Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1914-11-11
gERCER|ELLOD|ES
! WHILE THE CHAIR
IS BEING PREPARED
right and Poison Made from
Matches End Life of Newark
Wife-Murderer.
pecial to the Evening star.

knecial to the Evening Star.
TRENTON, Nov. Hin an effort
ID cheat the electric chair, in which
pc was condemned to die last night,
angelo Cerceriello, of Newark, at
tempted suicide in the deathhouse
Eerceriello's attempt failed, out the
electric chair was cheated of its vic
tim by a higher hand. Death, in
natural form, claimed Cerceriello,
Inst as death in the person of the
electrocutioner, was about to take
him.
Cerceriello's death came as a eli
max to long but unsuccessful strug-
gle for his life and liberty When
ne saw that his fight was in vain he
tried to foil the State by taking his
zsfe with a poisonous solution made
With match heads. This was late
Monday afternoon. Physicians re-
lived and strengthened him to die. as
he State had decreed, in the chair
81 1880 O'clock last night.
Six hours before the time set for
his death the condemned man broke
Gown in his cell. The terror of the
approaching walk through the little
black door before him unnerved him
md he collapsed. In an hour he died
Fright, more than the poison he had
previously taken, was responsible for
bis death, the prison physicians said.
The murder for which Cerceriello
vas to die was an unusually brutal
one. His wife of less than a year
vas found hacked to death Decora-
ZION Day, 1912, in a vacant lot not far
distant from their home in Chester
avenue, this city. Strong circum-
stantial evidence pointed to Ger
ceriello as the slayer. and his arrest
and trial followed He was convicted
IN December a year ago and SEN
FENCED to die in February.
His attorneys, Frank NJ. McDermit
and william o. Azzoli, fought
Through the courts for him and pro-
+ longed his life by stays from the
s5ourt of Errors and reprieves from
the governor. Finally, in August, the
8 Court of Errors refused to set aside
q the conviction, and his last hope
q seemed to have gone. But Cerceriello
made another attempt to save himself
by writing out a confession, supposed
to be from the lips of Alphonso Lau-
disi, another murderer in which Lau-
dist repudiated all his testimony at
Cerceriellos trial in Newark.
Laudisi was the principal witness
against, CercerielIo and his testimony
the most damaging. To get a new
trial the false confession was gotten
up and Laudisi in some way induced
to sign it.
When called before the Court of
Pardons Laudisi denied that he made
the confession and reaffirmed his
testimony given in Newark Ger
ceriello's conviction was again up
held and this Week set as the time for
him to pay the penalty
Cercerielle's cell-in the deathhouse
was in such a position that he could
watch the death marches of his fellow
prisoners as they went, one by one. to
the chamber at the end of the corri-
dor He was in constant terror as his
dlour approached. Monday he broke
off the heads of a score Of matches
ne had saved in his cell and dissolved
I them In water
He was revived in time with a
stomach pump. Despair followed his
Failure, and his breakdown became
complete, ending only in death yes
terday afternoon. He was suffering
from tuberculosis and heart trouble,
The physicians say.
s. MIR. McDermit was in Trenton last
week in an almost hopeless attempt
10 save his client. He was handed
b paper written in Italian by Ger
reriello. Mr.. Azzoli translated the
letter, and found that it related
what Cerceriello claimed was a
series, of dreams he had on the
lights of October IL, IS, 10 and TO-
In these dreams, according to Ger
eeriello's statement, he saw his. wife,
and she related to him the true story
4of the murder. She told him, he
said, that she had been leading a
Houble life, and that the man who
was her lover had lured her into the
lonely spot in the woods, where her
Head body was found. At the time
of his trial Cerceriello told a some
what similar story about his wife
appearing to him in a dream and
telling him who her murderer was.
n At the trial finger prints on a
&blood-stained Ratchet were intro
educed by the State, and testimony
was given by experts that the marks
were those of Cerceriello. Cerce-
riello was of highly emotional tenn
8 permanent. This trait cropped out in
g his actions in the courtroom and
when he was sentenced, when he
( harangued the judge for ten min
ntes before he would listen to the
death sentence.