
slow hitched up the horse again, and
Mrs. Poirier drove away to her
fathers, after which Parslow returned
to the house, Invested himself OF his
blood-stained shirt, which he burned in
the stove. donned one of his victims
shirts, locked the house, put the key
in his pocket and went to the house of
his brother, George ParslOw. On Mon
day morning Mrs. Poirier, on her way
home from her fathers, stopped at
George Parslow's house and had few
minutes conversation with Sam Par
slow, after which she continued on her
way homeward. Upon arriving she
found the blinds down and the doors
locked. She went to q neighbours and
told them she could not get in. From
there she went to the church at St.
Jerome and
PLAYED THE ORGAN
at wedding. At the conclusion of the
ceremony she returned, and at her sug-
gestion a neighbor forced an entrance
to the house through a window. 1t
was then that the crime was discover
ed. Mrs Poirier instead of going to
her fathers house, remained four days,
Or until Thursday afternoon, with a
neighbor named Pouvrotte, at whose
place she was arrested.
Both prisoners confessed their guilt
eich seeking to put the blame upon the
ether. At the first trial the defense nb-
jected to the admissions of conf 4ssions
made before the coroner, and because TIE
trial judge accepted these as evidence
he Queens bench quashed the cow ct;on
Of the prinoners, and the Supreme Court
upheld the decision. At the secand trial
recently. Mrs. Poirier admitted n the
prestrce of detective and a caroneJ in
the hall of the court house at 81. Schn!-
ast:que that she was aware thas roirier
had been killed by Sam Pars!ow, stating
2 that Parslow had told her that Nc wonld
do anathing to get rio of her husband.