Evening star., 1936-12-15
S|X|NDEATHCE[[S
QUIT WISE CRACKS
Sing Sing Prisoners Forget
NonChaIance as Chair
NearS.
BY the Associated Press.

6y the Associated PreSs.
oSSINING, N. Y, December Is
Six young men, and all pretty scared
now" paced nervously the cells in
Sing Sing Prison death house to-
day as they awaited a 25-minute period
during the week Of January 4. when
they will walk that last march to
the electric chair. These six are the
first of IS condemned to die in the
Is days between January and Janu-
ary IS.
The wise cracking and laughter
they Haunted at their trial for the
murder Of Edwin ESposito, a 22-year-
old subway station agent. has been
replaced by awkward, anxious silence.
THAT was only an act" said Ward
en- Lewis z. Lawes Its all gone
now. They are just like the others,
counting the minutes. They're not
tough any more. They're all pretty
scared.
1T ought to take about IS minutes
for the executions. 1t used to take
longer, but the electric chair has been
improved. Years ago it sometimes
took two or three shocks, but now one
usually does it. It's an unfortunate
affair for everybody"
The condemned are Eugene Bruno,
a: Joseph Bologna, "a; Salvatore
Scata, 18; Samuel Kimel, 81: Dominic
Zizzo, 26, and Theodore Di Donna, 81.
Money Proved Snare.
Bologna, an ex-convict and taxi
driver, was the man who sent two bull
lets into the ticket agent. When the
station agent fell, he and the others
grabbed several canvas bags filled
with change and ran. When they
tried TO change the cash into bills
they were captured.
At the trial they appeared conf
dent and staggered in and out Of
the court room. Scata greeted Dis
trict Attorney William F. x. Geoghan
with "How's the boy?"
When they were captured they ap-
peared before moving picture sound
cameras which recorded their confess
sions, and grinned and laughed at
each others wise cracks.
All but Scata were born and bred
IN Brooklyn. He showed up there
several years ago after running away
from his home in Hartford, Conn,
where detectives wanted him for rob-
berry.
A probation report showed them to
be incorrigibles. Bruno, blind in one
eve and slow mentally, was called a
moron by defense attorneys, but the
psychiatrists at the prison found him
to be able to tell between right and
wrong.
Many Counts Against Him.
Zizzo and Di Donna are longshore-
men. Zizzo. with a wife and year-old
daughter, was arrested for criminal
assault. disorderly conduct, robbery
and petty larceny before being charged
with murder.
Di Donna, 81. was the only one Of
the five Catholics who ever attended
church. He had a police record for
petty crimes.
Kimmel is Jewish, the only mem
Der OF that faith among the six. He
went to synagogue occasionally" His
convictions previously had been for
burglary. unlawful entry, vagrancy
and disorderly conduct.
Bologna, the man who fired the
shots because. as he said, the agent
didn't open the safe fast enough. and
the second to crack" after the arrest,
seems to take it the hardest.
In the death house, a prison within
prison" according to Warden Lawes.
the convicted have their own kitchen.
They eat prison fare, but 1t is better
prepared and there is a wide variety.
They have plenty Of exercise, fresh