Norwich bulletin., 1912-01-06
GruesOme Accident Attends the Execution of e.
roy Kent at State Prison at Windsor
SAME ROPE USED AT HANGING OF MRS. ROGERS
Neck of Condemned Man Only Partially Broken by the Fall
Moose Again Adjusted and Body Allowed to Hang
Seventeen Minutes - Incident Stimulates Sentiment
Among Legislators Present For AboIshng Death Penalty

I an agitation for the abolition Of the
/ death penalty in Vermont, but no ac-
| ton resulted.
Msy Abolish Death Penalty,
Before the execution this afternoon
/ several senators and Representatives
I made II plain that they intended to
/ carry a campaign into the Legislature
for the removal of capital punishment
! and the substitution OF life inprison-
/ meut as the penalty for murder in the
I first degree. That their purpose was
I strengthened by the accident at the
/ saiioVs was the general feeling here
+ tonight
Crime for Which He Hanged.
The following is an outline of the
crime Of which Kent was convicted:
Du the morning of July q, 1908. the
3fy Of Miss Della e. Congdon, a deaf
mute. 40 wears of age, who lived alone,
was found in the pantry of her Sc
lluded farmhouse at East Walling
ford. She had evidently been struck
with a club upon the head and chOked
as she was preparing breakfast So
far as known, she had no money, but
The intruder had ransacked the house
for plunder opening several bureau
drawers
Biood1euhds Put on Trail.
Kent had been in the prison here for
larceny and had been taken to the Wa
ternury asylum for observation in 1905,
as 10 his sanity. On July Il. 1908, 13
days before the murder. he had es-
capped from the latter institution and
no trace Of him had been found until
The Consdon crime was discovered.
Posses were formed to run down the
s-T~- aa1-a h1 g,f
flCers and citizens searched everywhere
for Kent They got a pack OF blood
hounds from Poughkeepsie, N y. and
several times the posses were almost
upon the fugitive but he cunningly
avoided them.
Vermont Women Terror Stricken.
Meantime the women Of Vermont
were terror stricken, and e1ening Vis-
its throughout that part Of the state
were much restricted Kent was not
arrested until October, 1903. when he
was taken at Pittsfeld, Mass, on
'harse OF having stolen bicy exc.
Kent was brought back 10 this state
and indicted for the murder Of Miss
Congdon.
Sentenced to Die Year Ago.
At his trial. which was held behind
closed doors at the March term OF
the Rutland county court in 1893, be-
fore Judge Z L. Waterman Of Brat
tlsborO. he was held 70 be sane and
adjudged guilty. He was sentenced
to be hanged January Is. 1911 The
case was taken TO the supreme court
Of Vermont at Montpelier upon ex-
ceptiOns and affirmed. 1t then ap-
peared that there was no direct evi-
dence against Kent. The ciTcumstan-
ces Of his being in the vicinity Of the
crime, the finding Of the initials "E.
k and his name carved on the Con-
don barn. and another building within
three miles of there, similar to cary-
ing done by Kent at Waterbury. were
the principal facts shown against him
Governor Refused to Commute Sen.
tenee.
Under a peculiar Vermont law which
DEGREES that a session Of the leglsla
ture shall intervene between the SEN
tence Of a person to be hanged and
its execution, Gov. John A, Mead re-
prieved Kent, December 81, 1910, set
ting the date for January 5, 1912.
Efforts had been made to induce the
legislature Of 1910 TO commu5 Fha
sentence to life Imprisonment - &C
count Of insanity, but 1t failed. Gov
ernor Mead also declined to inter
fere.
Kent has brother in the asylum al
Waterbury.