The record-union., 1899-03-21
For the Murder Of Her Stepdaughter in
February Of Last Year.
The Condemned Woman Walks
Calmly to the Death Chamber,
With No Signs of Breaking
Down at the Fatal Moment,
Contrary to General Expecta-
tions.

m to-day The first shock lasted four
seconds. The voltage was 1,76O. 1t
was then reduced to 200 for fifty-six
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 to hear. She muir
INJURED a prayer. Two women attend
ed her, one a prison attendant, the
other a 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 witnessed here before Death
was instantaneous. Just as she sat
down in the chair she said: .'God help
me-"
The female attendants stood near
her. The physician adjusted the cleo
trode to- her barred leg, while the prison
attendant stood with skirts outspread
Not an instant was lost in throwing
down the lever. Hardly witness saw
the convulsive movement that follows
an electrical shock. The body merely
stiffened. The face remained calm.
Mrs. Places thin lips closed tightly
together. It was almost a smile as she
died.
The witnesses entered the death
chamber at exactly 10:45 AT 1880
Warden Sage left the house for Mrs
Places room. He remained away eight
minutes, during which time a keeper
outside in 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. Moth
ing of the kind, however, had occurred.
"A moment or two before IL o'clock
there was a 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 breath
ed in gasps. Her eyes were closed, but
she bore herself steadily, and seemed
to almost pick her way across the short
space that separated her from death.
The Warden, too was pale, and the
women with Mrs. Place, following be-
hind, helped to assist her to the chair
She sat down and said a word of
prayer
1t was all over in a moment Moth
ing ever was done at Sing Sing so rap
idly 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 mo-
ment; another was placed over the
thick, light hair, turning gray, small
circle of which had been clipped away
The straps were adjusted over her face
and pad over her forehead. Only her
mouth was visible.
In her hand Mrs Place carried a.
prayer book, and when the shock came
she gripped it tightly The other held
fast to- the chair handle. The woman's
mouth merely closed, the face was
trifie livid. Her heart ceased to beat
within a minute
DR.. Irwin felt for the pulsations of
the carotie artery in the neck, and the
woman physician examined the heart.
After her all the physicians present ex-
amined. the heart
Mrs. Places body was allowed to re-
main where it had been strapped for
ten or twenty minutes, and then it was
carried to the autopsy room The re-
suit of the autopsy will not be made
public at present, Warden Sage says.
L.
Mekenna and DR.. Griffin performed an
autopsy on Mrs. Places body. The
body was then removed FROM the prison
to an undertaker's, where it was en-
balmed- The body will be shipped to
ment will take place
The crime for which Mrs Martha
Place suffered the death penalty was
committed IN -ot1~
1893. Jealous of her stepdaughter Ida
Mildred Place. she strangled her; then
waited four hours for her husband to
return, and tried to brain him with
an AK, and finally attempted to end her
own life 5y inhaling gas.
The Place family, at that time. con-
sisted of the husband, William Place.
an insurance appraiser; his daughter,
Ida, aged 10, and his wife, the murder
ess. They were married in 1893. shortly
after the death of Ida's mother. and
the trouble and family discord began
almost Immediately thereafter Mrs
Place had also been married before,
and had one son, who had been adopted
into another family and was not living
at the Place home. 1t was the desire
of Mrs. Place to have her son at home,
and that was the cause of all the family
trouble. Mr.. Place opposed her, and
she fancied that his daughter supported
him and stood in the way of her desire
being fulfilled She became bitter
against the daughter and the manner
in which the murder was committed
showed that she had carefully planned
the means by which she could put the
girl out of the way. She went to the
girls bedroom, smothered her in the
bedclothes and then threw vitrol into
her face. This latter act, as was after
ward shown was for the purpose of
making 1t appear that the girl had
drank the acid. When her husband
came home he was struck at the door
with an ak, and for some time was be-
1ieved to have been fatally injured. He
afterward recovered. Mrs. Place then
tried to kill herself by locking herself
in a room and turning on the gas; she
almost succeeded. but was resuscitated
Mrs Places maiden name was Gar
retson, but she had been married to a
man named Savacoll, now dead. She
wass possessed OF an ungovernable tenn
per which led to frequent quarrels with
her stepdaughter, and Mrs. Place was
very much embittered because her hus-
band took the young woman's part. An
of 70 ioI