The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-03-29
Especial from United Press,

Q Auburn, N. Y., March 29.-Mary Far
 mer's confession to her priest:
 | My husband, James D. Farmer,
 never had any hand in Sarah Bren- ! mans death nor never knew anything
 about it till the trunk was opened.
 never told him anything that happen | ed. I feel he has been terribly wrong l ed James D. Farmer was not at home the day the affair happened;
 neither did James D. Farmer ever put a hand on Sarah Brennan after her
 death. Again I wish to say as strong ly as I can that my husband, James D. Farmer, is entirely innocent of the
 death of Sarah Brennan; that he knowingly had no part in any plans
 that led to it; that he knew nothing
 whatever about it." (Signed) Mary P. Farmer
 "Subscribed and sworn to before me this 25th day of March, 1909. CSigneO B. F. Wingar Notary Public Cayuga County" -.
 Auburn, N. Y., March 29.-With half closed eyes and muttering the prayers of the Catholic church, Mrs. Mary Far mer walked to the electric chair in thirty seconds past six o'clock this
 morning and gave up her life as pen atty for the murder Of Sarah Brennan.
 The electrical execution of the first
 
 ond in New York State was sfgnally
 successful. After three contacts of
 the powerful current the woman was
 pronounced dead by Warden Benham
 at 6:15:40 o'clock.
 The husband paced his cell within a
 stones throw of the execution cham Der, condemned to die in the same
 chair for complicity in the murder
 which has been styled by two courts and the Governor as one of the most
 deliberate and brutal in the criminal annals of the State. Two score miles away in the little village of Browns vile. an infant son lay fretting in his crib unconscious of the significance of this dawn-the climax to the first chapter in a judicial decree that may make of him an orphan, shorn even of the consolation or a wholesome memory. Unconscious of the heritage of woe that hangs his future with an insrmmountable barrier, the child holds no key to the inScruta'ble problem of the life he must attempt with such a hopeless handicap-a. living monument to the awful judgment visiting the iniquity of the father upon the chill dren to the third generation
 Father Hickey, the chaplain, believes the chair. has claimed an insane vic tim. Sheriff Bellinger of Jefferson county, who discovered the mutilated body of Sarah Brennan in the trunk and who first accused the husband and wife, has no patience with the theory of even a supervened insanity She was as sane as am,'' declared the of ficer who thinks the law but half vim dicated after witnessing the execu- ton.
 The maternal instinct was manifest ed by Mary Farmer during her long incarceration in the woman'S prison, when she realized what the future held for her son. Her intermittent mani festations of religious thought were the result of the counsels of her spirit ual advisor. As the procession form ed the condemned wOman'S eyes closed and her lips responded to the reverbe- | rationS of Father Hickey'S prayer. 1 Just behind him with eyes closed, | walked Mary Farmer with a murmur. two women attendants who have | watched day and night at the cell Of the condemned woman since~her in 1 Captains CroW,>ty and | Martin and the principal keeper, Nop- tain Patterson, closed the process.un.
 At the end of the short walk of a | dozen paces Mrs Farmer stumbled 1 slightly upon the rubber mat that en- closed the chair but the firm grip of | the attendants staunchedi any fear and | the victim gave no sign- The corri- | dor door changed as she seated herself | in the braSS-rigged chair. At a. signal from Warden Benhan the two Il women attendants and Dr. Helen M. arranged themselves on the insulated mat to observe the eXecu- ton as Captain Patterson adjusted the el6cCTOQe IO Cllo NICCllI1 SdpIdII1 Martin and Electrician Davis adjusted the wrist contact straps, the heavy helmet and mask. To safeguard against an emergency the hair of the was arranged in little hraids which hung loosely in the back.
 Electrician Davis signalled that all was in readiness as he stepped toward the switchboard. Warden Benham nodded his assent to the electrician. The switch was jammed into it's socket at 6:O5:3S and the limp body jumped into the creaking straps, remaining
 (Continued on page three)