The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1900-07-20
HANGING OF YOUNG CROSS
BOY MURDERER GOES BRAVELY TO
THE G4LLOWS.

fuI-New House Used for the First
| Ttmc-ImprovcmeIat 8 In the GnIIows-
Inst Hours of the Condemned.
Hartford, Conn, July 20.-For the
ninth time within six years the gallows
at the state prison at Wethersfield have
been brought into requisition to carry
out the laws decree and as has been the
case on every occasion since the SOCIAL
| ed automatic galows were de-
vised, the execution was attend
| ed with no untoward grue-
some scenes. Bertram Cross, better
known as Charles b. Cross, who short
ly after lidnight this morning was
hanged ii. the new execution chamber,
was t youngest murderer that was
ever fo d to pay the extreme penalty
of the In Connecticut, but despite
the fact that he had only within few
weeks reached his eighteenth birthday
he went to his doom with as little
dread or trembling as the most aged
murderer who was ever hanged here,
inasmuch as he was terribly affected
when sentence was pronounced by
Judge Roraback 1t was feared that as
the end drew near he would again col
lapse, but apart from indulging In con-
siderable weeping as the time approach
ed which was to end his life he main
tained his boasted demeanor that "he
would die like a man."
Cross spent no time in sleeping yes
terday and was up and attired in his
execution suit before o'clock In the
morning. He ate q hearty breakfast
and shortly before noon was visited by
Chaplain Hall, who baptized him in the
Episcopal faith and administered the
sacrament to him. The rest Of the day
was spent In reading his Bible and fire.
quent smoking Of a pope and cigars
He also wrote three letters in the after
noon, one to his grandmother and one to
each of his two aunts. In reply to
question from Warden Garvan Cross
said that he had nothing to say to the
public or to the warden except that he
must have been crazy when he killed
the woman. Since his Incarceration In
prison the boy received but one visit
from his grandmother, which occurred
two weeks ago. No other relatives came
near him.
The execution was the first in the new
execution house and the galows was
an improved one embodying ideas of
Warden Garven. According to the
warden the action OF the new gaIlows
was positive. The murderer had moth
ing to do with the rope and set no ma
chinery in motion, When the assistants
gave the signal Warden Garven sprung
the weight and the boys neck was in
stantly broken from the sudden Jerk.
The execution was ATTENDED by Dep
uty Warden Baisden and Deputy Park
er and Dr. Fox, the prison physician,
who assisted the warden, Prison Direc-
tors Frank c. Sumner of Hartford. Will
son G. REYNOLDS of East Hartford.
Thomas D. Wells and Willis o. Burr of
Hartford. DR.. Weston Chester of Hart
ford and the usual representatives of
the press.
Almost with the stroke Of 12 Warden
Garven, accompanied by two of his
deputies and the prison doctor entered
the death chamber and read the war
rant to the lad. AT the conclusion Of
the reading he Informed the warden In
reply to his question If he had ANYTHING
to say, that he had nothing but that he
was crazr when he killed the woman.
To Chaplain Hall he had previously
stated that he had repented of his crime
and that he was not afraid to die
After the usual preliminaries had been
perfected the spectators invited to the
execution proceeded to the execution
chamber and at 1900 the trap was
sprung. The lads neck was Instantly
broken, but there was perceptible tre-
mors for two minutes. A minute later
he was pronounced dead. After the
body had been allowed to hang for
about ten minutes 1t was lowered and
placed In the coffin that had been pre-
pared and soon afterwards the remains
were inferred in the prison grave yard.
Mrs. Augusta Cross of Brooklyn, grand
mother of the boy, arranged for the re-
moval of the remains next September.
The hanging was devoid of any sem
sationalism, although 1t was thought
the contrary would be the case
Cross' Crime.
The crime for which Cross paid the
penalty Of death has attracted much
attention because of the youth Of the
prisoner, the revolving character of the
murder and the unusual efforts made
to save him from the gallows. His VIC
tim was Sarah G. King, a frail. delicate
woman, sixty years of age, the wife Of
Freeman King, a New York printer.
She lived in a farmhouse at "The |
Farms" about nine miles north of
Stamford and in that township. King
was in the habit of visiting the farm
once week and spending Sunday there.
1t is lonesome locality, the houses be- |
ing few and far apart. Partly to save
his wife from feeling lonesome. and |
partly to assist In chores about the
place, King engaged Charles B. Cross |
Of Brooklyn, seventeen years of age,
to live there. He performed bis duties |
fairly we'll for several weeks, and the |
only thing in his habits that the neigh |
oors noticed as being unusual was that |
he smoked many cigarettes.
On the night Of November Z, 1899, the
boy alarmed the neighbors and told |
them the house had been robbed and |
hat Mrs King was unconscious. 1t
lid not appear that there had been anv
although a few of the bureau
lrawers had been opened and their con-
.ents were In confusion. Soon after
leighbors reached the house the woman
I i Ix..-