The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1917-01-09
Just Before the Sentence Of
Death by Hanging Was
Imposed
JURY HAD THE CASE
ONLY THREE HOURS
Small Was Charge .Swith
Numbering His v :, on
September

Ossipee, n. H., Jan. o.-Frederick l..
Small, who was found guilty last night
of the murder of his wife, Florence A.
Small, at Mountainview on September
2S last, was to-day sentenced to be
hanged on January Is, 1918.
Judge Kivel asked Small if he had
anything to say why sentence of death
should not be pronounced in accordance
with the verdict returned last night.
| Il have, your honor" said Small. "I
know no more about the crime than you
do. ] am an innocent person"
Clerk kenison then read the sentence,
| in which Small was ordered by the court
to be confined in the state prison until
January l5, 1918, when he will be
hanged. The state law requires at least
year and day between the passing of
sentence and its execution. The court
allowed sixty days for filing bill of ex-
Ieeptions and said if that was not suffi-
cient additional time would be granted.
The case was given to the jury last
night after trial lasting two weeks. In
his charge Judge John Kivel read the
law by which juries in this state are
given the right to determine whether the
penalty for first degree murder shall
be life Imprisonment or death by hang
ing. The remainder of his charge was de-
voted largely to a general discussion of
the abstract legal questions involved and
contained only few references to the
details of the case.
The greater part of the day was taken
up by the final arguments of William S.
Matthews, senior counsel for Small, and
by Attorney General James P. Tuttle
for the state.
The jury deliberated three hours.
Small staggered an instant as he heard
the words of the foreman Of the jury,
but at once pulled himself together and
the composure which with
few exceptions has marked his conduct
from the moment he was arrested.
Turning to the newspaper men after
the formalities of adjourning court were
he said;
Gentlemen, | am innocent of this
,rime. / know no more about it than
you do. am awaiting the next move"
Under the status OF the law the jury
nay find two verdicts of guilty in
'apital case. One of guilty, which car
les a sentence of life Imprisonment, and
he other of guilty with capital punish
nent," which carries with it sentence
II death b. hanging.
The Story of the Crime.
The murder of Mrs Small on Sept. 2S,
9l6. in the cottage at Mountain View,
where the couple had lived for three
ears. was marked by features rare irs
he records of crime in New England.
The woman had been beaten about the
cad, shot through the forehead and
trangled by a cord before the house was
estroyed by fire. But these evidences
f the crime probably never would have
cen discovered had not the partly burned
ody dropped into a pool of water in the
asement.
Small had left the house to go to Bos-
On seven hours before the flames were
but the state contended that
e had considerable mechanical ingenuity
nd had fixed up a clockwork contriv-
nee which had kindled the fire.
Upon being notified by telephone at
oston hotel that his home had been
lrned and that his wife was missing.
mall hastened back to Mountain View
' automobile.
He was arrested on a charge of mur-
n when his wife's body was uncovered
the basement with the evidences of
urder preserved For a motive the
ate pointed out that Small would bene-
by life insurance policy of $4,000
the event of his wife's death.