The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1899-10-31

Dallas, Texas, October 27.-Rev. G..
E. Morrison was hanged at u O'Clock
today at Vernon, Texas, for wife muir
der. He met his death resignedly. On
the scafoId he said to the select party
Of twenty witnesses permitted at the
execution:
I am innocent. Circumstances over
which I had no control have placed me
in this position. I ave taken my
trouble in private to my God. I admit
that l have acted indiscreetly. 1 nave
done no worse, however. than hundreds
of men who stand high IN the religious
! social, business and official circles of
your state. l ave done nothing to con-
fess. l am in the hands Of my Maker.
He knows I am innocent"
Morrison's neck was broken and his
death appeared TO be painless.
The crime for which Rev. G.. z. Nor
| rison paid the death penalty vas the
poisoning of his wife in October 1897.
The motive for the crime was to rid
himself of a pretty, amiable, loving
wife, in order to. marry a lady possess
ed of means, $1,000 600 of which was in
cash..
Morrison married his deceased wife
about seventeen years ago. AT one
time they i've in California, then in
Oklahoma territory from which place
they moved to Panhandle, Texas,
where the crime was committed. He
was borne and raised in Illinois, n
went to school at Carbonate. There
he became acquainted with Miss Anna
Whittelesey, who subsequently moved
with her parents to Topeka, KaS. In
August, previous to the poisoning of
his wife, in October, 1897, Morrison met
Miss Whittelesey, his school days
cuuaothoo rt aSooJ-teo mod har fna nni9I
condition and made offer of marriage.
He pretended hat his wife had been
dead twelve years., that he had quit
preaching, had been successfully en-
gagged in the cattle business for eight
years and owned a ranch near Higgins,
Texas. On his reurn to Texas he be-
gan a correspondence with Miss Whit
telesey urging his proposition Of mar
riage, stating that he had for a number
of years intended to come ITO her when
he gould do SO honOrably, and he be-
Iiev ed he could now see the time. This
statement was made one month before
the death of his wife.
He procured ~strychnine for the osten-
sfble purpose of poisoning animals
which he said were catching his chick
ems. On the day previous he had pro-
CURED a box of q~uinine with empty
capsules. On Friday night before her
death, Mrs. Morrison went to the Swiss
Bel Ringers, leaving Morrison at home,
who said he had to prepare his Sunday
sermon. The next morning he took the
~strychnine back to the druggist, telling
him THAI he was afraid to use it for
fear he would poison his neighbors'
chickens. The package had been open
ed. Sunday night he preached and al
guded in a pathetic manner to the part
ing with owed ones at death.
About 10 O'Clock that night he called
upon his neigfhbors for assistance, an
%nouncing the serious ILLNESS of his
wife. She was found in paroXysms
and spasms. He delayed sending for a
doctor, who arrived after the wife's
death.
In the meantime he had kept up his
correspondence with Miss Whittelesey,
writing her a letter two days before
the death of his wife and the day after
her burial, asserting his love in the
most lavish terms.
In the latter he the deth
of his brothers wife and notified her
of his approaching visit to Topeka.
On his return from Topeka he was
arrested, held a few days, was released
on bond and fled. About three months
thereafter he was arrested in San Fran
cisco, returned to Texas, tried with Miss
Whittelesey as the main prosecuting
witness and given the death penalty.