Waterbury evening Democrat., 1906-06-12
Tucker Went to His Death Without Making the N Expected Confession
HAD DECLARED HIS INNOCENCE ID THE LAST
DESPERATE LEGAL BATTLE TO SAVE HIS LIFE WAS KEPT UP gSIlL THE VERY LAST-THE PRISONER SHOWED SIGNS OF BREAKING DOWN AFTER THE LAST APPEAL TO THE
 GOVERNOR WAS REFUSED

Boston. June F Charles l.. Tuck
 CT was put to death in the electric chair
 in the state prison at Charlestown at
 twelve minutes and thirty seconds
 after midnight this morning. He pro-
 tested his innocence to the last and
 died without making any confession.
 He was convicted of the murder of
 Miss Mabel Page at Weston, on March
 S1, 1904.
 Tucker slept well Sunday night and
 ate his breakfast in the morning with
 . good appetite, notwithstanding he
 knew death. was only few hours
 away. The law does not permit tho
 warden to announce the hour for an
 execution, but 1t was understood that
 Tucker would go to the chair just af-
 ter midnight. Later, Tucker seemed for
 the first time to realize his peril. and
 became nervous and uncertain. in
 speech. This was especially marked
 after his baptism.
 The body of Charles Louis Tucker
 was removed from the prison a few
 minutes before s o'clock today. An
 undertaken. sent by the parents of the dead man. drove into the prison yard
 just after Warden Bridges had arisen
 from the brief rest which he had been
 able to secure after the awful event of the night. The formalties having
 been complied with, the body was talk en to the Tucker home in Auburn dale. At that hour the arrangements
 for the burial were not known.
 Later 1t was announced that pri- vate funeral services would be held at the Tucker home tomorrow. The body then will he taken to Worcester and buried in the Tucker family lot in cemetery in that city.
 Mabel Page was murdered at her
 ather's home in Weston. on tue morning of March 31. 1904. Her body was found several hours later by her aged father. On nearby | table was found a note supposed to | have been written by Miss Page stat ing that she had been called to Bos- ton because of the illness of her brother. It later developed that her brother Harold was not i'll and the | on the note and postal card which was also found in the house figured in the trial. the gov ernment contending that the hand writing as shown on the postal card was identical with specimens of Fuckers handwriting.
 The police authorities were with out clew for days. At length they | learned that Charles l.. Tucker. an young man of rowing habits, had been seen near the Page house on the day of the murder. They found Tucker and on taking him to police station questioned him, but released him. They did not abandon the trail, however. and Tucker knew they were following him. About three weeks after the first examination of Tucker the off, cers were prompted by evidence to search Fuckers home. There. in an old coat, they found broken knife blade stained and scared. the scars that an effort had been made to destroy 1t by means of file. A stick pin of peculiar design was also found. It was soon learned that Mabel Page had owned pin similar to that found in Fuckers coat. This, together with the fact that stains on the knife blade were suspected of being those or blood. as we'll as the cause of Fuckers act In breaking the blade into three pieces, caused his arrest. Indictment for murder in the first degree followed.
 Tucker did not go on the witness stand, but at the close of the trial l, he made a short statement to the jury s In which he declared his innocence. ' The fury took the case. They deliber- ( sted for i've hours. twice asking for from the court. The yer { dict was Guilty of murder in the I 1re degree" The announcement of ( the finding brought from the prison- er his only sign of emotion. He com pietely lost control of himself and | wept long and bitterly. When the .entence of death, was passed upon him. however, Tucker did not seem 1t all perturbed and during the last i, lew weeks of his life in the East J -ambridge jAil he exhibited remark ! lbie ealmness in marked contrast tn John Schidlofski. a wife murderer i rho occupied an adjacent cell and xho had such a fear of death that 1e required the constant attendance # . physician.
 Since Fuckers trial and conviction Edwin Page. the father of the mur- {. tered girl. has died. as has Professor 2 2. S. Wood of Harvard university. c rho vas the expert anaiyst for the 70 prosecution. Albert r. Tucker. father # the condemned murderer. was % .fecfed by the strain of the trial md subsequent events that several I ines he has been reported in criti- z al condition