The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1912-01-11

had been dropped because it broke
from the cross-beam itself
No physician made any test Of the
body to ascertain whether life was
present until 1925, seven minutes af-
ter the drop. The principal reason
for this, particularly in view of the
accident, was because 1t was very
apparent when Kent fell that he had
received his death blow. A NOM
ents reflection will convince any
sane person that the rope could not
have broken if it we're not for the
fact that at some instant in the
course of action there was a great
weight suspended at one end of II
free from the floor. 1t was being
thus suspended that gave the shock
that killed Kent.
1t is not necessary here to discuss
what happened at the execution OF
Mary Rogers. If there was a news
paper in America that frightfully IL
beled the people and the state of
Vermont IN that business, it was The
Boston American.
They carried the form up the
steep incline of steps leading from
the death chamber to the cell which
had just previously been occupied by
Kent. The short piece of rope that
was still around the victims neck
was twisted around the balustrade OF
the staircase. The body was allowed
to dangle downward into the cell,
while the dozen witnesses watched
the awful spectacle Of a man being
slowly strangled" Kent's cell was
in wing across the guardroom and
beyond the death chamber by sever
al hundred feet. His body was not
carried up any steps at all, much
less to his cell. How it could have
been suspended from any balustrade
around a tier of cells and "dangle
downward" into a cell will have to
be explained by somebody that knows
the architecture OF prison construc-
ton better than The Boston Ameri.
can man appears to AS for the
"short piece OF rope that was still
around the victims neck" it was OF
the very same length that suspended
him in the first place so far as the
distance of the drop is concerned.
We can afford to pass by For thir
ty-two minutes they gazed spell
bound" That is yellow rhetoric
There was no excitement in the cor
ridor when, after the first shock, II
was seen how matters stood. Every
thing proceeded with quiet orderlin
ess and perfect self control on the
| part of officials and witnesses alike.
Every minute the prison doctor
would place his stethoscope to the
mans heart" The drop fell at lis
| An examination was made at 1:2'
and another at about 1:41. Foul
minutes elapsed after this examina
ton at 1:41 while the body was be
ing taken down and a few final de
tails of the examination completed
The physicians, satisfied that thu
man had received his death blow q
the drop, maintained their customar.
| professional composure throughou
and conducted themselves with NJ
show whatever of the feyerish ant
sensational anxiety. The American
attributes to them.
The Messenger is careful thus L
analyze these details OF this new
story simply to show how a consci
enceless newspaper can help L
spread evil report when ii is a par
of its we'll established policy to d.
little or nothing else. The scene a
the execution was gruesome enough
as such things always are, withou
making false statements to picture
infinitely more terrible than 1t actu
ally was.
The representative of The Boston
American, so The Messenger is in
formed, was denied admission to thu
prison to witness the execution.-St
Adams Messenger