The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-12-09
Woman is Put to Death for the Murder of Her
 Husband
ALL EFFORTS ID SAVE
 HER LIFE FAIL AT LAST
Without a Word or Without Tremor She Enters Death Chamber-Crime for Which She Paid
 Death Penalty.

Windsor. Vt, December S.-Without tremor and without word. Mrs. Mary Mabel Rogers today marched to her death on the gallows at the state prison here and paid the penalty of murdering her husband, Marcus Rogers, at Bennington on August 13, 1902. To all appearances Mrs. Rogers was the calmest person Tn the chamber of death. She faced her end with the same stoical indifference that had marked her demeanor ever since her arrest, more than three years ago.
 Greatly to the relief of those officials who were assisting in executing the sen tence. Mrs Rogers last hours were re- markedly free from narrowing incident. It had been feared that the woman's won- derful nerve would desert her at the final moment and that she would be car- ried to the scaffold in state of collapse. Instead, however, Mrs. Rogers met death bravey.
 There were no sensational incidents In connection with the hanging.
 Although the woman was not officially pronounced dead until fourteen minutes and thirty seconds after the trap was sprung, she evidently suffered no pain. Her neck was broken at the second cer- vical verterbra and she lost consciousness instantly the drop fell A few feeble con- yulsive movement of her pinibned hands were the only evidences that vitality had survived the first shock.
 The drop fell at 1:1S D. m. and Mrs. Rogers was pronounced dead at 1:271s- The woman's feet barely touched the floor for a~,tt tba af- form of the scaffold immediately tighten ed the rope and raised the unconscious form a couple of inches
 History of the Crime
 The crime for which Mary Rogers was sentenced to death was the murder of her husband Marcus Rogers, at Bennington, August 13, 1902. At the time the crime was committed Mrs. Rogers was only IS years old. She had been separated from her husband for some time and was desir- ous of marrying young man named Mau- rice Knapp. On the day of the murder Marcus Rogers went to Bennington to visit his wife, and that night she ar ranged to meet him in the woods near 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 Leon Perham, a half-witted boy, who was the son of the woman with whom she boarded. Another woman, Estelle Bates, was present.
 After chloroforming Rogers, Perham and Mrs Rogers rolled the body into the river, where it was found the next day.
 Wrote a Note.
 Tn order to divert suspicion the woman wrote a note in which she signed her husbands name, giving the impression tbof ba had committed suicide.
 Immediately after the murder Mrs. Rog ers endeayored to collect her husband insurance amounting to $500, and also made arrangements to purchase furniture for the home where she expected to live when she married Knapp.
 A few days after the murder, Mrs Rogers Perham and the Bates woman were arrested. Perham made complete confession and both he and Mrs. Rogers were found guilty of murder in the frst degree. Perham was sentenced to im- prisonment for life, while the verdict in Mrs. Rogers case was death on the gal lows.
 Under the Vermont law the power of communication of sentence rests with the Legislature, that also provides that when A person Is sentenced to death a session of the legislature must be held between the time of sentence and the date set for the execution. At the last session of
  made 10 commute Mrs. Rogers sentence. but all failed. Then an attempt was made to pass a law abolishing capital punish ment in Vermont, but that also failed. An attempt to secure a pardon for the woman shared the same fate. A bill was then introduced providing for the appoint ment of a state commission to examine into the woman's sanity. This bill passed the House unanimously but was defeated in the state Senate.
 The date set for the execution was February 8 1905, but Mrs. Rogers has been twice reprieved by Governor Bell.
 The United States supreme court was petitioned twice, but refused to reverse the sentence of the Vermont court.
 Prison Scandal.
 Certain disclosures regarding scandals in the Vermont state prison at Windsor where Mrs. Rogers has been confined have, it is caimd, affected public senti- ment According to testimony before the prison Investigating committee of the leg fslature, one of the convicts at Windsor had access to Mrs. Rogers cell some time after the first reprieve was granted by Governor Bell. It was alleged that this was part of a conspiracy on the part of certain prison officials to bring about such a condition as would further post pone the execution.
 Mrs Rogers Is the first person sentenced to death in Vermont within the past thir- teen years who was refused clemency. In Vermont all executions are made al the state prison and by peculiarty of the Vermont law the duty of hanging con- demned murders devolves upon the sheriff of Windsor county, regardless of the sec ton of the state in which the crime was committed.