The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1905-12-08
WOMAN HANGED.
Hrs. Mary Mabel Rogers at the
Vermont State Prison
Pays Laws Penalty for Murder
of Her Husband.
WAS TWICE REPRIEVED
Efforts to Secure a Stay Con-
tinued Until This Morning.
Story Of the Crime and How 1t
Was Discovered.

Windsor, VT, Dec. S.-AIrs. Mary
Mabel Rogers was hanged at the Yer
mont state prison at Windsor at 1:I3
O'Clock this afternoon for the murder
Of her husband, Marcus Rogers, at
Bennington, August 13, 1902. Mrs.
Rogers was pronounced dead by the
prison officials at 1874.
The execution took place after the
woman had been twice reprieved on
account Of appeals made in her case
by her counsel and after the United
states supreme court refused to take
any action in the case.
Only comparatively few persons
witnessed the hanging. the number
being restricted to those permitted to
attend by the laws of Vermont.
Mrs. Rogers maintained her COM
posure to the last and mounted the
gallows with a steady step. Although
deathly pallor overspread her coun-
tenance hardly a muscle ouivered as
deputy Sheriff SpanOrd pronounced
the fatal words:
Il now proceed to execute the sem
tence of the law and may God have
mercy on your soul"
Trap Is Sprung.
When the words were pronounced
Deputy Sheriff Angus McCaulIey
sprung the trap and the drop fell.
promptly at 1905 o'clock Deputy
Snerln SpanOrd, who was in charge
OF the execution, dispatched two Of
MS deputies to Mrs. Rogers cell in the
central portion of the prison where the
women prisoners are confined In the
meantime a little group consisting Of
sherlns, deputies, prison guards mill
ldry guards, legal witnesses and three
Vermont newspaper REPRESENTATIVE
had assembled in the west or old wing
OF the prison where the scaffold had
been erected.
A few minutes after the sheriff had
sent his deputies for the condemned
woman the sound of footsteps in the
corridor indicated her approach.
me ueath procession wended its
way down the stairs of the Woman's
sse1loa OF the prison, through the
guard room and into the west wing.
MIS-. Rogers appeared to be the
CalA1esL person In the party, although
her palIor bore silent witness that she
realized the meaning of it all She
was goWned in black. Deputy sherffs
marched OH each side of her Previous
70 the march to the scaffold Rev
rather c. c. Delaney, pastor Of the
local Roman Catholic church. Mrs
rogers spiritual adviser, had recfted
the prayers for the dying in Mrs,
rogers cell. The clergyman did not
accompany Mrs. Rogers to the scaf-
fold. Prison Chaplain HAYES Wit
messed the execution through a win
dow. Passing through the door that
opens from the guard room into the
TO descend a flight of iron steps.
She Did Not Finch.
She did not finch. Her step was
firm She refused the aid Of the
deputies and refrained from steadyfng
herself by the iron balustrade few
snort steps brought her to the stairs
leading to the scaffold Again Mrs.
Rogers declined assistance and I'M
aided mounted steadily to the top,
stopping exactly upon the center, 0f
the trap. She sat down in a chair for
a moment and when asked if she had
any nnal statement to make shook her
mead negatively To bind the con-
demned woman with leather straps
was the work of a minute onIy a
large black sack that was lying omen
on the trap was brought I'D a.bOut her.
pody and fastened around her neck,
the moose was adjusted by one of the
deputies and another deputy placed
the black cap upon her head. The
next step was the official anounce-
ment by the sheriff:
Mary N. Rogers. I now Drocasd 70
execute the sentence of the law and
may God have mercy on your soul
Hardly had the words been uttered
when the trap was sprung. 1t was ex-
| actiY 1:lS p m, when the drop fell and
| the woman was officially pronounced
dead at 1:271s
In the opinion of the attending phys
The law having been fulfilled, the dep
| utles, guards and spectators quietly lett
the PRISON. The body was cut down
ana placed in a coffin that had been
| awaiting it behind the scamold
Mrs. Rogers. body. had been claimed
| by her mother and sister and will be
buried by them at Ioosac Fails. n. T.,
where the mother, Mrs. Josie Callahan
resides.
By agreemnet between Governor Bell.
Sheriff Peck and Superintendent Lowell.
the following official account Of Mrs
Rogers last days was given by the
prison authorities and Mrs. NJ H
Loukes, one Of the death watch:
Her Last Days.
The death watch began November %.
when Mrs. Rogers was placed in soIi-
tary confinement in a cell on the south
west corner of the womans department
in the third fOors The death watch con-
sisted of Mr. and Mrs. NJ. H. Loukes, Of
the prison staff, who have passed every
hour of the day and night with Mra
Rogers except for an occasional brief
relief by some other prison official.
This room has contained two beds cur
tanned of from each other and here
Mrs. Rogers and her death watch slept
night after night and here, too on a
small table they have eaten regularly
I prison yard are painted so that the in
mates of the room have absolutely no
opportunity to see out of it.
The only visitors in the death room
since solitary confinement began have
been Superintendent Lowell, Warden
Palmer. Miss S J. Durkee, the matron:
Rev. ". H. Hayes, the prison chaplain;
Rev Father c. G. Delaney and Mar
guerite, the four-year-old daughter Of
Mr. and Mrs Loukes. The girl has
helped to divert MS. Rogers mind by
her childish Dranlzs. Mrs. Rogers has
! s--------