Imperial Valley press., 1930-10-03
FATHER IS ONLY
ONE TO MOURN
FOR N0RTHC0TT
Slayer's Funeral Rites
Conducted Without Any
Outside Witnesses.
Ey ROBERT N. BLUM
United Press Staff Correspondent

san QUENTIN PRISON. Oct, ;.
(U.f A white carration today wrote
finis To the crimson story Of Gordon
Stewart Northcott.
Larry Ncweent, Los Angeles evan
cclist who bcfiicndcd and advised
Northcott until the very moment
;hat the gallows changed, hroughj
the flower to the G'othcr of the dead
boy, Mrs. Sarah Louise Northcott.
NortLco,t last request, contained
N letter to his father pcnncd only
few hours before his execution
was: please, want white roses pn
nv coffin.'
At the quiet funeral services in
the little bay town Of Richmond, IL
rcctlr opposite Point san Quentin
where the prison stands, there were
no white roses to Ec found, so carna-
tions were substituted.
No one but NcwGent, who officiae-
ed. Cyrus Northcott, the father. ana
Two morticians were in attcndanc,
as the last rites were read Tn"
father stood with craven face as the
verses a solaca were intoncd.
Then Ncw2cnt plueked 4 carna-
tion fol the mother. who was I3rr"d
ent.
The mother had not learned of the
execution unti hours aftcrward.
Someone had mcrcifullv told her
that her SON was not to die until
the morrow, 50 during the long morn
III" she watched 1T n window Of th"
women 5 prison for a messenger that
she was confident the governor
would sent to tell her that her son
was .cpricvcd.
Meanwhile guards and witnesses
numbering more than 200 had stood
IN silence while Northrott went t.
death.
In the early afternoon hours thc
matron finally told Mrs. Northcott
that her unccasing vigil was futile.
and that no human power could eyer
give her son back 10 her.
The father, vrus Northcot,
whom his son had accused in his
confession made Just before he went
10 the gallowS was on his way back
to Riverside in company with deputy
shcliffs, although rot under arrest.
Retains Secrets
Hr will 90 back to his modest
business OF carpcntcring, perhaps
carving secrets to the grave.
Two women who travelled weary
miles from Southern California II
see if they could wrest those same
secrets from Gordon Northcott, were
also planning their returns today
with their quests unfultillcd.
They were Mrs. Christine Collins
and Mrs. Walter Winslow, whose
sons. Walter Collins and Lewis and
Nelson Winslow, were supposed 10
navc been Northcott 's victims. He
was never tried for the death of the
Collins boy, but lis conviction was
based on the deaths of the WinSlow
Rows and that 1f an unidentified
Mexican youth.
In response to kilograms from
Northcott, the two women came 10
san Quentin and begged the CON
demncd SLAYER to tell them truth.
fully whether or not he had Killed
Ihcir sons.
But truth was alien to Northcott >,
makeup. according to the opinions
Of experts who had examined him
and others who had observed him
and the conflicting stories he told
made it evident that the women had
come On wild goose chase.
Warden James B. llolohan today
was devoting his efforts to Sccklu.
clues as to how and where Northeast
obtained the vial. supposedly cop-
tanning poison, with which he at.
tcmntcd Il last minute suicide in his
cell.
Physicians were hastily summoned
and their quick measures thwartrl
Northcott S intention, but the war.
den was not content to rest until he
had discovered the source of the vial,
believed to have been obtained from
fellow prisoner.