New Britain herald., 1927-05-10

, fendants
 We have" Foreman Young re. . piled and his low voice was like { . shout in that dead-still room. What is your verdict" We find Mrs. Ruth Snyder and
 Henry Judd Gray guilty of murder in the first degree"
 Mrs. Snyder moved only as much
 as might have been caused by 8
 twitching nerve or sharply in-
 drawn breath. Gray did not budge.
 The worst that could happen to
 them had come to pass. and they
 took it without sign.
 Counsel for the defendants asked that such motions as were to be made might be delayed until such time as sentence is imposed" Jus tice Scudder replied that he saw no reason why sentence should not be imposed at once.
 Then, one after the other, the defendants were brought to stand before him and he spoke earnestly, words which the spectators could not hear but which it was believed was the imposition of sentence.
 Two Leave Courtroom 1 When he was done Mrs. Snyder walked firmly from the room with ! the prison matron who attends her trailing on behind. Gray followed, | his eyes straight ahead.
 f After the convicted couple were gone it was discovered that sen tence had not been imposed after all. and that Justice Scudder had agreed in a murmurred conference with counsel to impose sentence q week later. Until then the convicted pair will remain in the Queens county jail.
 Would Re Eighth Executed 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 hus- bands. However. no woman has been executed in the state since 1909
 The jury. which in less than two hours returned the verdict finding both defendants jointly guilty of murder in the first degree consist ed entirely Of married men, II of them being fathers.
 The verdict came just seven weeks and day after Albert Shy der. the Queens Village art editor. was found dead in his bed, his head beaten with bludgeon. his throat bound with a strangling wire and with chloroformed pads in his mouth and nose.
 In the next two days both Mrs. Snyder and Gray were arrested and confessed. admitting that their first story of Snyder having been killed during a burglary was false.
 Mrs. Snyder later repudi2ted her 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 ad- mittcd lover. Gray, from committing the murder.
 Gray stood hy his confession. which laid the blame for conception of the plan on Mrs. Snyder but which acknowledged that he. under her direction, struck the first blow.
 The state charged that the two planned and executed the murder together to obtain sa6, 900 insurance carried op Spy5a-'c 1ifa Nrc Spyl.r gave the insurance as Grays motive. i saying he expected to extort the 1 money from her as soon as she col 1 lectod. He could give no motive for ! her doing the killing except her often expressed dislike for her hus- band
 The high point of the trial was the ! second day Gray was on the stand 1 in his own defense when he told a graphic story of the killing in which {, he related how after the first blow ! Snyder grappled with him and was getting the better of him.
 "I called 'Momie. Momie. help me-" he testified. "and she grabbed up tho sashweight ] had dropped and rained blows on Snyder's head. Then he lay still and she chloro- formed him."
 No Relatives Present
 When the verdict was rendered yesterday no relatives of the defend- ants were in court. Grays mother and sister had been there in the morning but had left in tears. Mrs. Snyder's mother. who has only ap- peared in court twice since the trial started, was not present all day.
 But Albert Snyder's brother was there. in a state bordering on col lapse. and he drew a deep shudder- ing breath as the verdict was an. nounced.
 Well. that's the only thing you could have expected" he said.
 During the afternoon so many persons crowded into the sultry, ill., ventilated room that women began fainting almost as soon as Justice