The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1927-05-10
BOTH WILL BE
|. SENTENCED TO
DIE IN CHAIR
WOman's Iron Nerve That
Supported Her Throughout
Trial Fails Her
IN STATE OF COLLAPSE
Gray Maintains Calm Ac-
quired in Court After Tell
ing Murder Story
IN STATE OF COLLAPSE

New York. May lO.--(A1.-Mrs. Ruth
Snyder, statuesque blonde. who with
her corset salesman paramour. Henry
Judd Gray. is scheduled to be sen
fenced Monday to die in the electric
chair for the murder Of her husband,
today was in state of collapse.
The iron nerve that supported her
through the three weeks ordeal of
the trial and which did not fail her
last night when she heard the jury's
verdict. cracked when she reached
her cell in the county jail.
After attendants had worked over
her for half an hour in an unsucccss-
full effort to restore consciousness,
two physicians were called from II
hospital. Consciousness was restored
after an hour, and then she was in
a serious nervous condition.
May Be Taken to Hospital
DR.. Di Rosa said her symptoms re-
scmbled epilepsy and that she had
suffered three similar attacks since
her confinement to the Jail seven
weeks ago. He expressed the opin-
| ion that her condition might require
her removal to the hospital which
would necessitate postpOnement Of
imposition OF the death sentence.
Gray maintained the stoical calm
he acquired after he told on the wit
ness stand the entire story Of the
murder.
Apparently the dapper little sales
man had expected the verdict of first
degree which carries the mandatory
death sentence and had resigned
himself to his fate.
The iirv wnS ont m hnnr and
minutes The speed of the verdict
surprised the lawyers.
Mrs. Snyder. if the death penalty
is carried out. will be the eighth
woman to be executed in New York
state for murder. Four were put
to death for killing their husbands.
No woman has been executed in the
! state since 1909.
The jury consisted entirely Of mar
| ried men, | Of them being fathers.
Procedure Is Swift
The verdict came seven weeks and
! a day after Albert Snyder. art editor
!; of the magazine Motor Boating. was
/ found dead in his bed, his head beat
! en- with a window weight, his throat
bound with strangling wire and
/ with chloroformed pads in his mouth
3, and nose ta
/ In the mex. two days both Mrs.
Snyder and Gray were arrested and
! confessed.
Mrs. Snyder later repudiatc0 ner
| confession and swore on the stand
| that she had never planned to kill
! her husband and had tried in every
way she knew to prevent her admitted
! lover. Gray. from committing the
murder.
! Gray stood by his confession.
which laid the blame for conception
Of the plan on Mrs. Snyder but which
acknowledged that he. under her di-
rection. struck the first blow, be-
cause of her magnetic" influence.
To Collect Insurance
The state charged that the two
planned and executed the murder to-
rether to obtain ses. 1000 insurance
carried on Snyder's life.
SO many persons crowded into the
sultry, ill-ventilated room in the
final hours Of the trial that women
began fainting almost as soon as
Justice Scudder began his charge. The
| doors were locked. Several women
were carried out and more than :.
score of others stood about the doors
with tears running down their faces
| and pleading to be allowed to leave
before they were overcome.
! MRS. SNYDER SUFFERS
/ SECOND COLLAPSE TODAY
New York. May 1O.-QR-Mrs. Ruth
Snyder, the stcely blonde Of the
Snyder Gray murder trial suffered u
second collapse in her cell today.
Physicians attended her for nearly
an hour after she tainted during
what they termed an attack of hys-
terical epilepsy.
The attack today was the second
since Mrs. Snyder heard last night
the verdict that means death in the
| electric chair. About an hour after
the verdict was read she collapsed
in her cell, although she showed lit
tie emotion at the time the verdict
was rendered.
i Henry Judd Gray, Mrs. Snyder's
corset salesman paramour, who also
was found guilty of the murder of
her husband, Albert Snyder, maga-
zine art editor. ate his breakfast in
composure this morning. He, like
Mrs. Snyder. showed no great emo
tion when the verdict was given.
The doctors, describing Mrs. Sny-
der's attacks today, said that such
epileptic attacks often precede in
sanity, and that they had no doubt
that a frequent recurrence might