The Washington times., 1914-04-13
GUNMEN EXECUTED
At BREAK OF DAY
'Whitey Lewis Makes Re-
markabIe Statement While
Strapped in Death Chair.
Continued from First Page J

inert. Then a brief wait and again th'
body leaped to the shock of the cleo
tricity. That contact soon passed, auC
instantly the prison physicians. Drs
l'arr and Merenas, came forward; at
teadants tore open the loose shirt, and
in just a few seconds. at 5:52 a. m. the
stethoscopes recorded that life was ex-
tinct.
Lost No Time.
No time was lost The ready attend
ants in twinkling unclasped the straps
that held the body and the electrodes
about the right calf. Then two more
attendants, clad in white, came in from
the morgse behind the chair. Each put
an arm under the shoulder of the
corpse. each took an ankle. and Jacob
Seidenshner. gunman. vent into the
prison morgue to n cold slab. While the
chair was hastily made ready again for
'Gyp the Blood
''Dago Frank Cirofici was the first
10 die. From 4:20 g. m. to a time not
given out, he had remained in the
mother and his sister Mary. They. II
was understood. begged of him to con-
fess II he had anything to confess as
10 Rosenthars murder but so far as
Is known he turned a 6eat ear to their
ertreaties. maintaining his innoncence
TO the last.
There was much sympathy shown for
Cirofici by the warden and his jailers
and when he came through the little
impression was that his fear was be-
NON lbered by drugs. Preceded by
Father Cashin. the Roman Catholic
prison chaplain, the boy stumbled to
eyes: dumbly he submitted to the
pinioning and, holding fast to a cruci-
fix in each hand. died without visi-
bic tremor in six minutes from the
first shock.
"Gyp" Was Frightened.
Fear distorted the visage OF Harry
Horowitz "tGyp the Blood)". the third
to Gle. His eyes stuck out in terror.
Like Seidenshner he was preceded to
the chair by Rabbi Goldstein and held
the book OF prayer in his right hand.
Three contacts were given Horowitz
and five minutes WAS consumed from
the first swing of the fatal switch un-
I'll the physicians announced that his
heart had ceased to beat
Louis Rosenberg Lefty Louie the
most intelligent Of the murderers. was
the hardest to kill II took four shocks
10 drive life from his frame. The cur
rent was first turned on for Lefty
Louie" at Sos. When II was switched
on the second time there were stiii evil
dences of life. The physicians then ex-
amined him, and a third and a fourth
shock was given. He was finally pro-
nounced dead at GIT.
One of the few spectacular features
of the execution was provided by
Rosenberg in the death house. Each OF
the gunmen. as he left his Cell, called
out "Good-by' to his fellows. and each
shook the hand OF Head Keeper Nc
Inerney and Warden Clancy.
Rosenberg, however. broke down as
he passed the warden on his way to the
chair. threw his arms about Clancy and
Ia
was so affected that he could barely
rfve the signal for his death
One of the most pitiful phases OF the
wholesale execution was the agony of
Mrs. cirofci. When she arrived before
the Dawn, two strong keepers were
needed to support the aged woman fr nnl
the warden's carriage into the build
ing. There, for certainly more than an
hour. she wept over her son and as the
vitaesses of the execution were leaving
the prison the moans and walls Of the
woman and her daughter, Mary, could
be heard echoing shrilly through the
otherwise silent house of punishment and
death.
guilty of the crime for which they died
bred b ySeidenshner's statement-and
more, perhaps, by the manner of it's
delivery-was intensified before the ex-
"cuGOns. by Father Cashin.
Father" he was asked, will Dago
Frank confess?''
I think not" was the reply.
DO you, personally, think him
guilty." was the next query. Don't
answer unless you wish to do So
! cannot say that" was the priests
reply. But If you knew what IS here
-touc.ing his forehead-yuu would
nave some news.
Murderers Were Careless.
The murder of Herman RosenthaI.
was the most cold -blooded in its con-
cepuon. and the most carelessly and
contemptuously carried out of any, in
all the sordid and sensational Grim
inal history of greater New York. Po-
lice Lieut. Charles Becker, leader of
New York's strong arm squad" was
convicted. previous to the gunmen. of
nrst degree murder, as instigator OF
the crime. and sentenced to death. For
over year he sat in a cell on the
life side" Of the little green door"
which leads to the dread chair and
The beyond. Then he was granted a
new trial by the court OF appeals on
technical grounds. He is now in the
Tombs
Besides the FIVE convictions men
Toned. four police inspectors. one Do-
lice captain. a police sergeant. and
several patrolmen. were sent to the
Of graft conditions revealed at the
murder trials. Dennis Sweeney, John
}. Murtha. James E. Hussey and
James +. Thompson, all police in
spectors. we're convicted Of grating
and served a year at Blackwelrs
Three days before their terms werel
up, Murtha's conviction was reversed
by the appellate division. which up-
held the conviction Of the others
Herman Rosenthal was murdered at
a. m. on the morning OF July Is. 1872
He had been furnishing District Attor-
ney Whitman with evidence of police
grating. which connected Becker with
gamblers. He had been several times
warned TO hold his tongue" While.
dining at the MetrOpole. located Just off
broadway, on West Firty-second street
he was called TO the pavement By a
man never identified. AS he stepped to
the curb he was shot through the brain
The murderers calmly walked TO a wait
ing automobile and rode off toward
Efth avenue. policeman recorded a
fictitious number OF the car by
stander who had witnessed the shoot
ing. took the license number, and was
arrested when he gave il 20 the police
of the Forty-seventh street station.
Only the fact that District Attorney
Whitman got out of bed to assume i'm
mediate personal charge OF the case
saved this man and his memory Of
the car number to the prosecution. II
was this slender thread of evidence
from which whitman traced the real
slapers, and built UP his case.
M Dns~.n~ IN Na4o ~