The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1914-06-26
mir MOTHERS Are
CONDEMNED TO DIE
AVE BEEN CONVICTED AND
= ,,rrNCED TO DEATH FOR
a.pnER IN THREE STATES.
NV YORK IS TO KILL TWO
Johnson VIII Be First Woman
'' - Paw Death Penalty in Florida.
NJ. wakefield of New York Slew
Toboud Who Beat Children.

,Ce Wakefield OF new 1Ofk slow
unsbaud Who Beat Children.
yrw YORK.-Four women are
.,,isoned in death cells in the Unit
a States today awaiting their exc
sson Sister" Mary Johnson, who
Al no the first woman executed in
r,rida is the fourth on the list.
r,o other three are Mrs. Bessie
wakefield, condemned in Connecticut
md Mrs. Cynthai Buffum and Mrs.
v,edalena Ferola, upon whom this
,t,te has pronounced the death sem
..,co Sister" Johnson, mother of
,.,ora, children, waits in the CAL
hmm county jail at Blountstown,
rB for the execution by hanging.
Twice she has been convicted of muir
5s,ing an aged and defenseless man.
Tragedy on a Florida Farm.
Hot words between Monroe Bess,
, ,or-in-law of sis" Johnson, and
lanes Wilmington, on the latter's
farm several years ago, was the be-
ginning of the trouble.
Bess is said to have left the field
and reported his troubles to his
motber-in-law. Sister" Johnson then
armed herself and went to the Whit
tiDgton home with Bess, her two sons,
IOlanie and Zeke, and her daughter,
Mary Bess.
Monroe Bees, the prosecution says,
stepped on the porch of the Whiting
ton home and shot John Wilmington
to death. AS Wilmington fell, he
fred on Zeke Johnson, who was in
SANITY killed.
Il was then that Sister" Johnson
fred load of buckshot into the
breast of James Wilmington, aged
father of the family.
Bess made his escape, and was at
liberty two years. He was captured
in Missouri and on pleading guilty to
manslaughter, was sentenced to 20
years in the state prison.
Sister" Johnson faced trial in the
spring of 1911 and was convicted OF
murder, the jury recommending mer-
Cy. Her attorneys won an appeal for
a new trial, but when the case was
brought up the second time the in
of the dying declaration
Of the woman's victim convicted her
Of murder in the first degree, without
recommendation to mercy.
Mrs. Magdalena Ferola. now in
Sing Sing, occupying the death cell,
which was especially constructed for
her. will be the first woman executed
in New York in Is years. Ministers
and wOmen's clubs are pleading with
NE district attorney to prevent the
execution Of Mrs. Ferola on the plea
nat NO woman ever again should be
lut to death in that state.
Mrs. FerOla has a daughter of II
md son of %. 1t will be the trag-
'dy Of the daughters life, when she
crows old enough to realize it, that
was she who identified the butcher
lnlfe with which Mrs. Ferola is said |
o have killed Carmello Canestrano,
lie man who Tilted her.
For Mrs. Bessie Wakefield, SEN
enced in Connecticut for the murder
u me husband who mistreated and
'OuSed her and her children, there
las been the greatest campaign of
ympathy ever aroused in this coun-
~ Tor a murderess.
Two little babies will be left moth
fieSs if she is hanged.
Inc last on the list, Mrs. Cynthia |
'uHum, Of Little Valley, N. Y, is /!
different sort. She was convict
OF having fed her whole family |
oSon in their food in order that she !
iisnt be freed from them and give |
ct love wholly to a handsome farm |
anu employed by her husband.
HUNTED SQUAD WILL