The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-07-31
INNOCENT" MRS. BECKER'S CRY AS BODY OF HUSBAND
 IS BORNE TO LITTLE HOME
Widow of Chair Victim Prostrated With Grief When Cof fin is Brought From Prison-Funeral Will Be Held Monday Morning Mrs. Becker Gets Letter From Death House Inmates

avenue and Fordham road. Burial
 will be in Wood1awn Cemetery, where | their little baby, who died when he was one day old. is buried. '.No, we have not yet decided on pall-bearers. Tomorrow evening a few friends will come in, and the | funeral will be private. Now, you must not ask me any more. I cannot | talk much now and he closed the door.
 A little crowd hovered about the apartment house until well nto the evening, watching those who left or entered. Among them were two of
 Mrs. Becker's girl pupils of the gradu- ating class at Public School 90, FPS West 14Sth street, The Bronx.
 t'She was awfulIy good to us,'' one of them said, "I never had a nicer teacher. She used to sit still some times and not say a work for two or three minutes. We thought she was thinking about him. She told one of the girls once that having the grad uating class. was the only thing that made her keep on teaching when things got so bad. She said she was afraid if she left us. maybe we wouldn't all graduate. '
 A few minutes before o'clock, Capt. John T. Keith of the Highbrfdge station, in which precinct Mrs. Beck CTS home isssituated, went in for a few moments.
 .I just went in to pay my respects he said q knew Mrs. Becker, and knew Charley There was catch in the captains voice.
 The only other caller who was ad- mitted was Lieut.. Patrick Shea, who came with his wife. Shea testified that he and Mrs. Shea were with Lieut. and Mrs. Becker on the night, several nights after Rosenthal was shot, when it was asserted that Becker was aiding the gunmen to get out of the way. Lieut. Shea would say nothing when he left.
 conduct the requiem mass for the dead man, is now in Philadelphia, but it was said at the rectory that he would return tomorrow afternoon. to consult with the farniliy in regard to final plans for the funeral Until then it is not likely Mrs. Becker will go any further with them.
 Mrs. Becker late last night received 9. letter written by the prisoners in the death house at Sing Sing to her hus- band just before his death, asserting confidence in his innocence and pro- testing against present penal methods in this state, particularly capital pun ishment.
 The letter, written on official Sing Sing prison stationary, and addressed MT. Charles Becker, Ossining, N. Y.," is as follows:
 5 Please accept these few lines of farewell from the companions in mis- cry whom you will leave behind. and who will sooner or later follow you.
 Tour manly behaXious during the trying days was a. source of inspira- ton and edincation to us all.
 tIt is in situations like this that a man shows his true mettIe.
 We who have lived with you through these days in the human stockyards of Sing Sing express to VII r11Jr- haa al esxyI1
 Surely some day your case will be cited, cited by historians of human progress, as one of the best arguments against antiquated legal conceptions- chambers of horrors. death houses. condemned cells, etc. as conducted nant of ages gone by.
 we all who know you from your actions in the human slaughter house of the Empire state feel sure that in the course of time further develop ments will prove to all that the state has killed you as an innocent victim of circumstances.
 st.The state claims that the sacred ness of human life must be impressed | upon the people, whilst at the same | time the state itself gives the worst example, forcing it's employees for a. 1 paltry sum to help and assist in talk l ing lives with cruel de1iberation and | reconciliation at Sing Sing.
 Thereby the state itself more than any other agency lowers the standard of public morals; it has a brutalizing effect upon the public mind. cultivat- ing and strengthening the lower in stincts of man, the spirit or vengeance and bloodthirst.
 ..Dear MT. Becker. we who offer these lines of farewell are unfortunate We are all at loss to offer you any consolation except the of One who was executed and whose last words were
 .t Father, forgive them. for they know not what they do.'
 The. letter was not signed and the name of the messenger who brought it from Ossining was not announced.