The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1936-01-10
PAY PENALTY
FOR Staying
OF OFFICER
Newman n. Raymond
Is First Of Quartet
To Die
BY JOSEPH HARRINGTON

world like scared children Il
walked into the death chamber
at Sing Sing last night and were
electrocuted for the murder OF
Patrolman James M. J. Killian in
a Fifth Avenue hold-up.
In Is years, that buff-walled,
rectangular chamber had not
reeked of death so much as it did
last night. One witness collapsed
during the third execution and
was dragged out. Others masked
their faces with handkerchiefs
and turned greenish-white.
Newman H. Raymond, jr., OF
Alexandria, Va, came first.
He came, at the dot Of II,
stumbling into the highceilinged
chamber, between two burly blue
coated guards. His shaved head
was rolling from side to side, his
face q Sickly white,
Eyes Were Glass
It is doubtful whether he saw
the SO men who filled the pews
which faced the squat chair and
overlooked into semicircle
around him. His eyes were glass,
and they were fixed on the chair.
It is doubtful whether he saw
Executioner Robert Elliott meth
odically kneading the electrodes
in q pail of brine. The better to
burn you, my dear. Doubtful, too,
that he appreciated the incon-
gruity Of the box lying on the
table behind the chair, the box
in which Elliott carried his para
phernalia, a gaily checked box,
on which, in fat letters, was
printed 100 per cent whole wheat
-healthful and nutritious"
He stumbled across the gray
concrete floor. Ten steps to that
squat, oaken chair, bristling with
straps. A guard showed him gent
ly, and he sank into it stiffly.
There were two more guards
working on him-four in all,
each rapidly Strapping an arm
or leg.
Fat Curl Of Smoke
The Rev. DR.. Arthur Peterson
was reading carefully, bland
ly, from the book:
"Oh, my God, oh, my God, I
trust in thee"
A whirr-and a fat curl Of
smoke leaped up from the right
leg of the boy in the chair.
The current whined high. faded,
whined, faded, faded, whined
again. An Immediately clad man
in the front row, a plump, we'll
groomed man, lifted handker-
chief dainty to his nose. His
ruddy color was fading somewhat.
Three whirrs, three fading
signs. A guard nodded and two
doctors stepped toward the chair.
Two Stethescopes were placed
on the barred chest. One doctor
said:
"The mans dead"
They lifted Raymond out Of the
chair and put him on a white
wheel table-Newman H. Ray
mond, jr., aged 81, the son Of a
preacher, a reformer, a former
major in the Army.
His mother, Anna, was laying
outside in an automobile just out
side the priSon-unconSci She
had tainted 20 minutes before.
Kissed the Crucifix
It was 11:04. Elliott was
frowning over his helmet and leg
electrode. There shouldn't have
been that curl Of smoke, that
smell of burning flesh, which
stffled your nostrils. He dipped
them into the pail and kneaded
them harder.
Amerigo Angelini, 81, was next.
He was not as weak as Raymond.
But not too strong. He didn't
look at anyone, except Father
John McCaffrey, who was carry.
ing q black crucifix. He didn't
have to be showed. He sat in
the squatty, bristling chair by
himself. Father Mccartney held
out the crucifix.
Angelini glued his lips to it.
Glued them. did you think of
that, Amerigo, when you fired
at Killian in Choppers luggage
store 10 days less than a year
ago?
Did you think of Christ?
You had CUTS then, Amerigo.
Remember? When the judge
said you were to die, you sneered,
like the rest of them, and
snapped mash notes with the
others? Notes that silly girls
had sent you and Raymond. and
Orley, and Gilbride?
Not sneering now, Amerigo.
Your lips are away from the
crucifix. No sound coming from
them. but you can read them
easily:
ooh, my God, am most
heartily sorry for having Of
Tended thee, and I detest all
my sins, because I dread the
loss of Heaven and the pains
of hell, but most of all be-
Cause"
Elliott slipped the mask over
his face. A white, dreadful face.
Elliott walked back to his
niche, left front. A click,
whirr-and AMERICAS body leaps
convulsively against the straps.
No curl of smoke this time.
Nothing but that convulSive jerk,