The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1920-07-30
BYRON PETT|BONE
IS BACK IN JAIL
AWAITS APPEAL
Is Cheerful and Hopeful and
Stood Trial Well
DOUBT AS TO AN APPEAL
Most People Thing He Would Err in
Taking Appeal and Riskins
Another Trial.
DOUBT AS TO AN APPEAL

Manchester, July 30.--This town and
its summer colony turned from the
tragic to the ridiculous, as one pomp-
GUS city visitor who resembles the
typical English count remarked late
yes erday afternoon, after Byron NJ.
Pettibone had been taken to Benning-
ton Jail following his sentence to life
Imprisonment on verdict of second
degree murder for poisoning his wife
Eva Bond Pettibone, but who little
latter was granted stay Of execution
for thiry days. This remark was
caused by the shifting Of interest
which has been centered in the last
act of the most tragic drama that has
been enacted in this county, If not in
the whole state, since the Mary Rog.
ers murder case nearly two decades
ago, to the golf tournment on the Elk
wanox links which began yesterday
with one hundred, thirty entries.
Although the issue seemed so clear
ly drawn that the jury must either
ccnvict Pettibone of first degree mur-
der, which would send him to the
electric chair, find him not guilty, or
else disagree, they came in after hav.
ing the case for twenty-five hours and
their verdict was rendered by fore
man, Ernest Beebe OF Rupert as
guilty OF murder In the second de-
gree" Mrs. Pettibone died on April
6 and an autopsy disclosed strychnine
in the stomach and other organs. Her
husband Byron sixteen or seventeen
years younger was suspected Of muir
der and on June is and 16 made two
confessions. Almost Immediately af-
ter the funeral Pettibone was seen
in the company of Helen Irene Gull
low, who was then d nurse at the Put
nam Memorial Hospital a. Benning-
ton and later she was his nurse at a
hospital in Troy when his tonsils
were removed and he went to- 1her
fathers home for convalescence.
When sentence was In inposefQ by
Judge Wilson an opportunity was Civ
en- his counsel to presenta bill eof lex
ceptions. Sheriff Gardner awasel in.
tending to take his prisoner to sWind-
sor yesterday af ernooni but later it
was announced that the court had
granted stay CT execution for thirty
days so that his lawyers could have
him in Bennington while preparing
their document if one is presented.
Miss Gullow, who had disclosed
startling relations with Pe.tibone dur
ing her testimony few days ago, Wis
tied him in the jail soon after he was
sentenced and remained until after
he had been taken in Sheriff Gardner's
automobile to the jail at Bennington
his hcme since the middle of June.
When she emerged from the jail and
en4ered her fathers car a ven would
have been fitting screen for such
evidence of weeping as her eyes and
face disclosed. No prying eyes saw
the meeting in Jail, except for part
| of the time when immediate relatives
of the two were present and also an off
cial, but the telltale marks were there
that II had been a touching scene.
Yesterday the windows and door of
the Jail had been screened by news
papers perhaps in anticipation OF
such meeting The Guillow car left
on the Bennington road a short dis
tance behind the sheriffls and the lat
ter con aimed bundle of blankets,
and it may be other things, which
were brought from the stolid prison
er's cell.
Pettibone in the custody of Sheriff
Gardner, arrived at the county Jail in
Bennington shortly after O'Clock
yesterday afternoon. It is probable
that his stay here will be compara-
lively short. Not long period CT
/ time will be required by his counsel
for the consultation relative to the
taking of the case to the supreme
/ court on exceptions. 1t is expected
/ that Sheriff Gardner will soon make
application to Governor Clement for
authority TO transfer the prisoner to
| Windsor Should the supreme court
grant a new trial it is presumed that
! it would be held at the December
term of Bennington county court
| which is held in TINS village.
Since the trial Pettibone is reported
to be far more cheerful than would be
expected under the circumstances. He
has been under tremendous strain
since July 10, and has been compelled
to undergo constant inspection by a
curious and morbid-minded crowd and
has been living amid UNUSUAL surround
ings. The return to his cell in the
county jail must have been welcome
/ ed change, in some respects.
Nothing is known of the course that
will be pursued by his attorneys in re-
lation to exceptions noted during the
trial There is a feeling on the part
of some people who followed the testi-
mony closely that mistake would be
made in seeking another trial.