Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1905-08-31

ing the prison management. This course
meets with my hearty approval. The pol
icy OF cx-superintendent Cakes has been
to let the sunlight on every transaction Of
his IN connection with the prison manage
ment.
"Whatcver the report Of the com
mittce shall be. the public may rest
assured upon its being the result OF
n careful, honest, thorough investiga-
ton Of all the facts, by competent
and impartial committee
HOW ROGERS CASE WAS D1sCOv-
Erred.
Judge Palmer was further question:
ed as to the manner In which the dup
Iicate kevs were obtained, etc. He
said that Mrs. Rogers was repriev-
ed February 9. Aftcrward she was
left in tho same quarters under MISS
Durkee, the matron. Later. when the
board of directors met at Windsor, by
their direction the door OF her former
cell was doubled and the windows
screened and she was transferred there
March 10. W. D. Harpin and Harold
Harpin were discharged March 4.
March 10, Night Waterman McCor-
mick, in conversation with Superinten-
dent Cakes, mentioned that Hall Man
Morse had said TO DR.. Hardness. a
prisoner, II something were known the
cell OF Mrs. Rogers would be double
guarded. Cakes asked Hardness what
Morse meant and Hardness claimed not
to know. Cakes went to Morse and
asked him what ne meant by the state
ment to Hardness. lie told Cakes that
he went into the hall where Vernon
Rogers worked and didn't see him but
called to him. lie heard a noise around
the north side of a block OF cells, and.
looking down, he saw Rogers shut the
door from the main hail into Mrs.
Rogerss part Vernon Rogers then
told Morse about going into Mabel
Rogers's room and what followed with
her. Morse said that after the Har-
pins were discharged and Mrs. Rogers
removed to her former cell he thought
there was no need to tell anything
about the incident. Morse told Cakes
that Mrs. Rogers said that she had
helped Vernon Rogers into her cell
with the scissors
At this time Superintendent Cakes had
Vernon Rogers taken out of the hall In
the west prison and placed in cell in
Of confinement Rogers sent for the super
| intendent and asked why no had been
placed in the dungeon. When accused OF
the intimacy with Mabel Rogers he denied
1t and was left in confinement For two
or three days ne kept sending for the
superintendent and asking for a release
but each time refused to disclose any
thing that had happened in connection
r. <n1I ~,
Oakcs that he had been in her cell
through the means of an old key that
he had found in a storeroom and said
that ne had been helped by Mrs. Rogers
who removed the catch from the inside
door by means of scissors. He said he
had been in her room six or seven times
but that he had not told anyone of il
before. On the day following this adj
mission by Rogers Morse took a. Ike,
from under the steam pipes and gave il
to Mr. Cakes saying that it was the
key used by Rogers. He said that Rog
ers told him where it was when he was
placed in the dungeon and asked him Il
make way with it. Mr.. Cakes ther
went to Rogers and showed him the key
and asked him how he came by It, Rog
ers claimed that Morse made it for him
Morse denied that he had anything to d.
with the manufacture of the key.
ANOTHER DESCRIPTION OF KEY.
Judge Palmer exhibited the key. which
has caused so much trouble 1t Is
surprisingly simple affair. made from {
thin piece Of iron, and the lock tina
would respond to it must be indeed {
most ancient and insecure one. 1t wa.
crudely hammered and filed into shape
by one who must have been Handicapped
by lack of tools and its maker no doub
was surprised that it would throw an.
lock, much less that Of a prison door.