Worcester Democrat and the ledger-enterprise. (Pocomoke City, Md.) 1921-1953, 1921-04-09
WEBSTER LEAVES PRISON
TO VISIT DYING MOTHER
Wife Murderer And Former
Pocomokian, Visits Dying
Mother At Her Home.

mother that she be permitted once
more to see her son, a lfe-tem con-
Wet at the Penitentiary, Col. Claude
+. Sweezy, warden of the institution
permitted Carlyle P. Webster, the
murderer who was sentenced to life
Imprisonment in 1919 for strangling
his bride, to leave the "Pen," and,
accompanied by his father an da pris-
on guard, make the journey to his
boyhood home on Deals Island to
spend few hours at her bedside.
Early last week Webster, member
of the first-grade club at the "Pen,"
brought to the Warden a letter from
a member of his family telling of the
grave illness of his mother, who is
suffering from cancer. The letter
told of the mothers hope that she
might see her son before her death
Colonel Sweezy, who, without any re-
Taxation of the rigorous discipline in
cident to prison life, is attempting to
make the Maryland Penitentiary an
institution of regeneration of the
criminal as we'll as a place of penIl
servitude, took the matter under adj
visement.
Communicating with the physici-
ans of the Webster family, the Ward
en- verified the information about the
condition of the murderer's mother.
After comforting with members of
tie Board of Parole, Colonel Swee
zey sent word to w. w. Webster,
father of the murderer, retired
mariner and respected resident of
Deals Island, asking him TO visit the
Fenitentiary.
Upon his arrival and his assuring
Colonel Sweeney that the sight Of
her sons face would ease the last
moments of the suffering mother, the
Warden agreed that Webster should
make the trip.
Webster left the prison late We'd
nesday afternoon, of last week ac-
companied by his father and the
guard, prison official close to Col
onel Sweeney. The trip was made by
boat, the prisoner arriving at Deals
Island early Thursday morning. He
vas permitted to remain at the bed
side of his mother until night, when
he and his guard boarded the return
boat for Baltimore.
Colonel Sweeney, commenting on
the occurrence, said: eyes, | permit
ted Webster to leave the prison for
the purpose of seeing his dying
mother. True, he is a murderer, but
to his mother he is only her son. Is
there anything very remarkable in
the fact that a dying mother should
ask to see her son before she passes
into the Great Beyond? Webster was
in good hands during his absence
from the prison.
Webster YVES convicted of having
strangled Mrs. Bernice CLANCY Web
ster, his bride of few days, in their
bridal suite at the Hotel Belvedere
some time between October "a and
26, 1918. Testimony az the trial show
ed that he had been drinking heavily
for some time and that On account Of
his drunken condition he had been
elected from several local hotels. He
had been divorced by his first wife,
who at the time was a resident of Po-
comoke City.
Efforts of his attorneys at the trial
to prove hereditary insanity proved
futile and he was convicted by a jury
lefore Judges Dawkins and Heuislar
on April 2, 1919. A motion for a new
trial made in his behalf failed and on
May 10 he was sentenced to life i'm
prisonment.
Colonel Sweeney said that since he
assumed the duties of Warden at the
institution Webster has been model
prisoner.