The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1903-10-01

| come fasting to their communion, winch
| Fathers Be1anger and Charbonneau ad-
ministered to them later. They said,
moreover, that they would not eat again.
so that their meal at midnight was the
| last.
Frederick. the youngest, who has all
| along been the least impressed of the
| three, and a. all times has shown more
bravado than the others said to Keeper
Murphy as he dressed himself:
/ We'll, I suppose by this time tomor-
row we shall be in Kinder Hook" evil
IDENTIFY intimating that the brothers ex-
pect their bodies to be taken for burial
| to their home. 1t would be difficult TO
| imagine anything more impressive than
| the solemn service in the room of the
steel cages, where Fathers Belanger and
| Charbonneau, q little after 9 o'clock ad-
ministered to the three brothers their
| first and last communion. 'signallz1ng
| their full acceptance into faith of the
Roman Catholic church. To the fullest
| possible extent the privacy of the cere-
| mony was assured all keepers except
| the inexorable death watch being ex-
cluded The ancient ritual of the
Lords supper after the manner of the
Catholic church was observed. A few
feet away in his cell under like con-
demnation of death sat Allen Mooney,
the only other prisoner in the cell room,
/ listening to the ceremony He stands
convicted of the murder of two women
at Saranac Lake.
The routine of the prison was carried
on without a break early today in con-
trast with the former custom of locking
the men in their cells upon the day of
an execution.
DIR. Ransom, the prison physician vis-
tied the condemned men in their cells
this morning and closely noted their
! physical condition. In the meanwhile
Warden Deyo had decided upon the or
\ der in which the men were to go to the
chair as follows:
First, Willis the oldest and most i'm
pressionable of the three; second, Fred
erick, the youngest, who has seemed TO
be the most hardened; third, Burton the
| second in point of age.
At $50 it was reported by the warden
| that the men were in the best possible
| condition both in body and mind and
well nerved for their ordeal.
| HISTORY OF THE CRIME.
| In almost all respects the tragedy
which closed today at Clinton prison
with the death in the electric chair of
the three brothers Van Wormer was
unique in modern criminal history
Only once before in this state it is re-
called that three brothers have gone to
their death together for a murder IN
which they were jointly concerned. On
Christmas eve, 1901 with their cousin.
Harvey Bruce. the three brothers drove
from their home in Kinderhook. some
| IA miles. to the hamlet of Greendale, in
! Columbia county. where lived Peter A.
Hallenbeck, the uncle of the Van
/ Wormers. On the way they stopped at
/ the GreenQdle churcns WnerG Jney stole
| from the vehicles of the farmers a
number of robes and whips.
Then they went on to the k1allenbeck
house, where Mr.. Hallenbeck his wife
and aged mother, We're sitting in the
lamplight in their living room. Both
the women saw them drive past A few
moments later there was a knock at
the door and Mr.. Iallerbeck answered
| II, to find masked men before him
armed with revolvers. Burton Van
Wormer led the way. and with him the
old man grappled. At once all four
began a fusillade of pistol shots. which
fairly riddled the body of Mr.. Hallen-
beck. Mrs. Hallenbeck. the wife. ran
into the kitchen and the brothers shot
at her but missed. Her husband or
dered her to flee. and she ran upstairs.
whittier the older woman had preceded
her. and the two barricaded themselves
in the attic.
Mr.. Hallenheck, although mortaIly
wounded. broke away from his assail-
ants and went to the landing of the
stairs where he kept a loaded shotgun.
The assailants saw him get the gun
and fed: The old man fell to the floor
and died.
The four young men were soon after
arrested, betrayed by their footprints
in the snow and because they were
known to have harbored bitter feelings
and to have made threats against their
uncle. They were brought to trial be-
fore an extraordinary term of the court
appointed by Governor Odell and pre-
sided over by Justice Alden Chester, of
Albany. on March 30, 1902.
Harvey Bruce turned states evil
dence, and it was to a large extent upon
his testimony that the conviction of the
Van Wormer brothers was secured. He
swore that upon their way back from
the scene of the crime each of the
brothers boasted of having shot the
uncle.
1t was shown that the bitterness
which the brothers felt toward their
uncle was due chiefly to his having
foreclosed q mortgage upon the prop
erty in Greendale. owned by their step
mother. the loss of which compelled
their removal to Kinderhook- On
April s. all three were found guilty and
sentenced to be put to death in theweek
ending May 80, 1902. Their appeal to
the court of appeals acted as a stay
and the case went over to the present
year.
Judge O'Brien. in writing the opinion
of the higher court against the appeal,
pronounced incredible the main plea of
defense, that the expedition of the four
to Hallenbecks house was in the ma
ture of a young mems prank, the fatal
outcome of which had not been part
of the play.
The court fixed upon the week of
July for the carrying out of the
death sentence, but the Van Wormers
have been twice respited by Governor
Oden.
Except for the efforts of Judge Cady
in their behalf and for the futile at
tempt by Mrs. Van Wormer. the step
mother of the condemned men to appeal
to Governor Odell. no voice has been
raised in their behalf
It is known that Governor OdeIl would
have welcomed any plausible ground
upon which to commute the sentence, as
he felt that little good would result to
the public mind from the morbid inter-
est attaching to the triple execution.
Harvey Bruce. their fellow in the
crime, for which they died today, was
tried alone and sentenced to imDFison-
ment for eighteen years. Mrs. Hallen-
beck soon followed her husband to the
grave. as also did the aged mother of
the murdered man. brother, George
A. Hallenbeck. survives. but he is
broken in health and nerve by the awful