The Washington times., 1932-12-10
HUNS LULLABY
i AS SHE SEWS
/. FOR|NFANT
"Can't Take Me Away From
Her." Slayer Says; Thinks
Child Will Be a Girl
BY JOHN X. AULL
lCopyright, 1882, by International News
Service, Inc)

SsSAS4AB ~ S'B ONSs AZ NS'NN'S'S'
A child's lullaby drifted up the
dreary cell-lined corridor to meet
us as our heels clumped hollowly
on the concrete floor.
"By baby buntin', daddy'S
gone huntin'-"
It rose and fell, striking an in.
congruous note in this grim mass
Of stone and steel.
Making Baby Clothes
We halted at steelbarred
door and the guards key grated
harshly. The narrow whitewaShed
cell was cheerleSs and SparSely
furnished. A stoutish, red-haired
woman, young, comely, soon to be
a mother, sat placidly sewing,
humming a lullaby as her fingers
moved swiftly over the garment
unmistakably an infants wra-
pper She smiled and said:
Don't you think it's cute.
I know she'll like it,"
This was Mrs. Beatrice Fergu-
son Snipes, 29-year-old wife Of a
convicted bootlegger, herself SEN
fenced to die.
Those fingers that sewed so
deftly had pulled the trigger Of
a pistol that killed rural police
man, and for this the State Of
South Carolina has declared her
life forfeit-the first white woman
in the history of the State to
face execution in the electric
chair.
Must Die in Three Months
In less than a month she will
bear child-in four months she
must die.
Interlaced shadows of cell bars,
cast by a pale December sun,
mantled her face. She sat there
rocking gently, clothed in a cheap
blue calico dress and brown
sweater, with the nimbus of sp-
preaching motherhood shining
brightly in her eyes.
Across the areaway another
barred window gaped-in it the
death chair.
But. this woman doesn't believe
she is to die. Death is remote;
a new life is throbbingH near.
She said:
"T'm placing my trust in God
and my lawyers"
She spoke matter-of-factly as
If it were about the days market
ing. She was dry-eyed and at
ease. She said the prison author
tiles gave her something. to make
her sleep and that she rested
well following her arrival here
from York, S. c., where she was
sentenced to die April on a
first degree murder conviction.
Plans for Baby
She talked of the thing that
had brought her here, but mostly
she talked of her plans for her
baby. She said:
"GOd knows didn't mean
to kill him Harris, the police
mani, He knocked down Clyde
(her husand) and thought
he was going to shoot him.
Then he hit me in The mouth
it IOOsened two of my teeth
and said III shoot out your
d. guts.' He pointed his
( gun at me and grabbed it.
It went off and he, fell.
"The gun, his gun, was in
my hand. My mouth hurt.
Y I pulled the trigger again.
didn't know what 1 was doing.
This was what she had told
the jury of IL men at York
who decided the shooting OF
Elliott Harris, rural policeman,
was first-degree murder.
Visions Baby Girl
Mrs, snipes spoke about the
expected baby. She called the
baby cher" She said:
''You see. already hive a boy
& years old. I'm sure this one
will be a girl.
"I don't believe they'll let me
6ie-they can't"
A frantic note crept into her
voice, the only time she neareo a
breakdown, as she said:
'Tt isn't right for them to
take me away from my baby.
She has some rights. 1 want
her to grow up to be the right
kind of girl. I want to take
care of her. don't want her
to grow up in an Orphanage
like / did"
Mrs. Snipes said she never
knew her mother and father. She
was born in Rock Hill, S. c.. she
said. and reared in an orphanage
there.
Then 1 went to work in
cotton mill. / had to Scrimp
and save and look out for my
self. 1 want my baby to have
a better chance than 1 did"
, Once she Shuddered.
81 don't know what will be-
come of my baby if"
Sc left the rest unSpoken. She
Teckoned:
"SOme of my people will take
care of it. 1 just can't stand
to think Of her in an orphan
age.
"If folks really knew, they
wouldn't let them take her
away. know the judge will let
me have her as long as possible"
NEW NOTARY PUBLIC