The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1915-07-30

Becker entered the death chair at
5:45 o'clock and at 5:53:30 he was
dead. having paid the penalty for his
crime in the same chair in which the
four young gunmen. the actual slayers
Of Rosenthal, were executed fifteen
months ago.
A little more than an hour before
he went to his doom q dying state
ment, which Becker had written. was
made public. In this statement the
Former police Mentenant made EN-
rhatic declaration OF his innocence
and paid his final tribute to his loyal
and devoted wife, who has spent the
past three years fighting for her hus-
bands life.
Makes Last Statement.
Becker's dying statement follows:
Gentlemen: 1 stand before you in
my full senses knowing that no power
on earth can save me from the grave
that is to receive me. In the face of
that, in the teeth of those who con-
den1ned me and In the presence of my
God and your God proclaim my abso-
lutte innocence of the foul crime for
which I must die.
you are now about to witness my
destruction by the state which is or
ganized to protect the lives of the in
nocent. May Almighty God pardon
every one who has contributed in any
degree to my untimely death. And
now on the brink of my grave l de.
clare to the world that am proud to
have been the husband of the purest,
noblest woman that ever nved-Helen
Becker.
This acknowledgment is the only
legacy l leave her. l bid you all good.
bye. Father, am ready to go. Amen"
Mrs. Becker. crushed by the blow
but undaunted in spirit, was in her
home in New York when her husband
was put to death. Immediately after
Becker had been executed the follow
ing statement. prepared by his wife,
was made public here:
Wife States Intention.
Il shall never rest until l have ex-
posed the methods used to convict my
husband. Whether he was guilty or
innocent, there was no justification for
the means employed to convict him.
In all the ten years of our married
life l never had occasion once to re-
gret l was his wife. l would rather
have lost all the other members of my
family. dear as they are to me, than
Charlie.
HE was not an angel-he never
made any pretense at being one. He
was an ordinary human being and
perhaps that is why loved him So
Becker never lost his nerve. At
the very last moment the only evil
dence of emotion was a slight tremb-
ling of the voice. He seemed to be
the coolest man in the death chamber
as he took his seat in the death chair
in which he had been strapped thir-
teen years ago as joke.
Give Three Shocks.
Three shocks were administered.
Becker was the first man to die in
double execution which took place
in Sing Sing in the gray of a humid,
foggy morning. SAINT Haynes, a negro
murderer, who slew a woman in Put
nam county. followed Becker to the
chair.
There we're twenty witnesses in the
death chamber. seated upon two long
benches in the grim, bare room.
Directly in front of these benches is
the death chair. BY $40 o'clock the
spectators were on hand, most Of them
tense and white faced. Most Of them
kept their eyes riveted upon the little
green door through which the con-
demned pass as they enter the cham
Der of death. Others watched as
though fascinated by the black straps
and the other fatal harness which
hangs from the chair.
The floor of the execution room is
bare cement. uncovered by rug or car
pet. The walls are of plaster, unre-
lieved by paper or ornament The
very baroness added to the sickening