The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1911-09-14
SERENE SHAKERS GET BAIL
SAY THEY DJD RIGHT ~ CHLO-
ROFORMING DYING SISTER.
Brother Gillette Calls II "Doing GOd's
Work"-Comrades Of the Colony sup.
ply aB. 900 Bond After Judge Re.
fuses to Consider Murder Charge.

fuses to Consider Murder CnarSe.
KrssIMEE. Fla. Sept. l3.--Judge George
Parker admitted to bail to-day in 5000
and 5000 Sister Elizabeth Sears and
Brother f. l.. Gillette. Shakers. The two
are alleged to have killed Sister Sadie
Merchant by using chloroform. when
she. dying of tuberculosis, asked them to
do it,
An effort was made to hold the accused
upon first degree murder charge. but
it failed Calmly and with smiles of resig-
nation upon their faces Gillette and Mrs.
Sears went into court for the first time in
their lives and told the simple and straight
forward story that convinced all hearers
there was no willing intent to do murder.
II was n plain tale and brought tears
to all eyes The man and the woman went
over the story Of how Sister Sadie Mer-
chant was taken sick of how tuberculosis
had weakened her until finally. with death
almost upon her, she begged to be spared
the final agony. To their simple way Of
thinking they did only right in admins
tering the poison.
They said Sister Merchant passed
without struggle" and according to
Gillette "the smile upon her dead face
was Gods rainbow telling us there was
naught to fear from our action. We had
Gods sanction for our act and believe
man will not condemn us"
The entire Shaker colony here attended
the hearing and the required bond was
raised almost Immediately after the bail
had been fixed The two were released
at once.
The body of Sister Merchant was buried
on piece OF land owned by Gillette This
throws a certain new interest into the
matter but there seems no cause to doubt
that the motive for the killing was exactly
as stated. The body was disinterred to-
day. 1t was evident that Sister Merchant
had been i'll of tuberculosis in an advanced
stage. There will be an autopsy.
The two accused have led blamelees
lives They appear at ease about their
wrongfully accused of a trivial offence
1t is r,lmored here that wealthy
citizen of Georgia has telegraphed a
bank to draw upon him to the extent
of 5000 and place it to the credit Of the
Shakers. the money to be used by the
''sS.sg. sister Sadie MeAhant died on August .l .
but nothing was known Of the circum-
stances until several weeks later. Then
rumors were heard that a young woman
connected with the Shaker colony had
been deliberately put to death by two of
her coreligionists These r,lmors caused
so mucn feeIing against the Shakers that
| il was feared a mob would raid the colony
At this juncture Brother Gillette and
Sister Sears voluntarily announced that
they were the persons sought and sur
| rendered to the authorities. Both of
them discussed the death of Sister Mer-
chant and the part they played in it with
the utmost candor.
Sister Sears and loved Sister Mer-
chant dearly" said Brother Gillette. "She
was afflicted with tuberculosis and her
death was only matter of time. We
cared for her tenderly and did all we cou Id
to alleviate her sufferings. Her sufferinRs
became frghtful and she begged US to
give her something that would put an
end to her agony. She said she could not
live long and that it would he a mercy
| to help her to die.
Sister Sears and | prayed over the
matter for hours and the answer came
that it would he right for us Ia end the
agony Of Sister Merchant. So We got
some chlorotorm and administered il
and ended her sufferings. She blessed US
as we began to administer the chloroform.
and we feel that we did no wrong. We
feel that we were doing Gods work"
Two lawyers have volunteered to de-
fend the two Shakers at the hearing next
Monday. Public opinion is divided, many
holding that Brother Gillette and Sister
Sears committed no crime
The Shakers have had colony near
here for several years and they have
been much esteemed.