The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1905-12-14
MRS. RODGERS HANGED
Vermont Woman who Murdered Mas
band walks Braveiy to SCaftOId
---Goyernor was Deaf to all
Pleas.

Mrs. Mary Rogers, the Vermont mtu
deress whose case has attracted nation
al attention on account of the strenuous
efforts IN lde to save her from the gal
lows. paid the penalty for her crime,
numbering her husband, at Windsor, VT,
last Friday afternoon. She walked
bravely to the gallows and seated her.
self in the death chair without assist
ance. 1t was a remarkable ending OF
the career OF a woman who became a
wife at lG, and a mnrdercss at 10, a
mother while in Jail, and victim of the
gallows at the age of % years. Ire
mendous pressure was brought to bear
on Gov. Bell to commute her sentence
or grant her another reprieve, but be
was immovable and said the law must
take it's course.
Mary Rogers crime was peculiarly
atrocious, but at no time since it's COM
mission did she ever express regret for
her act. notwithstanding the strenuous
efforts of philanthropists in her behalf
she manifested little concern in them.
The attention Of alienists was early
called to the case on account of the
womans early environment and her
antecedents, but commission of ex-
perts declared her sane after a thorough
investigation. The Influences under
which she began life, however, and
which continued to invest her up to the
time OF the murder, caused the awaken
ing Of tremendous interest in her case.
When she was l6 Mary Callahan was
married to Marcus Rogers of Benning-
ton. Soon there were quarrels, and
early in 1902 these had become SO fire.
quent and severe that Rogers left the
woman, going to Hoosick Falls, N Y.
On August IA, 1893, Rogers body was
found beside small stream in the out
skirts of Remington. Near by was his
hat, and pinned to it note purporting
to have been written by him and indi-
eating suicide by drowning. The note
was written in is,k, and in a woman's
hand. These facts and the we'll known
strained relations between Rogers and
his wife directed suspicion toward her.
At the inquest she said she knew moth
ing of the matter. One OF the other wit
nesses at the inquest was Leon Perham,
aged 20, the mentally nnsound admirer
of Stella Rates, who was Mrs. Rogers
chum. Perham broke down and told
dramatic story of the murder Of Rogers.
His story was that the woman was mad
~ in love with Morris Knapp, aged %,
who, however would have nothing to do
with her while she was the wife Of an
other. She therefore planned the death
of her husband and offered Perham $50
for his help.
underpretext Of wishing to, effect a
reconciliation she lnred Rogers to Ben
ningtoa. la the evening her and Rog-
ers, Perham and Miss Bates went for a
walk. When they reached the little
stream just outside the village they all
sat down, and there Mrs. Rogers
brought the salk around to point
where she offered to show Rogers new
trick without having aroused his sus-
picions. Drawing rope from her dress
she bound his hands behind him and
then told him to see if he could free
himself. R0gera, powerful wood
chopper. easily released himself. Then
Mrs. Rogers again bound his hands be-
hind him, this time so that only knife
could have set him free.
Perham at a signal seized Rogers legs
and cluag to them while the woman
poured chIoroform upon sponge and,
in spite of Rogers struggles, held the
deadly thing 10 his nostrils. Perham's 8
description of the tigerish ferocity of the
woman in her efforts to overcome her
husband and Rogers frantic endeavors
to release himself made the story of the
murder one Of the most revolving iii
New England criminal annals. Finally
Rogers was stupeied by the chloroform
so that he ceased to struggle. Then the
woman and Perham rolled him into the
stream, removed the rope from his
hands and deliberately drowned him.
Next the woman pinned the note she had
written to his hat, laid it on the bank,
pulled the body partly out of the water
and there they left him.
Mrs. Rogers, Perham and Stella Bates
we're placed on trial in December, 1902.
Miss Bates convinced the jury that, al
though she was witness Of the murder,
she took no part in it and had no pre-
1vious knowiedgasof the plot, and was
set free. Perham on the gronud of his
mental unsoundness, was sentenced to
life imprisonment. Mrs. Rogers was
found guilty of murder in the first
degree. ~
| Under the law OF Vermont, the eoyer-
nor has no power to pardon a person
sentenced to death, OF to commute the