The Penn's Grove record., 1903-10-09
VAN W0RM[RS EXECUTED
Three Brothers Die at Dannemora
For Killing Their Uncle.
ALI OVER IN FIFTEEN MINUTES

Willis, the Eldest, tho First to Co.: Then
Fred, tho Youngest, and Burton the
Last-Each Goes to the Death Chair
Without = Tremor or . Falter i.
His Steps.
Dannemora, N. Y.-The three Van
Wormer brothers, Willis, Burton and
Frederick, were put to death in the
electric chair in Clinton prison between
ll.5o and 11.4S o'clock in the morning
OF the day fixed for execution for the
murder Of their uncle, Peter A. Hal
ienbeck. in the village of Greendale,
Columbia County, on Christmas Eve
two years ago.
Inc hrst to die was Willis, the eldest.
CHOSEN because Warden George Deyo
U him to be physically the weak.
est OF the three and SO most liable to q
breakdown. Frederick, the Youngest
q the brothers, followed Willis to the
ueatn chamber, and Burton went to his
doom last.
Inc execution was pronounced by the
experts who witnessed 1t to be the
most sk1iiful that ever took place in
THIS prison. The three men went to
tneif death calmly and bravely and
tnelr deaths were absolutely without In.
cldent except for the audibly MUIR
INJURED prayers Of the youngest. who
uled with the name of the Deity on his
Ups, M the fact that Willis. the eld-
est, assisted the keepers who were
Swapping him into the death chair In
adjusting the ~fastenings.
The time that elapsed between the
entrance of the first of the three men
into the death room aud the declara-
tor by Prison Physician Ransom that
the third man was dead VAS fiftaan
minutes The official time taken by the
was sixteen minutes and
twenty seconds. Nearly two minutes
OF tn1s time was occupied by the SIX
physicians present in examining Bur-
\ body with a stethoscope after
". Ransom had examined him and
found him to be dead.
The official table of time, to use the
Dare and cold formula In which DR..
Ransom announced 1t, is as follows:
Willis-Door, II. {. 40; trst current.
l1.35.40; second current, II. 1910; third
current, 11.36.40; declared dead,
1880.
Fred-Door. 11.41.25; first current.
ll.42.15; second current, 11.42.45: third
current, 11.43.20; declared dead.
11.44.5O.
Burton-Door, 11.47.O5: first current.
ll.47.55; second current, II. As. 80: third
current, 11.49.50; declared dead.
11.51.OO.
OF this time but two minutes and
forty seconds were consumed in fasten-
Ing the men into the chair. and four
minutes fifteen seconds for killing the
three. From the time that the first
victim entered the death room until the
last body had been removed to the
morgue was seventeen minutes.
The conduct of the three men in
meeting their deaths was said by
Warden Deyo to have been far better
than ne had dared to hope for. The
executions We're devoid of those Incl
dents that have made many previous
executions by electricity offensive.
This triple execution raises to a total
OF seventy-three the list Of the mur-
derers who have died in the electric
chair during the sixteen years since
that form of death-method superseded
the gallows. The execution of three
brothers at one time is not unprece-
dented. On June Z, 1925, for murder
Ing a peddler, three brothers-Nelson,
Israel, Jr., and Isaac Thayer-of Bos-
ton, Erie County, were hanged on d
triple gallows In a public square in
Buffalo.
Within the same walls in which the
executions occurred is confined the
Van Wormers' comrade in the murder
OF Peter A. Hallenbeck on Christmas
Eve, 1901, Harvey Bruce. their cousin,
who saved his life and insured their
conviction by turning States evidence
and fastened the crime upon the three
brothers. He Is serving a sentence of
eighteen years, which will be cut by
good conduct to eleven years and two
months.