The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-05-04
VERDICT IN RA1HBUN CASE
ACCUSED FOUND GUILTY OF MUR-
 DER IN SECOND DEGREE.

Sentenced to Prison for Life Jury Wa
 Out Almost Four Hours Scene in tn
 Court Room When tho Sentence Wa
 Imposed Children No
 With Her.
 Last evening at 7:20 o'clock the jury
 in the Rathbun case returned having
 been out since S:25. and found the ac.
 cused guilty of murder in the second
 degree, and ten minutes later Judge Ell
 mer sentenced her to states prison fol
 the rest of her natural life. She was
 charged with murdering her husband William Rathbun, on the morning of
 December 21 last.
 Thus ended one oe the most sensa- tional and at the same time interesting
 criminal cases ever tried in this state
 TThe mere fact that the prisoner was
 Q woman and that she was charged
 with murder in the first degree, hav-
 ing been so indicted by the grand jury,
 made the case one of record in the an
 nals of Connecticut for if she had been
 convicted on the original count she
 would have been the first woman in
 the history of the state that had ever
 been found guilty of murder in the first degree, and therefore the first to have
 been put to death for a crime. It was
 these facts and the sensational evil dence that was offered all through the I trial and the remarkable chain of cir
 cumstances in connection with Mrs. Ann Maria Rathbun that made the case and the state famous. ~
 l Never was there a more interested
 crowd of spectators in the New Haven court than that of yesterday afternoon
 and evening. and even after the jury had been out for hours there were hum
 dreds in the court room and in the gall lery, and it is safe to say that if the jury had remained out all night the number of people would have been large when an agreement was reached.
 The rap on the jury room door was heard at 7:19, and immediately there was hustle and hustle in the court room. Word was sent to the states att torney to the judge, to the attorneys for the defense and to the sheriff, who was In charge of Mrs. Rathbun in one of the side rooms of the court building Spectators in the gallery began to move down and those in the corridors edged their way into the court room and got the best seats they could. The judge and the attorneys soon entered, and then the jury emerged from their pen below Their faces were set, and there was no particular expression on them to denote anything. Clerk Gallagher called about six of their names, and then the states attorney interrupted him, for the prisoner was not in the room The door of the court room op- ened the next instant, and Mrs. Rath- bun was escorted to her customary seat near her attorneys. She was yelled heavily in black and her walk was un- steady, but she was not In tears. The names of the jury were then called by Clerk Gallagher, and after they all an- swered the clerk asked if they had come to any decision. The foreman, N. True man Smith, immediately said: Yes; we find her guilty of murder in the second | degree" and you could have heard an | eyelash drop in the court room just be- | fore these words were uttered. After | that announcement was made Mrs. | Rathbun's head dropped and she wept l bitterly. She was ordered to rise by the court, and 1t was then that the life sentence was imposed upon her. The court said that the statutes regulated the sentence in the case of murder in the second degree, and that all that could be done was to abide by 1t. Judge Elmer said: "The sentence of the court, |, ic fho+ ha tr11nyiGnnpd in | the state prison at Wethersfield for the rest of your natural life" With this Mrs Rathbun completely broke down, and her sobbing could be heard about the court room.
 A few minutes later court was ad- ourned winding up the April term
 Mrs. Rathbun was led out of the court ,oom and her remaining days will be ,pent in solitude in the little town up he state. where so many of the wrong loers end up.
 Her children were not in the court 'oom when the sentence was imposed, md it was good thing they were not, Or the sight of them would have made he pool woman almost crazy. Her chtl- lren have been devoted to her all through the trial. and whenever they lad a chance to speak to her they did t. They Hooked around her during he recesses and consolad in way that hildren alone can console a mother, ut all this is over now, and they will ,e felt in the world to get along the best hey can without father or loving nother
 The jury that was chosen to render a erdict in the case was composed Of the blowing: Elmer F. Brooks of Prospect, William Hosley of East Haven, Henry
 Frost of Cheshire Hubert M. John- on of Naugatuck, Charles B. Wooster f Ansonia. George w. Carter Of Guil- ord, Henry M Rossiter of Guilford, : ,dward A. Hitchcock of Woodbridge, R. Ryder of Seymour, Eben c. l. Wheeler of Seymour, Henry H. Mack of iuilford, and N. Trueman Smith of : Iilford. This jury was chosen out of vo panels of ninety men, and it took wo days to do it. The crime which Mrs. Rathbun com- litted is So familiar to those who have N ,ad the papers that it is hardly worth hile repeating, but a short review of < le case might be of some interest, < owever. MT. and Mrs. William Rath- ', un lived on Chestnut street. MT. {. athbun was a brakeman on freight '. ain on the New York, New Haven and V artford railroad, and boarding with F i'm was a man by the rian1e of John F. a art, also a brakeman on the same