The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1914-04-13
Rabbi Who Attended Jewish
Men Believes That "Dago
Frank Was Not Con-
cerned i'm the Shooting
Execution Was at Sing
Sing Prison


gunmen who were convicted of the mur
der OF Herman Rosenthal died IN tn
electric chair at Sing Sing prison at th'
break sf day. None of the four con
fessed his guilt and none mentioned th'
name of Charles Becker the former po
lice lieutenant, who was found guilty
of instigating the murder but who wai
saved by court of appeals reversal,
OF the four who died to-day, Franz
Seidenshner, known as whitley Lewis,
made the only statement, and even NJ
did not fatty assert his innocence.
Gentlemen ne mumbled as they
strapped him in the chair, 81 did not
shoot at Rosenthal. Them who said
did was periurers. For the sake OF JUS
tice, gentlemen, say ! didn't witness
Stannish-."
Seidenshner did not finish the sen.
tence. The strange harness had beer
adjusted and the current shot the body
forward in the chair. He had meant tc
saw that Stannish, the waiter, and a
witness at the trial, had lied; but death
interviewed.
Frank Cirofici, known as "Dago Frank, :
was the first of the quartet to be elec-
troeuted. He was pronounced dead at
SAB o'clock. Then came Seidenshner,
followed by Harry Horowitz, known as
"Gyp the Blood" and Louis Rosenberg,
known as "Lefty Louie" At 6:l7 the
last of the four was pronounced to be
dead. The executions took longer than
usual because of the changing of the
witnesses after each electrocution in or
der to permit all the newspapers to be
represented.
Spiritual Adviser Is in Doubt of Guilt.
Rabbi Joseph Goldstein, who accom-
panied two of the men to the chair, said
as be left the deathhouse: 'If you ask
me whether the Jewish boys were guilty
/ do not know; they did not confess to
me. As for the Italian, | do not believe
he was at the scene of the crime. | do
not think any of them should have been
convicted on the testimony offered"
Becker's Reversal Had No Effect on
Execution.
Governor Glynn had refused to grant
stay, pending the second trial of for
mer Lieutenant Charles Becker, who was
convicted in the lower courts of having
plotted the murder of Rosenthal to pre-
vent him from making graft revelations
to District Attorney Whitman. The
court of appeals, in reversing the deci-
sion for Becker, declared itself uncon-
WINGED that he had directed the murder,
but upheld the Judgment of the lower
court that the four gunmen had been
the instruments. Motions for a new
trial, on the ground of new evidence,
made by their attorneys, We're denied,
and they were sentenced to die during
the week beginning April l3.
Four days before their execution a
delegation of New York rabbis visited
Governor Glynn and pleaded in vain with
him to postpone the execution until after
the second trial of Becker. The governor
remained fixed in the opinion that he
had already expressed-that Beeker's
guilt or innocence could in no way af-
feet the guilt of the gunmen who had
been judged guilty by two courts.
Other Gunmen Exonerated Dago Frank.
The real names of the men who have
been known as "Gyp the Blood" Lefty
Louie" "Dago Frank" and "Whitey
Lewis" were Harry Horowitz, Louis Ro-
senberg, Frank Cirofici and Frank Seid-
ensner. The youngest, Lefty Louie"
was 81, the oldest, "Dago Frank" 81.
All were jews except "Dago Frank" As
the nickname implies. he was an Italian.
"Gyp the Blood" and "Lefty Louie" Were
married. Their young widows survive
them.
Not only during the trial but in state
ments given out at Sing Sing, three of
the gunmen persisted in the declaration
that "Dago Frank" had not been pres
ent at the time of the murder. and was
not in any way concerned in the plot to
murder Rosenthal. During their stay in
the deathhouse all four maintained an
attitude of msrtyr-like innocence. tenn
pered with an optimism growing out of