Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1899-03-22
MRS. PLACE EXECUTED.
Woman Convicted of Murder Pays
Penalty for Crime,
CALM IN THE CHAIR.
Death was Ins tantaneous-Story OF
the Last NiEht-History
of Her Crime.

Sing Sing, Y. Y, March 20.--At HOT
a. N. Mrs Martha Place was executed.
The first shock lasted four seconds.
The voltage was 1850. It was then re-
duced to 200 for SO seconds. a second
shock was then given.
Mrs. Place went calmly to the chair.
She leaned on Warden Sage's arm. Her
eyes were closed and she seemed neither
to see nor hear. She murmured a prayer.
Two women attended her, one a prison
attendant, the other Il physician.
Mrs. Place was calm beyond eXpecta-
ton. No one has walked INTO the death
chamber as Serenely as she. Death came
with less struggle than was ever wit
messed here before. Death was instan-
taneous. Just as she sat down in the
chair she said:
God help me-"
The female attendants stood before her.
The physician adjusted the electrode to
her barred leg, while the prison attendant
stood with skirts outspread. Dr.. Irvine
merely superintendent.
Not an instant was lost in throwing
down the lever. Hardly a witness saw
the convulsive movement that follows an
electrical shock. The body merely stiff
fened. The face remained calm.
Mrs. Places thin lips closed tightly to-
gether. 1t was almost i smile as she
died.
In the Death Chamber.
The witnesses entered the death cham
Der at exactly 1915. At 1880 Warden
Sage left the house for Mrs. Places
room. He remained away eight minutes,
during which time a keeper outside i'll
the corridor came into the death chamber
and called out another keeper.
1t was feared then that Mrs. Place
had broken down and would have to be
carried to the chair. Nothing of that
kind, however, had occurred. A moment
or two before IL o'clock there was the
shutting of feet down the hall and the
death march was ended. Mrs. Place
leaned on the Warden's arm. Her face
was pallid. She breathed in gasps. Her
eyes We're closed but she bore herself
steadily and seemed to almost pick her
way across the short space that separ-
ated her from death. The warden. too,
was pale, and the women with Mrs.
Place, following behind, helped to assist
her to the chair She sat down and said
word of prayer.
All Over in a Moment.
1t was all over in a moment. Nothing
ever was done at Sing Sing so rapidly
before. She was dressed in black, the
suit that she had made herself-a plain
gown, which was lifted quickly to the
knee She wore black stockings and low
tan Shoes The electrode was fastened
in a moment: another was placed over
her thick. light hair. turning gray, q
small circle Of which had been clipped
away. The straps were adjusted over
her face and a pad over the forehead.
Only her mouth was visible. II her hand
Mrs. Place carried a prayer book, and
when the shock came she gripped it tight
ly. The other held fast TO the chair han
die. The woman's mouth merely closed
the face a tri1e livid. Her heart ceased
to beat within a minute.
Dr. Irwin felt for the pulsation of the
carotid artery in the neck. and then the
woman physician examined the heart.
After her all the physicians present ex-
amined the heart. DR.. Irwin gave it as
his opinion that death had been instan-
taneous.