The Mathews journal. (Mathews C.H. [Court House]) 1903-1937, 1912-02-08
WOLTER DIES '''.'
DENYING GUILT
Alleged to Have Assaulted Young
Girl, Burning and Hiding Her
BOdy-Had Lived Life of
Idleness Before Commit
ting Murder.
OSSININC N Y-Sner

Sing prison today for the murder Of
| hfteen-year-old Ruth Wheeler, whom
he lured to his apartments i'm New
York and killed in March. 1910. He
went to his death without tremor
The twenty-one-year- slayer wrote
out statement few hours before
he was put to death and left il with
Warden Kennedy, OF Sing Sing, to be
made public after his death. The
statement was as follows:
Now that L am leaving this
world TO go into the presence OF
my God, L make this last state
mcnt. The world refused me JUS
tice- i have been a victim of cir
cumStanti0l evidence. L hope
there Will come time when the
conscience OF the pcrpetrator OF
this crime will OverpOwer him
and he will acknowledge his
guilt. This is my earnest prayer,
with the hope that the perpetra-
tor OF the crime Is brought TO
justice, that my name might be
cleared and that the public will
see that n great injustice has
been done me and that they have
killed an innocent boy.
Ito those who have given me
their kind assistance and have
trusted i'm me 1 give my sincerest
thanks. To those who have ma
HciOuSly prosecuted me L pray
their forgiveness"
Wolter was led into the death
chamber from murderers' row and
strapped to the electric chair shortly
after $50 o'clock. At 5:3S the cur
rent was turned on. Wolter was Of
ficially pronounced dead three min
utes later.
The shock was 1900 volts strength
and was applied alternately one min
ute and quarter Of minute.
DR.. Spitzka. the prison physician,
and COroner's Physician Lehold eX-'
amined VOTERS body and pro-
nounced life extinct.
The spectators were surprised at
the wonderful fortitude which the
young slayer showed. II Wolter felt
any inward fears he did not allow
| trepidatiOn to manifest itself outward
ly.
| VOTERS aged father and mother
and his spiritual adviser had been
working with him for a week in an
endeavor to persuade him to confess.
il he were guilty. but Wolter stub
! bornly persisted in denying his guilt.
| Wolter worked for several days
Power his final statement and he had
| evidently come to a determination not
| 10 confess sometime ago.
! just before Inc was led from
his cell an hour before dawn, and
i'm the presence of death, WOlter
resisted the last appeal to con-
! GCSS.
AS God is nay judge, I know
nothing about how that girl
NlNN- WIS TIC ItTRtStCnA dtlSNCf
which WoItcr made to the en-
treaties of his old white-haired
mother TO confess, IL he were
guilty. and he stuck TO this TO
the end.
Story Of the Crime.
The crime for which Albert VOL
! ter paid with his life today was one
| of the most wanton and brutal in the
! criminal annals of New York city. II
was the climax OF career OF de
pravity that for a youth Of his age.
! has seldom been eQualed.
Wolter, the youngest convicted
/ murderer in the history of the State,
/ was only a little past eighteen years
OK age. when he lured little Ruth
Wheeler. fifteen years old. to his
/ apartment, assaulted and killed her.
/ and then tried To conceal his crime
/ 10y burning the body in a stove and
/ hiding the package OF charred bones
/ on the fire escape.
At the time he was living in an
/ East Seventy-ffth Street fiat with a
young girl named Katie Muller. who
was supporting both herself and VOL
/ ter by working in a bakery. Having
/ an amending supply of pocket money
and nothing to do with his time. he
was continually planning deeds of the
/ kind that eventually caused his con
/ Viction for first degree murder.
Early in March, 1910. the little
| Wheeler glrl advertised for a posi-
| ton as stenOgrapher. saying she was
Just finishing q business school course
! and would work for a moderate sal
airy at the start. WOiter answered
/ her advertisement with a postal. tell
| ing her IL come TO his apartment, that
/ he had just the kind of position she
desired. The little girl left her home
/ on March 4th, and was never seen
/ alive again.
After carrying on a fruitless search
! secretly. the relatives of the Wheeler
girl notified the police of her disap-
! pearance on March 25th. Upon being
informed of the errand upon which
the girl had started. the police
straightway went to VOTERS house
and searched. not only the rooms Of
his apartments. but every room in the
house. from cellar TO roof. But no
| trace OF the girl was found.
Meantime the case had been given
| tremendous publicity in the newspa-
pers, and, when the detectives from
police headquarters returned to the
! search of the house the following
day. they were accompanied by a
! squad of newspaper men. Then be-
gan a systematic hunt for some clue
that might give a hint to the fate OF
the missing girl.
Reporter Gets Clue.
In opening one of the windows OF
VOTERS apartment. a reporter acct
dentally knocked a large package
from the window-slll to the fire es-
cape. d drop of only a few inches
but the force of the fall was enough
TO break the package open and dis
close the charred body oil little Ruth
Wolter had strangled the girl Il
death when she fought off his assault
and had attempted to hide his crime
by burning the body. according to evi
dence introduced by the prosecuting
attorney during the trial.
VOTERS arrest. trial. conviction
and sentence after the discovery o
the murder broke all records To-
speed made by the New York wheel
of justice, requiring only twenty
eight days.
Another record was broken afte
his sentence in the number and length
OF delays before his execution. H
enjoyed more respites in the pay
menI of the death penalty than an,
other condemned prisoner who eve
occupied cell in the death house a
Sing Sing, one year, nine months ant
sixteen days having elapsed between
the time of his conviction and tn
3 nnal date set for his execution.
1 This case brings the many delay
- that occur in the execution of jus
% tice in New York into sharp contras
tstI, nh oT, inc