The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1915-08-04
BECKER PAYS DEATH PENALTY.
CONTINUED from page ~

current pulsed through the body.
The shock lasted seven seconds.
After a hasty examination, DR.. Farr
asked that a third shock be given.
This last five seconds. An examina-
ton that took several minutes fol-
lowed. Three physicians among the
witnesses then made an examination
and DR.. Farr, at 5.55 o'clock quietly
announced:
81 pronounce this man dead"
During the night Becker penciled
on a piece of paper what he caption
ed "My Dying Declaration" 1t was
taken to the warden's office, where
two copies were typewriter, which
Becker signed in a bold hand with
his fountain pen. To Deputy War
den Johnson, who had charge of the
execution in place of Warden Tho
mas Mott Osborne, who does not be-
lieve in the death penalty, the one
time police lieutenant gave his foun-
tain pen as a gift. at is the last
thing that 1 have to give away and |
want you to give this statement to
the newspaper men,"
Becker's message read:
"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 condemned me, and in the pre-
sence of my God and your God, I
proclaim my absolute 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
innocent. May Almighty God par
don every one who has contributed
in any degree to my untimely death.
And now, on the brink of my grave,
I declare to the world that L am
proud to have been the husband of
the purest, noblest woman that ever
lived-Helen Becker. This acknow-
Judgement is the only legacy 1 can
leave her. I bid you all goodbye.
Father, I am ready to go. Amen.
(Signed) "Charles Becker"
After his wife had said farewell,
shortly after midnight, Becker main
tanned a casual conversation with
Deputy Warden Johnson, who sat be-
side the screen in front of his cell.
Sometimes he smoked cigars, after
which he would. let his head fall upon
mis- hand and gaze relectively at the
concrete floor for minutes at a time.
Pinned Wife's Photo Over Heart
Dawn found him seated on the
edge of his cot carefully pinning a
photograph of his wife on his white
shirt just over his heart. Then as if
he desired to have her all to himself.
Becker put on a thin black alpaca
coat which he tightly buttoned. The
photograph was not seen by the wit
nesses until the prison physicians
opened his coat as he sat in the death
chair.
Becker vas put to death by the
state executioner whose name is un-
known to the public. This man sue
ceeded State Electrician Davis and
he said he would not take the job
unless mis- name was kept secret. He
lives in a little town upstate and
went about his work briskly.
Becker's executioner said that in
his opinion the man had died instant
lY at the first contact.
An autopsy was performed, &C.
cording to law Immediately after the
execution. After Becker's body had
been removed from the chair, Samuel
Haynes, a negro murderer, was
brought into the execution room and
~electrocuted.
One of Becker's last requests to
Warden Osborne was that he be put
to death before the negro.
Mrs. Becker's last effort to save
her husband was made yesterday
when she appealed personally to Gov
ernor Whitman for a reprieve so that
an appeal may be taken to the state
court of appeals. Missing the COVER
nor at Albany, Mrs. Becker met him
at Pougnkeepsie. The plea was fruit
less and the untiring wife hurried to
Sing Sing to bid her husband fare
well. She was with him for an hour,
leaving the death house at 1880
o'clock this morning. She left soon
afterwards for New York, outwardly
displaying no effects of the severe
mental strain. John Becker, her
brother-in-law, and John Lynch, her