The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1909-03-31

:ution chamber. Farmer was then led
Oway, and Mrs. Farmer was taken to
the death chamber.
Father Hickey and an assistant led
the death march. The leg electrode
was adjusted by Captain Patterson,
and the two women nurses assisted
him. When all was in readiness State
Electrician Davis turned on the cur
rent, which measured 1,S40 volts and
~ amperes.
The autopsy on the body of Mrs.
Farmer was performed by DR.. Ed
ward Spitzka of Philadelphia and DIR.
Charles Lambert of the Pathological
institute, Wards island, New York.
James Farmer asked Father Hickey
to take charge of the body, and the
priest will have the body decent,
buried i1fSSt Josephs cemetery.
The list of official witnesses of thr
execution was as follows:
Ezra B. Bellinger, sheriff of Jeffer-
son county. Watertown, n. Y; DR.. Ed
win A. Spitzka. Jefferson Medical col
lege, Philadelphia; DIR. Charles L.
Lambert, Pathological institute, Wards
island, New York; DR.. =. NJ. Donovan,
Canandaigua, \. Y; DR.. L. NJ. Som
mers, assistant superintendent of st.
Lawrence hospital. Ogdensburg, N. Y;
DIR. Fred NJ. Boyle, Buffalo; DIR. II. NJ.
Westfall. Moravia, n. Y; Miss Agnes
Baird, Troy. n. Y; Miss Margaret T.
Byrne, Auburn, n. Y: E. H. Thom-
son, Auburn, n. Y; William III. Smith,
Watertown. \. Y; Carl S. Brandebury,
New York: NJ II. Fletcher, New York
Frank f. Davis, South Butler N. Y,
and william c. Bell, Auburn, n. Y.
Mrs. Farmer was the second wO.
man in this state to die in the electric
chair Mrs. Martha Place, who killed
her daughter in Brooklyn, was the
first, she having been put to death
March 20, 1899, in Sing Sing prison.
Exceptional efforts were made to save
Mrs. Place from the chair, but Theo-
dore Roosevelt, then governor, refused
to interfere.
In denying the application for execu-
tive clemency in the case Of Mrs.
Farmer, Governor Hughes said:
"a most careful examination of the
facts in this case leads to the conclu.
sion that the conviction was just. The
murder was most brutal and was un-
attended by any circumstances afford
ing the slightest basis for extenuation
or appeal to sympathy on the prison
er's behalf"
The crime was committed ON the
morning of April % in the Farmer
home in the town of Hounsfield. -Four
days later the body of Sarah Brennan,
wife of Patrick Brennan, was found in
trunk in the rear reom of the Bren-
nan home into which the Farmer FAM
lily moved two days following the kill
ing.
The motive of the murder as estab-
lished by the prosecution was to gain
possession of the Brennan home. In
October last a deed of the property
was executed from Sarah Brennan to
James d. Farmer Mrs. Farmer imper-
sonating Mrs. Brennan and forging her
name to the document before a Wa
tertOwn notary. a few weeks later
the FARMER woman, again lmperSonat-
ing Mrs. Brennan, executed a bill of
sale of the personal property in the
Brennan house.
The Brennans and Farmers lived side
by side Mrs. Brennan and the Farm
er woman were intimate friends. On
April % Mrs Brennan was last seen
entering the Farmer home. Between
10 o'clock and noon Mrs. Brennans
skull was crushed with blunt instru-
ment and her face mutilated almost
beyond recognition.
Mrs. Farmers execution will be the
last early morning execution at Au-
burn. Superintendent Collins has au.
thorized Warden Benham hereafter to
conduct electrocutions at 6 o'clock in
the evening rather than at 6 a. m.