Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-12-08
Plea for Humanity's Sake.


Plea for Humanity's Sake.
Then he heard Mrs. partition. who said
| that she had brought the petition from
| Ohio not for the purpose of interfering with
| the execution of the law of Vermont. but in
| the interest of humanity. The signatures
| to the petition which she brought, and
which were secured by a Cincinnati news
| paper, appeared on slips cut from that pub
| LEGATION. =
The documents were brought to the hotel
IN number OF suit cases. and were placed
on a table In the room where the conference
was neld GOV. Bell examined them with
some interest. Then he said:
L believe that l know the sentiment of
the people of Vermont as well as does anv
person IN this room. / see nothing to dis
cuss and 1 know of no law that is not as
n9ch Tor woman as for a man. 1 con-
slder that Tor me again to NEEDLE in this
case would place me as executive and the
State OF vermont and its laws in a ridicu-
This closed the conference ATTORNEY Mo
earthly at once called the state nrison or
windsor by telephone and gave notice OF
the failure of effort to secure executiva in
t ie AT the same time Gov Bell was
IN conference with a number of officials at
the prison. Afterward the governor an
nounced that he would remain at the hotel
mere until 80 this afternoon, to be avail
able in case Of emergency
Story Of the Crime.
The crime for which Mrs Mary Mabel
Rogers was sentenced to death was tho
murder of her husband, Marcus Ropers n.
Bennington. August 10. 1902. At the tine
the crime was committed Mrs. Rogers uas
only nineteen years old. She had been sem
arated from her husband for some time ana
vas, was 9esirous or marrying a young man
named Maurice Knapp. On the day of the
murder Marcus Rogers went to Bennington
10 visit his wife, and that night she ar
ranged to meet him In the woods near the
Walloomsac river While caressjnp hin
she induced him to allow her to hind b4s
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, EstelIa Bates.
was present.
After chloroforning Rogers. Perham and
Mrs. Rogers rolled the body into the river
where 1t was found the next day In order
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 Mrs Rog
ers endeavored to collect her husbands life
insurance amounting to $500, and also made
arrangements to purchase furniture for the
house where she expected to live when she
had married Knapp
A Complete Confession.
A few days after the murder Mrs. Rogers
ed. Perham made a complete confession,
and both he and Mrs. Rogers were found
guilty of murder in the first degree. Per-
ham was sentenced to imprisonment for
life. while the sentence of the court in Mrs.
Rogers case was death on the gallows.
Under the Vermont law the power of
Communication Of sentence rests with the
legislature, and the law also provides that
When person is sentenced to death a ses-
q ia1n t,,r.
tween the time OF tho sentence and the
date set for the execution. At the last ses-
sion of the legislature various attempts
were MADE to commute Mrs. Rogers SEN
tence, 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 pardon for the
woman shared the same fate, A bill was
then introduced providing for the appoint
ment OF state commission to examine into
the woman's sanity. This bill passed tbe
house unanimously. but was defeated in the
state senate.
Reprieves Granted.
The date set for the execution was Fab-
ruary 3, 1905. On February 2, after Mrs
Rogers had received the last rites of the
Roman Catholic Church. Gov Charles J
Bell granted her a reprieve until June in
order that the claim of her ATTORNEYS to
newly discovered evidence might be heard
attempt to secure for the woman a new
trial.
On May II last the full bench of the Yer
mont supreme court heard the evidence on
which the petition for a new trial was
based ard little more than a week later
denied the petition.
On June 1 a second reprieve by Gov. Bell
removed the doomed woman from under the
shadow of the scaffold This reprieve was
granted in order that the United States
Supreme Court might pass upon the con-
stttutionality and legality OF the proceed
ings governing Mrs. Rogers sentence.
The United States Supreme Court was
then pettloned for d writ of error in order
that the Case might go before the highest
tribunal, but this was denied. On June 10
habeas corpus proceedings were instituted
Case Carried to Supreme Court.
Further legal activity on the part of the
condemned woman's attorneys resulted In
the case being carried before the Supreme
Court OF the United States on an appeal
from the rulings of the Vermont court. On
November n last the United States SUI