The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1909-04-07
LAW KNOWS NO SEX
Mrs. Mary Farmer, Principal in
Celebrated Trunk Murder,
DIES IN THE ELECTRIC CHAIR

I.
When She Told Her Husband, Also
Under Sentence of Death, Goodbye.
The Crime for Which Her Life
Vas Taken.
AUBURN, N. Y.-Murmuring a
prayer for her soul Mrs. Mary Farm
er was quietly led to the electric
chair in Auburn prison shortly after
6 o'clock this morning and was ex-
ecuted for the murder of Mrs. Sarah
Brennan at BrownvilIe last April.
The execution of Mrs. Farmer
the second infliction of the death
penalty on a woman by electricity in
this state-was effected without SEN
sational incident. Father Hickey,
spiritual adviser of the condemned
woman, following the execution gave
out a statement signed by Mrs. Farm
er in which she declared that her
husband, James Farmer, was entire
ly innocent and knew nothing of the
crime until after it had been COM
mitted.
Dramatic Were Final Hours.
The current events and the final
hours of the life of Mrs Farmer
moved on relentlessly though dra-
matically after nightfalI last night.
Brought from the woman's prison
chamber to the receiving cell in the
condemned row Mrs. Farmer babe
farewell to her husband, then was
lodged in a cell that adjoins the exc
cutiOn chamber there to await the
call to the chair.
James Farmer, the husband, who
also is under sentence of death for
the killing of the Brennan woman
and whose case is before the court
of appeals, was taken to another
part Of the prison that he might not
hear the tread of the witnesses on
their way to the room of execution
or the march of his wife to her
death.
Tells Doomed Husband Goodbye.
The wretched woman showed no
evidence of collapse, though the last
words between herself and husband,
separated in their pairing interview
by heavy bars and an impenetrable
screen, were affecting to the two wo-
men attendants and the captain of
the guard. AS the law does not per-
NIT it, there was no farewell en-
brace when the time came for sep
aratiOn.
After the steel door of her cell had
been closed and James Farmer,
weeping, had been led away the wo-
man fell upon her cot and wept for
few moments and then began to
pray Her attendants did not tell
her of the death chair in the next
room
Her Last Prayer Cut Short.
Mrs. Farmer walked unfalteringly
to the death chair, her eys half
closed and clasping a crucifix in her
hands.
One of the officials adjusted the
leg electrode. The rubber mask was
adjusted over the eyes and the head
eectrode fastened. A spoken word
from the state electrician and the
attendants, nurses and Warden Ben
ham stepped back from the thick
rubber mat upon which the death
chair is placed.
The hand of State Electrician
Davis traced a slow arch with the
switch behind the curtain. A half
spoken prayer was halted as the con-
demned woman convulsed in the
leather harness that bound her to
the chair. A woman attendant COW
cred her face with her hands. Only
the clicking of the Tightening straps
tha e ~ i
the adjOurning rom could be heard.
The first contact lasted full min
ute, the voltage starting at 1,840
and being gradually lowered to 200,
then raised again to the full limit
of 1,840 volts. The current was ap-
Piled at COS o'clock. The current
was shut off and a strange sound
half moan and half murmur-came
from the womans lips. DR.. Germ
and DR.. Spitzka applied the stetho
scope to the heart while Electrician
Davis felt the artery in the neck.
Muscular action was noted by the
physicians and again the current
passed through the woman's body for
period of few seconds.
Death Came Quickly.
Once more the physicians stepped
forward and applied the tests to de-
,ermine if life still remained in the
imp figure in the chair. For the
lllrd time the state electrician sent
me current through the body. The
MUSICIANS among the states witness
eS were then called upon one after
another to examine the woman, and
'Aey pronounced her dead.
Or. Germ directed the prison at
lendants to remove the body to the
autopsy room. The prison physician
said
Mrs, Farmer was killed at the
AFst contact. There was some slight
muscular movement as is usual in
electric executions, and the addition
d contacts were applied until the
tremOrs had oaaCod Che wac off.