The evening world., 1903-09-29

DANNEMoRA, Sept. 2s.-Denied Ar
audience with Gov. Odeli. Mt which sbe
intended to make n last plea for tho
lives of her three %stepsons. her last
hope for them gone. Mrs. Van wormSr
came TO Dannemora Prison to-day
to take IL last farewell Of the boys who
are TO die In the electric chair OH Thurs
day morning. She Is accompanied by
her two nleces.A
Now that the death hour OF the Van
Wormer boys is so near. a revulsion
OF feeling has swept over Undertook
especially in favor OF Frederick. The
youngest,
A petition has been started asking the
Governor to commute his sentence. II
will be signed by nearly all the promi-
nent men and women in the village and
will be forwarded to the Governor to-
morrow,
Letter by Fred.
A letter written by Fred Van wormer
to little Mamie Conner. sister OF Pearl
Conner. to whom Fred was engaged, de
plcts the horror of the death house as 1t
has never been shown before. Warden
George Deyo pronounces the letter the
most remarkable he has even sent from
the prison. The letter follows:
Dear Little Nan: This Ima be called
my dying confession, for It Is probably
tho last letter l shall write in my life
1t may o reach You and your good
until Wills and Burton accom-
me into the hereafter-a letter
from the dead. 1t may brighten you.
Your last one, dated Sept. q, has Oeen
delayed somewhere. "a II was only hand
me to-day. This makes me fear. dear
little friend. that when you read these
words the hand that wrote them will be
pura'yzed.
'Delr little Nan. your letter saying
that YOU were cry!ns-your tear-stained
message-was intended to comfort us.
But II almost unnerved me to recall the
old Undertook days that have ended in
this | WAS never much of a student, as
everybody in Columbia County knows.
Remember. ] was always fonder OF |
marbles n fishing han study
ing. May5a that was the beginning of
all our troubles, for willis and Burt
were the same. Mother has been dead
seventeen years. Mamie, nobody will
ever know the supreme horror--the |
dread-of this gloomy place. No.
body will ever know and live to tell such |
a story as ours.
Death watch's Pace.
we are simply waiting for tho word
to die. aud such = mean death at that.
| aid a mcment ago that I was never
much of student. This is wrong, for
In the past year l have done nothing
but read and-think, Your mother will
be surprised at that. In the dark and
lonely hours at night, when the only
sounds are the pacing of the death
watch stepping on your heart and the
occasional voice OF a prisoner. l have
sat light after night with my head be-
tween my hands INC thought, thought.
thought. ave read all the books
worth reading in the prison library, and
in some OF them there has been forget
fulness OF the chair.
you ask me, Mamie. IL ! dread death.
Did mamma tell you to ask mo? BY
that / suppose she means are We guilty?
As there Is a God above, we did not
intend to kill Uncle Peter. tell your
mother.
I'VE only tried to play a Joke on him.
We talked or our way to his house thai
night OF getting blank cartridges. but
there was no place open. and as we
were good shots we never dreamed OF
hitting him at frat. Then, as you have
heard, Uncle Peter started to get his
gun. and not knowing who we were In
our DISCUSSES We knew there was no
manner OF escaping his buclkshot.
II do not remember firing directly a,
him, as / live. even after he started be.
hind tine door where he kept his u
my hands are as innocent of his blood
as those OF a babe But, little Man
your folks have known me long enoush
to know that j am not a cowardiy cur
like Harvey. We are an equally guilty
under the circumstances and will all die
together, except that lying t%eiltoie,
Dread in s~IoIineux's Book.
last aisht ! read some In n book BY
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