The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1909-03-30

while Just behind him came Mary
Farmer Her hands clasped a cruci-
fix and she murmured until the END
came;
Last Murmur for Mercy.
Jesus, Mary and Joseph. have mercy
on my soul"
Ii might have been only a few sec
onds before the straps were adjusted.
though it seemed an interminable pc
riod. The two women attendants stood
by the wall and the two nurses and
DR.. Westfall ranged themselves in front
OF the black-gOwned figure while Cap
tain Patterson adjusted the leg cleo
trode. The rubber mask was adjust
ed over the eyes and the head cleo
trode was attached. A word from the
state electrician, and the attendants,
nurses and Warden Benham 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 condemned
woman cOnvulsed in the leather har-
ness that bound her to the chair. A
woman attendant covered her face with
her hands. Only the clicking of the
Tightening straps and the murmur of
dynamOs in an adjoining room could
be heard.
Three Currents Applied.
The first contact lasted a full min
ute. the voltage starting at 1.S40 and
being gradually lowered to 200 then
raised again to the full limit of 1.S40
volts. The current was applied at Sos
o'clock The current was shut off, and
a strange sOund-half moan and half
murmur-came from the woman's lips.
Dr. Germ and DR.. Spitzka applied the
stethoscope to the heart while Electro
clan Davis felt the artery in the neck.
Muscular action was noted by the ply
slcians, and again the current passed
through the woman's body for a pc
riOd of a few seconds. Once more the
physicians stepped forward and ap-
piled the test TO determine if life still
remained in the limp figure in the
chair. For the third time the state
electrician sent the current through tn,
body
The woman was then pronounced
dead, and DR.. Germ directed the pris-
on attendants to remove the body to
the autopsy room.
Husband Prayed in His Cell.
Locked in his cell in a PARKWAY cor
ner of the prison, Jim Farmer. the hus-
band, prayed during the hour of his
wife's execution. She had told him she
had to die at dawn and that she had
made a statement that he was innO-
cent of the crime. The man verged on
collapse from grief, and he frequently
gave way to tears The husband will
not be taken back to the death row.
until Wednesday morning.
The witness sheet was signed in the
wardens office, file of witnesses. un-
strung and nervous, passed out from
the main prison gate, and the official
proceedings of Mary Farmers execu-
ton were over.
The physicians report that the au-
tOpsy disclosed that Mrs. Farmer was
normal in every respect and that the
brain showed no LESSONS that would in
dictate a criminal tendency.
Story of the Crime.
Mrs. Mary Farmer is the second wo-
man to meet death in the electric
chair. The crime for which she was
executed and for which her husband,
James d. Farmer. is also under SEN
tence of death, was the murder of Mrs.
Sarah Brennan, a neighbor. in the vii
lage Of Brownviile, Jefferson county,
about four miles from the city of Wa
tertOwn, on Thursday, April %, 1905
The body of Mrs. Brennan was found
on the following Monday in a trunk
owned by Mrs. Farmer and i'm her pos
session. Mrs Farmer and her husband
were given separate trials. and al
though the evidence was Circumstan-
tial, both We're convicted and sentenced
to be electrocuted. Mrs Farmers
counsel attempted at the trial to es-
tablish that she was insane and ire
spOnsibie for the crime, hut the court
of appeals declared that it was clear
~ a deliberate and intentional act"
and that there were no circumstances
that ''mitigated against its heinous-
ness"
Came From ireland.
Mrs. Farmer came to this country
from Ireland in 1900, and worked for
time as a domestic in BinghamtOn
going from there to Buffalo. where she
married James D Farmer in 1904
Early in 1905 they moved to Brown
vile. where they remained for a few
months at one of Farmers relatives
after which they kept boarders in an
adjoining village. In May, 1907. they
moved into a portion of an old build
ing formerly used as a hotel. in a part
of BTownville known as Paddy Hill.
Mrs. Brennan and her husband.
Patrick, lived in q house nearby, which
they had occupied for twenty years
and which was owned by Mrs. Bren-
nan. Mrs. Farmer became a frequent
caller at the Brennan home. and Mrs
Brennan occasionally called on the
Farmers. Mrs. Brennan kept the deed
to her property, insurance papers and
a savings bank book in a black OIL