The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1903-09-27

when they returned. why did they show
themselves as they did,"
There are lots Of voters who take that
same stand" was ]. E Van Ingen's COM
ment.
THE bitterness against the Van Worm
ers seems to increase rather than to di-
minish," said Isaac L. Bradley, proprietor
Of the Undertook House. IT know OF no
body here who thinks that they should be
saved from the chair"
sTEPMoTHER LOYAL.
Just one person is known to have prayed
that the lives of the three boys would be
s~pared-the stepmother. She was the sis
ter of their wi mother, and she married
the elder Van Wormer when the boys
were very young. Another sister married
Peter Hallenbeck n was in the house
at Greenport at the time of the murder.
She died two or three months ago. Mrs.
Van Wormer has given up the pretty
house she occupied when her stepsons
were free and she has gone to work. She
has made several trips to h State prison
to see her stepsons, but her extreme pow
erty has prevented her from going very
often.
=. r. ECiiOAs . 'N
for the boy Frederick, is emphatic IN his
denunciation Of those who are thirsting
for the blood of the unfortunate young
men. He said:
"T cannot see why that Greenport
preacher, the Reverend Mr.. Corwin,
should lave gone to the Governor TO in
sist that the boys should die. He was not
concerned directly. Has not enough
blood been shed already to satisfy him?
Why does he clamor for the lives OF the
three boys? 1t seems to me that his ac-
ton was not in accord with the teachings
of the Master whom he processes to fol-
low, or of the tenets of his church. 1t
seems to me that the spectacle of three
brothers going to death simultaneously
in the electric chair would lave such an
effect that it would be impossible TO pre-
vent the Legislature from a%bolishing the
death penalty"
PRISONERS CONVERTED.
Father Belanser, pastor of the Catholic
Church at Dannemora, said that the three
rothers had embraced the Catholic faith.
Father Belanger said:
More than six months ago the three
boys asked me to be their spiritual ad-
wiser, with which request I complied, as it
was my duty to do. Far from treating re-
Iigious matters f%iippantly, or with imperti-
hence, as might be inferred from some
published reports, they have shown a con-
respect for such matters, being in
structed in the Catholic faith by myself
and by books which 1 have loaned them.
II baptized them on August 81 and they
were then and are now in the best re-
ligious disposition. They viii receive their
first communion on the morning of the
fatal day, and I am firmly convinced that
they will go to the chair manfuily and
comforted by the of the
Through respect for the truth
charity toward unfortunate men. I'M
able to defend themselves, / feel it my
duty to make this statement"
1t was personal dislike for their uncle
that inspired the murder. There had been
quarrels, and while the old man
treated his nephews with consid-
the boys seemed to have Inherit
ed a violent dislike for him.
Hallenbeck, the murdered man. was
not only personally known throughout
the country. be belonged to one of the old
ldU.licS. III ne was Ee1dIcQ 10
many persons. He was a farmer in COM
circumstances. living in a good
house about five miles from this city, in
q little settlement called Greendale. part
of the town of Greenport.
His widow was the sister of the Van
boys mother. who is nov dead.
The elder Van Wormer contracted a Sec
ond marriage with another sister of Mrs. !
Their father died about four
years ago and Hallenbeck paid his funer-
al expenses.
KIND TO THE BOYS.
Hallenbeck himself came to the front
Tor the boys when they were charged |
various indiscretions. He paid for
a bicycle that one Of them was alleged to
have stolen, and he subsequently made a |
statement with a ~neighboring farmer who
had alleged that they stole his chickens.
He objected to their ldleness, however, |
md as they would not heed his repeated |
to go to work he finally
them from the neat cottage that |
hey had occupied near his home, fore
closing a mortgage that he held on the
place. This brought about i'll feeling. as
he boys are alleged to have made various
.hreats to fix the old man before the |
murder was committed. |
Bruce had been spending some days with
lis cousins in Undertook before the muir
Ter. and ne says he accompanied them
when they set out in a buggy on Christ
mas Eve. They hired the single-seated
,ehicle late in the afternoon and all four
lambered In.
According to the prosecutions story all
we're provided with ~revolvers n they
lad taken masks to ayoid possible recog-
,ltiop. Three OF them owned revolvers