The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-07-27


 His execution, has been ..postponed7 7 until Friday morning, July 30, at the same hour.
 This action was taken last evening 1 by Deputy Warden Charles H.. John 9 son of the State Prison, in compliance \ with a, formal. request by Supreme Court Justice John Ford ] Justice Fords after an all day hear I ing on the question whether Becker should get a new trial Chis third) on the ground of recently sdiseevered ev1- dence, said he would be unable to give 1 a decision immediately. He intimated that he would. like a reasonable time ! in which to make up his mind Yet, he intimated further, he did not care to ask Gov. Whitman to issue a reprieve.
 Agreed on Postponement. Then District Attorney Perkins made a Suggestion which resulted in a sim pie way out of the difficulty. The prosecutor pointed out that Becker l had been condemned to& die during I the week beginning July 26,'' and that the exact day on which he should be | executed was optional with the war den of Sing Sing.
 There had been frequent cases, MT. Perkins said, in which wardens, to aid ] the courts, had postponed electroeu- tions, and he had no doubt. that MT. Osborne, or his assistant, MT. John son (w1ao is actually in charge of the l Becker execution, since MT. Osborne l will take no part in any act of capital punishnento; would agree to put of this one.
 Justice Ford telephoned to the pris- on, and Deputy Warden Johnson promptly agreed to a. postponement- Then he immediately sent a telegram to Justice Fsrd so as to place the matter in the written records of the lease. Incidentally, MT. Johnson put lon until Friday the electrocution of Samuel Haines, the negro who was scheduled to die on the same morning as Becker.
 The proba bdlities seemed last night I that Justice Ford will not decide as to a third trial until tornorro or, possibly Thu rsday morning. If tho d decision is favorable to Becker, it will act automa ttcally as stay of ex-t NJ ecuHon, and the prisoner will be brought down again to the Tonbs to remain until he faces another jury. If 1t is unfayoraible, nothing can save Becker from tl1es electric current4son Friday morning
 if Hint Of JusticcssrA Attitutie- .s.s--
 What Justice Ford's decision will | 1 be is. of course. impossible to fore } tell This. however, was his atti- tude, taken from his own words. at the end Of the hearing yesterday:
 He did not feel inclined to listen to sany with esses. even Becker himself. He did not feel inclined to accept Ebriefs from either the attorneys. for Becker or from the district attor- ney.
 He did not at that moment feel qualified to give an instant decision, but intended to start in reading the documents in the case (the affidavits tending to. show that Becker was framed up'' by Rose and was mis- takenly. loyal to Big. Ti4n' SulHvan) n until he came to a cohclusion- H Justice Ford. though, did not posi- lively rule. that he would not hear witnesses or would not read briefs. He will meet MT Perkins and MT Cockran today and give his decision on these points
 Meanwhile he said, he would de- vote all his waking hours to a study of the. so-calleds new evidence and to a. study of whether he had legal i right to order a. new trial on the strength of the alleged facts put forth in the af1davits.
 VIII Merely Hear Briefs.
 The prevailing impression about the supreme court chambers seemed but that briefs will be accepted and | read
 The fact that Becker himself prob ably will not be called to explain his alleged martyrdom for the sake of 'ItsBig Tirnv seemed to indicate to bad for him But that, of course, was merely opinion, based upon noth- ing at all definite.
 i l Becker was iubilant, it was report ed from Sing Sing, when. he heard of his new lease of life, and reasserted that he would be saved
 His wife. too. was pleased. Her face was almost radiant when. she got the news. She had sat throughout the day in the court room, listening to the last plea that can be made for her husbands existence and hanging upon every word uttered by ". Bourke Cochran.
 MT. Cochran ebr ought into. play all his legal Knowledge and all his ora toricaI pow wersai in an effort to i'm press Upon Justice Ford that the con demned man was an innocent victirA of mistaken, loyalty and that the Su- preme Court had ample right to order a new trial.
 serted, time after time, with great solemnity. You are the sovereign himself. and I speak to you for this man I bespeak sthe sovereign to ad- minister in the name of God and the state that Justice which has not been administered =
 Says ssNo Motive for Murder
 But he did not confine himself to impressive phrases. He used argu- Tnent, too. There was no motive for Becker to Kill Rosentha1, Cochran contended. If a motive ever existed it had been removed by Sullivan's plan to bribe the gambler to leave New York and withhold his revela- tfons about graft.
 Rose had S6,0OG with which to bribe Rosentha1,'' said the lawyer He saw a chance to revenge himself upon the man he hated, this same Rosenthal, and at the same time to steal most of the money. tell you, Rosentha1 was sitting in the Metro pole Hotel waiting for that money on
 the night of July Is, 1912, when Rose