The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1899-03-11
The Law Avenges a Muir
dered Husband.
WITH PRAYER ON HER LIPS
so MRS. PORTER DIED. COOL
AND FEARLESS
CROWDS IN THE JAIL YARD Jz1RED
Pars'ow Hidden from Mrs. Poirier by Screen
Across the ScafoId. He Died
Coward. The Story
Of the Crime.

S"esus tUc StOry
Of the Crime.
st. Scholastique, Quebec, March TO-
Mrs. Cordelia Poirier and Samuel Pars-
low were hanged here to-day. The drop
fell at sos.
Life was declared extinct in eight
minutes, the necks of both having been
broken. Mrs. Poirier, who said farewell
to her relatives last night, was firm and
collected throughout. She took part in
the mass said at ) O'Clock this morning
and on the scaffold shook hands with
the hangman without a tremor of fear
The crowd inside the Jail jeered at her.
but even then her composure did not
desert her, and at the suggestion of the
executioner. she turned and faced the
oeerers, 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 pre-
vented from seeing each other by
screen placed between them. Six hun
dred men who had remained up all night
witnessed the execution. Outside the
jail there We're two thousand more, who,
with a beam, tried to 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 was such that
one of the priests, Rev. Father Meloche,
had to reprove them from the scaffold.
Mrs. COrdelia Poirier and Samuel
Parslow, her reputed lover, were hanged
for the murder of Isidore Poirier, the
woman's husband, on Sunday, November
Il, 1897. The crime was committed in
the P0irier's home in st. Canute, Quebec
Mrs. Poirier, who was 33 years of age,
though not especially attractive in APP
pearance, possessed more than the or
binary 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 industrious work
man, built his wife neat little cottage
home and maintained her in comfort.
On the fatal Sunday Poirier attended
church at st. Jerome in the morning, as
aftt-H Tito VIE dIU dTSiOW. III tHt dEIeI-
noon 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, Poirier being under the in
fuence of drink and asleep. She asked
Parslow to hitch up the horse. that she
might drive to her fathers, four miles
i. De- 4 l.
unhitched 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 de-
fend himself, when desperate life and
death struggle ensued. resulting in the
death of Poirier. Parslow hitched up
the horse again, and Mrs. Poirier drove
away to her fathers, after which Pars-
low returned to the house, Invested him.
self 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 Monday morning Mrs. Poirier, on
her way home from her fathers. stopped
at George Parslow's house and had
few minutes conversation with Sam
Parslow, after which she continued on
her way homeward. Upon arriving she
found the blinds down and the doors
locked. She went to neighbors and
told them she could not get in. From
there she went to the church at st. Je-
rome and played the organ at a wedding
~ u. -, ,,T fln anr Cha
returned. and at her suggestion a neigh
Dor forced an entrance to the house
through window 1t was then that the
crime was discovered
Mrs. Poirier. instead of going to her
fathers house, remained four days, or
until Thursday afternoon, with neigh
Dor named Pouvrette, at whose place
she was arrested.
Both prisoers confessed their guilt,
each seeking to put the blame upon the
other. At the first trial the defense
objected to the admissions of confess
sions made before the coroner, and be-
cause the trial judge accepted these as
evidence the Queens Bench quashed the
conviction of the prisoners, and the SUI
preme Court upheld the decision Al
the second trial recently, Mrs, Poirier
admitted i'm the presence of detective
and coroner in the hall of the court
house at st. Scholastique that she was
aware that Poirier had been killed by
Sam Parslow, stating that Parslow had
told her that he would do anything to
get rid Of her husband. She said that
when she met Parslow at his brothers
place the morning after the murder
Parslow told her that it was all over.
Subsequently to the first trial she add
mitted to the sheriff that she was pres
emf in the room when Parslow killed her
husband. Parslow's admissions We're
to the effect that the woman had been
urging him ever since New Years be-
fore the murder to kill her husband, and