The evening world., 1913-01-30
BECKER'S MOTHER
= NOT TOLD YET Of
HIS CONVICTION
/, She Is 90 Years Old and He
+. Writes Daily on Hospital
Stationery.
PRETENDS HE IS SICK.
In Shadow of Electric Chair
,se Former Lieutenant Tries
to Cheer Her Up.
PRETENDS He IS SICK.


~fto Is IN the death house In Sing Sing.
hoping that tho Court Of Appeals will
reverse his conviction for rhe murder
It Herman Rosenthal. the gambler.
daily writes an effectionats hotter to 'his
ninety-year-o'd mother. who 10 stn 10.
norant that her favor4te son his been
ooaVsoted.
ArA Anna Booker. his mother, the
morning Of each succeeding day. with
eager. trembling hands OPENS the letter
fun Of love and gentleness and reads
that he v setting better and stronger.
aoen Will BE- restored to health and VIII
80 his mother. Mrs. Becker has been
told that her son is seriously III In
hospital. She has not been allowed TO
see Q newspaper since his arrest, ana
the hospital story was invented at the
request Of the former police lieutenant
who said that he would rather race
death without ever seeing his mother
asain rather than have her heartbnoken
ana the last years Of her life made
horrible with the knowledge that her
boy died In the electric chair.
WRITES ON STATIONERY OF
HOSPITAL.
The letters are written on the station
cry Of q hospital. Sometimes they are
long and som etimes short. They carry
conviction and good cheer 10 the loving
and waiting mother that her son 10 get
ting wci,, but 20 carefully and un>clf-
,shiy has the little, tragic intrigue been
carried on by her son, that should the
story have q fatal ending. should "htfis
,oy CHARLIE have to face his Maker IN
the chair that rests but \ few feet from
his cell, the mother will b told that ne
died IN the hospital-that he nsver rs-
covered.
And "a ci day the mother. VINO 10 lv.
ing in a small Long Island town. where
she was taken by J. II. Becker, q
brother Of Lieut.. Becker. who is q stock
broker, Immediately after the police
yan's arrest. watches at the window OF
her little cottage for the daily letter
from her son.
The cottage, the summer home OF her
son, John Becker..is III side street and
10 sheltered by maple trees. They are
bare now and she can see down the
road, and, even ti,oush she Is ninety.
she u quftk to detect the lcttcr carrier
Who brings her the letters. So different
sentleuess and oontentment on hor kind
ssce when she with eager hands tears
oman his letter, from the grim scene OF
tragedy and death where 1t was written.
that 1t Is hard to realize that II has Az
occurred IN the same world
Then each afternoon MN. Becker.
without any AID other than . pair OF
square, old-fas,iioned speobacles, with
her own band pens a letter to her boy
aAvtuAnS this and suggesting that She
he's bssn told that he had 70 undergo
severe operation. and with true. mother
~ instinct she has rsmembsrsd every
utx~ care that would help hfm to
srsngth and heath were he really con-
vA,sscing.
Mra Becker. the convicted name wife,
hss been playing one Of the leading
roles In this merciful drama Of decsp-
<4un. But lately. - she 10 soon to be-
CANA Q mother, she cannot make the
weekly trip TO hers aged moehsr-in-lsw'i
home.
n has taken tact and ingenuity tc
kssp all tho papers away from aged
Nre. Becker. It 10 the German papers
that she has been accustomed to read
a. they contained many items Of In
tsre~t concerning her friends. Othel
sons spend a. much time with her a,
thsy can, and she is always surrounded
by friends, 70 that time does not hant
hssvily on her hands.
MAKES JELlIEs FOR HER "sict
Bov."
Mrs. Becker 10 active and daily pre-
par>s delicaciss, suoh ~ tellies ant
dainty bits Of food that N invakd couls
at, 1t is these little sots that hav
wrung the very souls of those sbou
her who have been silent witnesses.
The letters from the police ueutenan
have all the time contained words o
hope as to his ultimate recovery.
Most ali Of his letters quote the Scrip