The Spokane press. [volume] (Spokane, Wash.) 1902-1939, 1905-02-02
Murder of Her Husband, of Whom She Had Tired Was
Treacherous and Cruel-Tried to Make Police Believe
It Was Suicde-Murdered Her Baby, Too

mess, he started to make a struggle.
Mrs. Rogers suddenly changed her
tactics.
Jump on him, Leon" she said,
and young Perham sprang up and
| put his whole weight on Rogers
chest. Half stupefied by the chloro-
| form, Rogers could offer but little
resistance.
In about five minutes the man
was completely under the influence
! of the drug. Then Mrs. Rogers,
calling to Perham to help her, took
| up the body and
Threw 1t Into the Brook.
Before she went home, she tried
to effectually mask her part in the
affair. She took a piece of paper
and wrote a note, purpOrting to
come from her husband, saying he
was tired of life and had determined
to commit suicide. Then she wound
| the note up with the ingenious con-
clusion, do not blame my wife,
Mary Rogers, for this, as she had
nothing to do with It,"
Mrs. Rogers signed her husbands
name to the note, pinned it on his
hat and hung it on tree. Then she
and Perham went away. But at 6
O'Clock the next morning Mrs. Rog-
ers appeared at the police station
| in Bennington, weeping and wall
ing, and begging that they send
some officers with her to search for
| her husband, who, she feared, had
committed suicide. Inasmuch as
most of the officers knew Mrs. Rog-
ers and also knew that she had not
been living with her husband for
about two years, and had not been
seen with him. they wondered why
she should be so solicitous at this
time.
But Mrs. Rogers begged for the
aid of the police and finally the city
marshal gave her a couple of Of
ficers to go and search for the miss
ing Rogers. Mrs. Rogers suggested
that they
Look Along the Brook
because she thought it was likely
place for her husband to commit
suicide.
Hardly had the officers arrived at
the brook than they found the body
of Rogers. His hands were tied be-
hind his back, just as Perham had
tied them. When Mrs. Rogers saw
the body. she INDUCED in pas
sionate outburst of grief She threw
herself upon the body and kept ask
ing: why did he do it? Why did
he do it,"
The moment the officers saw the
mans hands tied behind his back
the whole plot stood revealed to
them.
Perham and Mrs. Rogers were
| convicted, the former being SEN
fenced to life Imprisonment, while
Mrs. Rogers was sentenced to be
hanged on the first Friday in Feb
| ruary. 1905.
confessed to the murder of her O.
months-old baby. She picked it up
by the heels and
Dashed Its Brains Out
against wall, and then threw the
body into an old well. When the
body was found the woman said the
baby fell into the well. In her con-
fessiOn, made after she knew she
must die on the gallows, the wom-
an said that she killed her baby
because she was desperate, penni-
less and the child was ill and had
no medicine. Besides. she said,
she feared the child would grow up
! to be a murderess, like herself.
Mrs. Rogers life was full of sod
den degradation. Never did she evil
dence any human emotion. 1t has
been suggested that she had not
the power to differentiate between
right and wrong. She was naturally
| cruel and heartless.
Since her conviction she has been
| imprisoned in a cell which over
looks the Jail yard, where the gal
lows stands.