The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1911-05-16
FOUR YEARS FOR MRS. DODGE
Sentence of Lunenburg Woman Con
vlcted of Killing Painter Heath.

Sentence of Lunenburg Woman Con-
victed of Killing Painter Heath.
GulldhalI, May 16.--Mrs. Florence
NJ. Dodge, of Lunenburg, who Satur-
day was convicted of manslaughter,
having caused the death OF William
Heath, of Dalton, N. H., while the
man was painting in her home last
year, was sentenced yesterday after
noon to not more than six nor less
than four years in the state prison at
Windsor by Judge Alfred A. Hall of
st. Adams, the presiding justice in
the case.
Under the law Mrs. Dodge might
have been sentenced to not less than
one year or for life Imprisonment and
she might also have been freed with
the payment of a fine not to exceed
81 900.
The question of whether an appeal
viii be taken has not been decided
Harry Blodgett, chief counsel for
Mrs. Dodge, told a newspaperman that
he felt Judge Hall had given his client
an absolutely fair trial The defense
took very few exceptions to any of
the courts rulings, and an appeal is
unlikely Mr. Blodgett said that the
only exception saved by him that he
thought was OF any value was to the
ruling requiring Mrs. Dodge to write
from dictation before the jury for the
purpose of obtaining standard Of
her handwriting to compare with the
M j. S." letter
Mr. Blodgett said that he was of the
opinion that there has been decision
in some state that no respondent
could be required to do any physical
act in court while on trial. Counsel
for Mrs. Dodge see in this phase of
the case their only hope of carrying
it to the supreme court. and they are
by no means certain that they can
do that.
In discharging the jury, Judge Hall
said. Gentlemen, you have given
consideration and patient care of this
case and no doubt you have arrived at
what you believe is a just verdict.
The court thanks you for your SER
vices"
In dismissing the jurors from furth-
err attendance at this term, the judge
said: "As / stated to you at the be-
ginning of this trial, you are TO main
tain secrecy as to your proceedings
If anyone approaches you to inquire
as to anything you did you must tell
them that it would be violation of
this order and a contempt Of court. |
/ also want to say, and let those within
the sound of my voice take notice,
that anyone inquiring of the jurors as
TO their proceedings will be In con
tempt OF court, and that the court
will deal with them accordingly"
An hour after the verdict Col. Por-
ter H.. Dale called the reporters into
the jailer's house and read them the
following, which he said was Mrs.
Dodge's statement, made after talk
ing with her counsel:
although convicted, | am inno-
cent. My conscience is clear. | believe
in God and he consoles me. | am not
the first person to be falsely accused
and unjustly convicted. Little do the
jury know how they have wronged me
II am glad my husband is not here
to feel the sorrow, In my trouble l
have found the most loyal friends in
the world"
Colonel Dale said counsel had no
statements to make, but the reporters
might say that all of Mrs Dodge's
lawyers are still firm believers in the
Innocence of their client.
Before she left town Mrs. Heath
was asked what she thought of the
verdict and said, well, it's better
than nothing"