Douglas daily dispatch., 1928-01-06
AL SMITH HEARS
EXECUTION STAY
PLEA OF COUPLE

| Smith listened for two hours today
while lawyers tried to convince him
/ that he ought to stay the execution
of Mrs. Ruth Snyder and Henry
!, Judd Gray, scheduled for week from
today, but he gave them scarlt en-
couragement.
He didn't spend quite all the two
| hours listening either Toward the
end of the hearing he joined in the
argument with considerable heat in
terspersed with dry hurnor. He de-
livered himself OF decided opinions
concerning pSycho-analysls, the rela~
tive values OF ST. Paul and the New
York legislature as interpreters OF
the law and the duties of a public
official sworn to see that the law is
carried out
When all sides OF the argument
had been presented and he had had
his own say the governor ended the
session abruptly, merely announcing,
well, the hearing is over" and
walking out OF the roorn.
The lawyers who had come to try
to convince the executive that while
Mrs. Snyder and Gray unquestion-
3 ctSAy 4AGtNA hAAACA C11C WOl14etA1 AAllOD0A4Nt,
they might not have been able to
withhold their hands, looked rather
blankly at each other for a moment,
shrugged shoulders and struggled out
of the executive chamber.
1t is believed that within the next.
few days Gov. Smith will issue a
memorandum concerning today's
hearing, explaining in detail his
reasons for whatever action he may
decide on.
Today's hearing opened at noon
with Edgar F. Hazeltcn and Dana
Wallace entering their pleas for Mrs.
Snyder before a crowded chamber.
i Hazelton told the governor tlat he
only recently had discovered that in
her youth Mrs. Snyder suffered from
a serious Sunstroke and serious
fall. He said psychiatrists had adj
vised him tnaS because of this she
was all the rest of her life subject
to alternating moods OF great joy
! and great depression.
He said that while doctors OF the
older school had found both Mrs.
psychopatnic cases., and silould be
dealt with as such instead OF as
/ criminals. -
He asked for a stay of 80 days
in which psychiatrists and psycho-
analysists might study their impulses
and see if they were not so emo
tionally diseased as to render them
incapable of doing right even though
they could distinguish between right
and wrong.
The principal address for Gray was
made by William Millard, who de-
scribed Gray as ia poor human man
nequin in the control of that tragic
and abnormal woman, Ruth Snyder"
He also asked for a 80 day stay
of execution and added that it this
i were granted Communication of sentence
to life imprisonment would pe sought
| Governor Smith spoke bitingly to
1 both defense attorneys of this
psychosis stuff"
! why he said finally, "if what
you are telling me was any argument.
any one who wanted to do a murder
could just do few other foolish
/ things first and escape punishment
altogether. must ask you to stick
I to the law
Nv. L ctQ4 OelJc,' AAdNC4OOAL AOEAACSs
! "that the letter of the law kiileth,
but the spirit OF the law :. ~
The governor interrupted the quo
tation without permitting the final
two words, 'giveth life"
''The legislature OF the state of
New York he draWled, has a diff
ferent opinion. and the legislature is
a more modern interpreter OF the law
than ST. Paul.
When the laughter at this Subsided
the governor reminded the lawyers
that he was sworn to maintain the
law and that he intended to do so.
Then, with the brief announcement
that the hearing was over, he left.
The two persons most vitally inter-
ested with the outcome OF the hear
ings, Mrs. Snyder and Gray, were not
present, remaining in their Sing Sing
fcells, but the mothers OF both sat
facing the governor with tear dimmed
eyes.
4 In an affidavit submitted with his
application, Hazelton indicated ne
would prove that Albert E. Snyder
the murdered man, signed the appli-
cation for the insurance policies with
y 1u1l -kIlOW1SQSe. 1IlG dCIOIIlty dlSO
indicated in series OF questions
included in the application that
Snyder'S knowledge was SO complete
that he made or knew OF the pay
ment OF the insurance premiums.
The insurance company is seeking
> cancellation OF the policies on the
ground that Snyder had insufficient
knowledge OF them to make them
legal.
The last of the questions submitted
by Hazelton asked whether all OF
any OF the acts with reference to
the. policies were done by Snyder
or fraudulently by his wife, without
his knowledge for the purpose oi
profiting by his death This question
was said to be the one On which
justice Levy may be asked to declare
Mrs. Snyder's testimony essential.
It was said that Should Hazellon
succeed in the application for post.
ponement OF Mrs Snyder's execution
it would have no effect on that OF
Henry Judd Gray, sentenced to die
for the same sr1urder