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


secondtime in the history of Vermont
legal executions the rope broke today
at the hanging of a prisoner
AT lis today Elroy Kent, the
murderer of Miss Della Congdon at
East Wallingford on July "a. 1908,
went to his death.
Especial preparations had been
made for the execution A new de-
vice had been arranged for the hang
ing, so that the identity of the man
springing the trap might never be
known.
when the signal for the execu-
ton was given, all six deputy sher-
ifs stationed in front of a switch
board, pressed six separate buttons.
Only one of the buttons worked the
trap. Which, no one knew.
"At lis the signal was given The
six buttons were pressed in unison.
The trap fell with crash. The struc-
ture quivered with the falling body.
"Then there was a suppressed cry
of horror from the sheriff and witness
es The rope had broken in mid air.
1.-THE deputy sheriffs rushed up
on to the scaffold. Two of them
managed to seize the broken end OF
the rope. By their combined efforts
they managed to lift the heavy inert
form to the level of the trap.
1T hung motionless and apparent
ly lifeless at the end of the rope.
Doctors applied their stetho-
scopes They instantly pronounced
the man alive.
The carefully planned execution
had proven failure.
"As at the hanging of Mary Rog-
ers, when the same thing occurred,
the deputy sheriffs lifted the body
that its own weight might complete
what the carefully constructed appar-
atus had failed to do.
"They carried the form up the
steep incline of steps leading from
the death chamber to the cell which
just previously had 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 aw-
| full spectacle of a man slowly being
strangled
For thirty.two minutes they gazed
spell-bound.
Every minute the prison doctor
would place his stethescope to the
mans heart. Each time he shook his
head.
"'Still beating, he would say each
time.
-" His neck is broken. he repeated,
but he isn't dead yet
Finally, at las the doctor listen
ed longer than usual. Then he rails
ed his hand.
" He is dead he said"
Boston American.
II is doubtful If any so-called
news story of a similar event could
possibly contain more errors in SO
small a compass, and errors, too
that are not to be reckoned as the
mere faults OF mistaken conception
of the details intended to be report
ed, but errors manifestly and all too
palpably intended to invest the &C
count with a horribly sensational
character.
SO far as The Messenger knows
the execution OF Kent was not "the
second time in the history of Yer
mont legal executions" that the rope
broke. Ii was the first The rope
did not break at the execution OF
Mary Rogers, December s, 1905.
The trap was sprung at lis, not
lis. This is a minor detail, OF
course, but 1t is worthy OF note as
indicating the general shiftlessness,
and worse, OF the whole story.
"The structure quivered with the
falling body" II 1t did, IL did 1t for
the first time since 1864, because the
gallows was the same great double
gallows built for the execution OF
Sandy Kavanaugh and William Bar
net, forty.eight years ago. The
"quivering" business may be rhetor
ical, but II Is not fact. And 1t was
written in simply to make horrors.
The rope did not break In mid-air
whatever "mid-air" might mean In
connection with such an event. II
broke at the cross-beam where II
was held in place by an iron ring oil
device.
"The deputy sheriffs rushed up or
to the scaifold. Two Of them manag
ed to seize the broken end OF the
rope. By their combined efforts they
managed to lift the heavy inert form
to the level of the trap" AS mat
ter of fact the man fell to the nool
when the rope broke an instant after
he had dropped to the end OF 1t and
was still free of the ground. Sever
al deputies sprang to the body, rails
ed It by the legs, men on the scaifold
seized the rope and quickly tied II
TO the balustrade. There was nc
struggle and no panic. The rope was
still as long as that by which Kent
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