The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1911-12-01

systematic attention throughout the
country, for the case in question in
wolves a striking example of con-
nict between human sympathy and
the law and places upon the grand
jury the burden of deciding whether
cuthanasia is justifiable under GER
tain conditions or must rigidly be adj
Judged a crime, no matter what mag
be the surrounding conditions.
History Of Case.
Sister Sadie l.. Merchant. one Of
the members OF the small Shaker
eoloM, which owns a farm If about
! 900 acres around Lake Alligator.
near Ashton. died ON AUGUST -. last
after l;4 ing suffered Tor some lin.
from consumption. After her deaf II
il Was .Wmurt Il thai her SHAKE
friends Ild relieved her Wfterihss
and. i. hor cwn request, had assist
81 her ont o her iurturcsomr life
hy Administering hltrOform To h'r.
Tie matter was brou@Lt ~ the AZ
tention q The authorities and al VI
Ncs,ientiun was made. Brother t,i.-
l,ttc and Sister s;caYs, who had be- n
with Sister Narrhant at the line OF
her Il tatn. admitted without hc5ila-
ton That they had helped Sister Mar
chant to Il painless "ad peaceful
death by living her chlorofolm
t'pun their own admission Bro,nrf
Gillette and Sister Elizabeth we're
arrested and brought before jude
Parker for preliminary hearing.
They repeated their admission and
added that they had administered the
anarsthetic upun the urbcnt prayer
of Sister Marrhant. They stated that
Sister Marchant had .Or long time
suffered from tuberculosis. One ol
her lungs was completely destroyed
| hy the terrible disease and the rava-
scs of the disease in the other lune
caused the patient .xcruciating pain
Sister Sadie had always longcd tOl
a peaceful and painless death and
when the end approached and her
suffrrings became almost unbearablc,
[, She prayed her friends to nave mercy
and help her to a quiet and painless
death. Upon her own, often express
ed wish they had given her the ohlo-
reform
Before God and man believe tina;
We did exactly right. declared
Brother Gillette and he added tina,
his conscience was perfectly at east
and he did not believe that he had
committed wrong. If his act had
been unwise. only his great feeling OF
sympathy for the deceased Siste.
prompted him to commit it,
After a formal hearing Brother
Gillette and Sister Elizabeth wcr,
held ON charge OF murder. but
Judge Parker admitted them to bail
Sister Elizabeth in $1,000. Brother
Gillette in $4,000 The other mem
beers OF the colony promptly furnish
! cd the bail
] At the same time the coroSrr be-
gan an Investigation of the ease an t
| On September 6 the body Of Sister
Sadie was cxhumcd The medical OK.
F., animation Of the body is said TO hav,
/ hown that the disease of Sister Sadi,
/ had not been SO far advanced as va
stated by Brother Gillette and that
Judging from the condition of hel
lungs she might have lived for som,
time The coroner's jury thereupor
gave verdict. finding Brother Gil
! lctte guilty of "willful murder
/ Brother Gillette was rearrestet
and held to await the action of tn,
grand jury without being admitted T.
| bail Sister Elizabeth. not having
! been indicted by the coroner's jury
was permitted to remain under bail
Ii is understood that no attempi
will be made on the part of Brother
Gillette 10 deny the simple facts oi
| the case. As there is nothing in tn,
, laws OF the State of Florida that
could be construed into sanctionine
the practice of cuthanasia under any
condition. il is feared that the grand