Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1905-12-15
woman EXPIATES
crime ON CALL0WS
MRS. ROGERS HANGED AT WIND.
soR, VT, FOR MURDER OF
HER HUSBAND.
GOVERNOR REFUSES
TO STOP EXECUTION
Story of How She Killed Helpmate So
That She Might Marry Again
Long Fight Made to Save Her
from the Moose.

Windsor, VT, Dec. 9. = Despite all the
desperate appeals made for a further
respite, Mrs. Mary Mabel Rogers was
hanged Friday afternoon for the MUIR
der of her husband. The drop fell at
lib o'clock and death resulted from
broken neck. Only the official witnesses
viewed the hanging, which took place in
the penitentiary. Mrs. Rogers walked
to the gallows bravely. She made no.
statement on the gallows.
Hope for the condemned woman was
abandoned early in the day when Gov
Bell made his final decision that he
would not interfere with the execution.
Murdered Her Husband.
The career of Mrs. Rogers has been
remarkable one. A wife at 16 and muir
deress at 10, she was only % on the day
of her execution. In 1902, having won
the affections of three men, she killed
her husband, Marcus H. Rogers, with the
aid of another admirer, Leon Perham,
to the end that she might marry third
lover, Maurice Knapp. Perham con-
fessed and is serving life sentence. Mrs
Rogers was born at Hoosic Falls, N. Y,
and when married moved to Bennington,
VT, where the murder was committed.
On the day of the murder Marcus Rog-
ers went to Bennington to visit his wife,
and that night she arranged to meet him
IN the woods near the Walloomsac river.
While caressing him she induced him
to allow her to bind his hands, and while
he was powerless she chloroformed him.
In this she was aided by Perham, half
witted boy, who was the son of the wom-
an with whom she boarded. Another
woman, Estella Bates, was present.
After chloroforming Rogers, Perham
and Mrs. Rogers rolled the body into the
river, where it was found the next day.
To divert suspicion the woman wrote a
note to which she signed her husbands
name, giving the impression that he had
committed suicide. Immediately after
the murder she tried to collect her hus-
bands life insurance, amounting to
$500. A few days after the murder Mrs.
Rogers, Perham and the Bates woman
were arrested. Perham made a com
plete confession, and both he and Mrs.
Rogers were found guilty of murder In
the first degree.
How Case Has Dragged.
Under the Vermont law the power
OF Communication of sentence rests with
the legislature, and the law also pro-
yides that when a person is sentenced
TO death a session of the legislature
must be held between the time of sen.
tence and the date set for the execu.
tion At the last session OF the legfs.
| latlre- uas;-----eseeon1pLs were maue u
commute Mrs. Rogers sentence, but
all failed. Then an attempt was made
to pass law abolishing capital pun.
ishment in Vermont, but that also
failed. An attempt to secure a par.
don for the woman shared the same
fate. A bill was introduced providing
for the appointment of a state com.
mission to look into the woman's SAM.
ty. This bill passed the house unani.
mously, but was defeated in the sen.
ate.
The date set for the execution was
February 8, 1905. February 2, after
Mrs Rogers had received the last rites
of the Roman Catholic church, Gov
Charles ]. Bell granted her reprieve
until June 2 that the claim of her at
torneys to newly discovered evidence
might be heard before the Vermont SUI.
preme court. May II the full bench
of the supreme court heard the evil
dence, and a little more than a week
later denied the petition.
Second Reprieve Asked.
June l second reprieve by Gov
Bell removed the doomed woman from
under the shadow Of the scaffold
This reprieve was granted in orde,
that the United States supreme court
might pass upon the constitutionality
and legality of the proceedings. The
United States supreme court was Their
| petitioned for writ of error so that
the case might go before the high
est tribunal. but this was denied
June 10 habeas corpus proceedings
were begun. Further legal activity OF
the part Of the condemned woman's
attorneys resulted in the case being
carried before the supreme court or
an appeal from the rulings of the
Vermont court. November ~ the SUI
preme court refused to stay the sen
tence of the Vermont court. With the
decision of the highest court in the
land Mrs. Rogers last hope vanished
as Gov. Bell had announced that hi
would not interfere with the sentence
Mrs. Rogers is the first person sen
fenced to death in Vermont In the
last 13 years who was refused elem
ency. The last murderer executed IL
the state was Sylvester Bell, who wa!
hanged in 1892 for wife murder. Tht
last woman to be executed was Mrs
Emeline Meeker who paid the deatl
penalty at Windsor March 80, 1883.
Will Play Ice Football.
Minneapolis, Mimi, Dec &c,
football is to be played this winter
! by teams representing Minneano1f