The Detroit times. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1903-1920, 1913-11-27
'Wh0 Will Take Care of Them
When / Am Cone" Asks WO.
man Who Was Never Civ
en- a Chance
, ILLEGAL CONFESSION
BRINGS DEATH SENTENCE
Illiteratc Girl, Forced to Admit
Staying of Brutal Husband,
Assert, Innocence

4
cr.had-a-chance. sits In a tiny cell in
the state prison here, waiting to be
hanged. And facing the horror OF
the gallows. she writes
Il have nice little room here, and
everyone Is so good and kind to me-
You might think that Bessie : is
happy. And SO she Is. In way.
For happiness Is relative thing.
Compared TO the home" she has
Known, and the people with whom her
lot In life has been cast. she finds
this grim prison pleasant-pleasnt
even In tn eface of death.
Before Bessie came from the county
jail at New Haven she said TO Mrs.
Basserman, the matron:
THE months | have spent here
have been the happiest OF my life. Be-
cause here people have been kind to
me-"
And yet Bessie sits on her cot,
hour after hour, sobbing bitterly, and
lies crying through the long hours
OF the night.
Why?
Because OF her children.
y For herself, she doesn't care.
What will be. will be- she says,
as she said go often TO the matron
~ New Haven. But my little George
and Cora--who will take care of
them, when I'm gomez
Here, In brief. you have the life
story OF this girl. It. is story OF
misery. toll. immortality. II you VIII,
perhaps even crime--0f destiny
wrought ont under the pressure OF
bad heredity and sordid environment.
hut redeemed by a pure and overpow-
ering mother love.
And her care the facts, most of
which were not submitted to the jury
that found Bessie guilty OF numbering
her husband. VIM. Wakefield. and
which weresrnot taken into account
by either Jury or Judge.
Bessie was one Of Is children, born
10 Mr.. and Mrs. Frank Webster OF
Middlebury, Conn. Both parents are
illiiterate and OF low mentality In
that home there was not merely grind
ing poverty: there was a lack OF the
common decencies of life and even.
>it is said. Of the common moralities.
In such q home Bessie lived for IA
years. She had but little schooling
She helped her mother with the tre-
mendous task OF caring for that big
family. Always there was washing
and ironing and dish-washing. always
The INFINITE toll OF caring for flock
oi little brothers and sisters. or the
- only six are now alive. Some OF
the brothers are obviously defective;
Eessie's one sister, aged IL, Is par
aiytic.
Besie's youth, then. was slavery.
rut Bessie was good girl. she
\. v orked hard. had no pleasures, had
no girl friends. no boy friends. She
never went anywhere. She had no
clothes At to wear. She was often
hungry, often cold.
At II she went to work as hired
Girl. Several farmers wives employed
ncr. They all speak we'll OF her. She
was faithful, gentle, good. There was
70 hardnes sor cruelty in her. She
would not Kill chicken. She loved
| all animal life. Dogs. horses and Kit
Y ,tens were her friends.
Then came VIM. Wakefield, twice
! .er age. He was kind to her. kinder
4 thau her own family or any one else
! had been--uMil he married her. She
y was n then. He was the first man
she had ever kept company with.
Bessie was married In December.
1906. In March her first baby was
Torn. Wakefield never liked little
4 George. The boy is lame. They say
! his bad hip and bent spine was caused
by a kick from his father when he
was baby.
Two years later. a girl, Clara Belle,
~ was born.
Bessie's life has been given to those
children. When her husband failed TO
|. rrovide she went ragged to clothe
! them and hungry to feed them. wake.
J feld kept the purse strings. lie would
! lrIng home steak. and eat 1t all
( hsmself. He let little Georges feet
lreexe for lack of shoes, when he
lad money. He went away for long
i,sriods. They lived In cellar III
Bristol.
Then came James Plew. He want
"A cd Bessie. and saw that the way TO
~ her heart was through her children.
So Plew was kind TO George and
4 Cora. lie gave them candy and food
a aud bought them clothes. He played
With them. as their father had never
done.
II Bessie knew that Plew had. q
enitentiary record and that he had
deserted his. wife che condoned the
cTcnses. For she was grateful 10
lin. And Plew--like most Of the "a
rrous luke" family OF criminals and
detectives to which he belongs--had
power over women.
PEW wanted q housekeeper. when
~. parmour left him alone with a
baby. He ssIed for Bessie. And
(CsssasssA sn fass nssAsS