The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1912-01-07
PREACHER ERASED
BIBLE PASSAGE
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Conbluutu AAOlt pu6C lsJ
of his executive council of five mem
bers before he can free man whose
violations of the law have resulted
in punishment. That Foss will go to
any extreme when he believes the
law will be conserved by sentence
less than death is shown in the case
of Silas M. Phelps. Phelps stabbed
man who had discharged him.
Then he barricaded himself in his
home and killed, in cold blood, the
sheriff who sought to arrest him. He
was sentenced to death. The execu-
tive council declined to permit Gov
ernor Foss to commute his sentence
to life imprisonment. But the chief
magistrate held. out so firmly that
the council agreed to hold back the
imposition of the death sentence I'M
til the terms of three of it's members
had expired and three others had
been elected TO their places. In this
way, Foss hopes to save Phelps from
the chair.
And there are thousands in Boston
tonight. who, knowing Foss' desire to
save men from the death chair, be-
lieve the chief executive will inter
vene to save the pastor from the
exactions of the extreme penalty.
Attaches of the district attorney
point tonight to a precedent under
which, however. they believe Richie
son will die a felon' death. Fifteen
years ago murderer named Green
in this state, after stoutly denying
his crime, rose in open court ant
changed his plea from that of not
guilty to that of guilty of murder in
the first degree-the same plea from
the first degree-the same plea
Pelletier declares he will demand
from Richeson.
A judge of the state supreme cey TT,
which, at that time, had charge OF
criminal cases. took Green's case
from the hands of the jury and with
out securing jnry's verdict, sen
fenced the slayer to be hanged. Gov
ernor Andrews refused to sign a
death warrant. The case was re-
manded to the supreme court, where
all the justices ruled that trial
judge might sentence man to die on
a plea of guilty. even without jury
trial. Governor Andrews still de-
clined to sign the death warrant. but
his successor signed the paper, and
Green was hanged.
Attorneys declare this is the only
precedent to guide Judge Sanderson
in his disposition of the. Baptist
preacher. 1t is believed this case
will be cited by Pelletier in his de.
mand Tor rigid fulfillment of the
ancient law of death for murder.
That Richeson, racked night and
day by the shadow of the electric
chair, sought ever to devise some
plan for escape, is the declaration to.
right OF his keepers in the Charles
street Jail. They say his act of mu-
tilating himself was not the act of an
insane man, but rather that of a
crafty criminal, who sought to set ul
the ground work for an insanity plea
That the insanity plea was the
one upon which Richeson based his
main hope for escape from death is
sure. His wild screams have been
heard all over the jail. Short term
prisoners who have been released re-
Gently all say they heard the pastor
murderer shrieking with maniacal
fury by day and night.
The Edmands Family.
There is much speculation tonight
as to the attitude of the Edmands
family towards the murderer VIII.
was engaged to marry Miss Violet
Edmands. The public has wondered
all along who paid the three lawyers
who appeared for the pastor Though
no announcement has ever been
made, it was said that Moses Grant
Edmands paid the bills for the de,
Tense of the man who was to have
married his daughter the very day he,
was indicted for the murder of tho
little Hyannis girl he wronged. In
his mansion in Brookline. Edmands
denied himself TO all callers tonight.
Reached over, the telephone, he re-
fused to answer any questions. He
was as obdurate ON this question as
he has been throughout the CAGE.
A report that Miss Edmands, who
said when Richeson was arrested
that she looked into his big brown
eyes and heard him protest his inno-
cence she could not believe him gull
ty, had collapsed, was given consider.
able credence when the Edmands
family physician hurried to their
home this evening, remaining there
several hours.
There is much speculation here
tonight as to the future attitude O..
the father of the confessed pastor
slayer. When the grizzled old man.
erect and proud, came to Boston af-
ter the arrest of his son, he protest
ed that his boy" was innocent.
My boy Clarence has just told me
he is not guilty OF this dastardly
crime, proudly said the aged faith.
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