The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-12-09

MURDERER OF SUSIE ROGERS MUST
PAY DEATH PENALTY.
FOR HIS BRUTAL CRIME.
CONDEMNED MAN SAYS THAT HE Is
READY TO DIE.

nary 30 Set for the Day of the EN-
ecutiOn-On That Day Robert Sim
mons Dies, TOO-VOice of Con-
demned Man Failed When Sem
tence Was PrOnOunced-Says He
Has Made His Peace-His Attorney
Will Move for New Trial-May De-
lay the Day of observation-disclosures
Statement Weak and Almost Aim
less.
Within five minutes after the conclu-
sion of Judge Barrow's charge, the
jury in the case of Abe Cohen, tried
for the murder of Susie Rogers, return
ed a verdict of guilty yesterday after
noon. Immediately upon receipt of the
verdict, the court pronounced sentence
upon the condemned negro, ordering
that in expiation of his diaboIical deed,
he should, on Jan. 30, be hung by the
neck until dead.
The reception of the sentence, the
statements of the murderer and his
conduct throughout the case, were in
marked contrast to his careless and
nonchalant demeanor at his previous
trial last August. Several months in
Jail with the almost inevitable sentence
of death hanging over him; nights fill
ed with dreams of the scaffold and the
black-cap; prayer and penitence-all
combined to alter the attitude of the
prisoner toward death.
Prepared for the Worst.
When the verdict of the jury was
read, Cohen displayed no emotion. He
sat with bowed head, prepared for the
worst. He had been given every ad-
vantage which the law throws around
the accused, every portion of the guilt
liking evidence had been thrice re-
viewed-twice by the lower court and
once by the court of last resort-his
counsel had spent his powers of elo-
quence and argument-but, all in vain.
Without a provoking circumstance, the
bloody deed was done, and for its COM
mission the gallows yearned for him.
Stand up" ordered the court.
The prisoner complied.
Have you aught to say why the
sentence of death should not now be
passed upon your"
The lips of the condemned man
moved, but none except those quite
near him heard his utterances. mo,
L have nothing to say" he said.
VIII Ask New Trial.
The court then passed sentence upon
| the prisoner. The day upon which
he will pay the death penalty is the
same on which Simmons has been SEN
fenced to hang. 1t is probable, how
ever, that he will not go to his doom
| on the day appointed. On the reading
of the verdict, and before sentence was
imposed, Mr.. James F. Evans, Cohens
! counsel, notified the court of his in
| tention to move for new trial
While the jury was out, Cohen sat
in the sheriff's office awaiting his
| doom. He was asked by a representa-
tive of the Morning News if he wish
| ed to make any statement to his
friends, to which he replied that if he
had any friends they never came round
| him.
| 1 Am Ready to Die.
II am sorry I don't it." he said. ST
have made my peace with God. NY
life was in the hands of three when
1 came here to-day, the lawyers, the
| jurymen and God. My lawyer done
! what he could for me, and if the
| jury amt merciful I know God will
be. 1 hold talks with Him all hours
of the day. l am ready to die These
were Cohen's wards as he waited in
stern anxiety for the verdict of life
| or death.
| On the jury which convicted Cohen
| there was a negro, Franklin E. Jones.
| 1t is an unusual thing for negro
to sit upon jury in a capital case
Forty-one Jurors had been called, when
| at II O'Clock, the panel of twelve was
| obtained. There were but three wit
nesses for the state, and the time
occupied by them in giving their testi-
mony was comparatively short, the
l nf he IoS.,
| prisoner in making his statement and
in the argument of counsel
The story of the Crime.
Mr.. Raiford Falligant prosecuted for
the state. His argument was confined
to recital of the evidence adduced-
| the visit of Cohen to the home of the
Rogers woman, the colloquy between
them, in which the woman told him
/ that she cared no more for him, that
| he had a superior" and wanted moth
ing further to do with him; of how the
man. with abandoned and malignant
heart, whipped out his pistol. rushed
at the woman, and fired; how, after
| the bullet had ploughed its way into
her breast, and she had sunk to the
floor, he knelt beside her, and emptied
the remaining four chambers into her
| PROSTATE form; how he raised the arm
of his victim. and kicked her dying
| form with his boot; of his attempt to
| escape and his capture by officer
| Knox; of his statement to the officer
| that he was glad he had done it-all
| OF the rewriting details of the bloody
and provokeless murder, without an
extenuating circumstance, was sub
mitted graphically by the solicitor pro
| tenn.
| In his plea for the life of his client
! Mr.. Evans discussed the case in its
| every detail. He did not ask for the
acquittal of his client. His argument
! was directed toward the return of a
| verdict with recommendation, or a
| verdict of manslaughter. He reviewed
| the defendants statement of how he
had cared for the woman, whom blind
rage had induced him to slay: of his
! devotion to her, his support of her. and
/ of the Jealousy which was kindled in
his breast because of his unreuuitted
attention; and finally of the passion
which mastered him when she threw
| the taunt in his face that he had a su
perior These things, he argued, con-
| stituted provocation, and surely miti-
gated the offense of which he stood
charged.
Defendants Statement Weak,
Cohen himself was on the stand for
so minutes His plea for his life was
! not strong one. He told over and
over, in a calm, and pity-provoking
! manner of the circumstances surround
ing the killing. He could assign no
! reason for his deed other than that
when he was taunted by the Rogers
! woman, sudden rage impelled him TO
he 81.