The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1912-02-01
DIES WITH DENIAL
OF Staying GIRL
AS LAST MESSAGE

O%ssinning, N. Y, Jan. 30.-Albert
Wolter was put to death in the cleo
trio chair at Sing Sing prison at 5:H
o'clock this morning for the murder
Of 1~5-year-old Ruth Wheeler nearly
two years ago..
The girl came to VOTERS fat in New
York in search of employment and he
killed her after she had been mis-
treated. Wolter left a statement with
Warden Kennedy denying that he a
committed the crime.
The execution was without feature
and Wolter was declared dead after
one contact OF 1850 volts. The state
electrician said that Wolter showed less
resistance to he electric current than
any murderer put to death by cleo
tricity at Sing Sing prison.
His Last Denial.
The murderer spen: his last night
quietly, resting only part Of the time.
At 2 o'clock this morning Wolter wrote
his denial Of the killing. 1t was on a
the letters formed that the writing had
the appearance of copper plate. h
statement reads:
Warden j. S. Kennedy:
ITO be given to the public:
January 20, 2 a. m.-Now that I am
departing from this earth to go into
the presence Of God, I wish to make
this last statement. The world refused
me Justice, but Il Father in heaven,
who knows our innermost thoughts,
Will give me pure and unde1led JUS
tice. 1 wish to state I am innocent of
the crime | was convicted of. I have
been a victim Of circumstantial evil
dence. I hone that there may come a
time when the conscience of the per-
petrator will overpower him and he
will come to the front and acknowl-
edge his guilt.
tTt &c INV hOrart ~, - Col flot
He may bring the person guilty of the
crime to Justice; that my name may
be cleared of this stain and that the
people may see the injustice done me
and that they killed an innocent boy.
To those who have given me their kind
assistance and have trusted in me, I
give my sincerest thanks. To those who
have maliciously prosecuted and killed
me, for them 1 pray Gods forgiveness.
Albert Wolter."
Although Wolter was convicted o n
circumstantial evidence, the court Of
appeals, reviewing the case after a Sc
ries of legal delays, declared he was
fairly tried and justly convicted.
Ruth Wheeler met her death or
March "a, 1910, in VOTERS apartment
on the fourth floor of a house on East
Seventy-fifth street, New York city,
where she a gone to seek employ
ment as a s~tenographer. Her charred
body was discovered subsequently.
The evidence indicated that the girl
had come to her death by strangula-
ton n burning after having been
ravished. The body had been thrust
into a fireplace, where it was partly
burned and concealed until it became
convenient to remove 1t in a bag tc
the fire escape, from which it was
thrown to the ground below.
Wolter admitted he wrote the posta,
"a which led Ruth Wheeler to visit
his apartment and in q book kept by
him was found in her handwriting ar
entry Of her name and address. A hat
pin and ring which the girl had worr
on the morning Of her disappearance
were found in the fire place and in {
house to which Wolter had moved or
the following day was found an UNI,
brella which the girl was said to have
a with her when she left home.
Wolter claimed he had never seer
the Wheeler girl. He sought to accoun'
for the entry of the girls name in hi.
book by saying he wrote it there at thu
dictation of FIRED Ahner," who wa,
DESTROYS of starting a school of short
hand, and told him he was going t.
engage Ruth Wheeler. No one coult
be found to testify to the existence o
Ahner.
Wolter was sentenced to be electro
cuted on June 6, 1910, but the execu
ton was stayed by an appeal. Although
the law allows but six months in whicl
to argue such an appeal, the case dt'
not each the court of appeals unit
December 4, 1911. The court affrme,
the Judgment Of conviction within l
1avS