The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1912-02-27
BY William Shepherd.


CHICAGO, Feb. 27.-After see
ing five men in bunch hanged
in Chicago, the other day, l tried
to write of the effect of the hang
ing on those who witnessed it,
hoping to prove, indirectly, that
capital punishment has brutaliz-
ing influence on society.
Now / have found living proof
of my belief that capital punish
ment does more harm than good
to society.
1t is rare that a mother whose
son has been hanged will speak
freely of the matter, and it's con-
sequences. But Harvey Van Dine,
20 years old, one of the "car barn
bandits" hanged few years ago
in Chicago, had one mother in a
million, fine, strong woman, who
is now devoting her life and en-
ergies against the system of CAPT.
tai punishment. I'm going to put
down what she told me about what
happens to families after the hang
ing.
I'm the first place." said Mrs.
Sophie Van Dine, Il want to say
that my boy, Harvey, would never
have gone wrong If I had not been
forced to work as a seamstress,
away from home. But, even
though he was a bandit, a hold-up
man, a murderer at 20, he always
loved me. 1t was to me that he
confessed his crime, months be-
fore the police arrested him. In
the running battle in which he was
caught, he threw up his hands, at
last, and said: 4 give up. | want
to see my mother again before
you kill me-
ION the night before he was
hanged, l took poison to him, in
his cell, and told him to take 1t,
but he put his arms around me
and said, Mother, I don't want
the blame to be on your shoulders
If l must die let the state do 1t.
And SO l kissed him goodbye and
they hanged him.
There were three of us moth
ers, Mary Neidermeyer, Johanna
Marks and myself. None of us
knew the others until our boys
were arrested. Gus Marks, Peter
Neidermeyer and my boy, Harvey,
went to school together and Gus
and Peter used to come over to
our house, where I had fitted up
a workshop for Harvey to keep
him at home while l was work.
ing.
But you wanted to know what
Il ni, 4 ~ ha 20
Well, one day, six months after
the hanging, Mrs. Marks sent for
me. We had become acquainted
during the trial and our two boys
had been buried side by side. l
went to Mrs. Marks home and
found her only daughter Hattie,
stark mad. The girl had tied
knots in the hem of her skirt and
insisted that each knot represent
ed the sins of the world. Mrs.
Marks was nearly insane. Hattie
became violently insane while /
was there and picked up a knife.
She wanted to avenge her broth
er's death. l called che police and
Hattie was taken to an asylum,
where she Is today.
zone day when I got home
from work, l found a note saying
that Mrs. Neidermeyer had been
arrested for hitting a policeman.
l went to the police station and
found her there, half mad. She
had attacked policeman on the
street, to avenge her sons death.
About every two or three weeks
after that she would be arrested
for assaulting a policeman, on the
street. l used to go to the various
police stations and secure her re-
lease. The police pitied her. Once
the next door neishbors hung a
moose out of window to taunt
her. The children used to cry her
disgrace to her on the sterets. |
l took her to my own
home, and there we two mothers
bore our burden of sorrow togeth-
er until she died a year ago, her
wits almost gone.
"One day Paul Marks, a
'rother of Gus, came to my home