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| Martha Garretson Place. |
Cortland Evening Standard, Thursday, March 16, 1899.
MRS. PLACE MUST DIE.
The Governor Refuses to Interfere With Her Sentence.
HER SEX WILL NOT SAVE HER.
She Will Be Electrocuted Some Day Next Week at Sing Sing Prison. Governor Roosevelt's Memorandum in Reaching a Final Conclusion.
ALBANY, March 16.—Governor Roosevelt has refused to commute the sentence of Mrs. Place, the Brooklyn murderess, and she will be electrocuted some day next week at Sing Sing prison. The governor in his memorandum, after reviewing her trial, conviction and unsuccessful appeal to the court of appeals, says:
"No more painful case can come before a governor than an appeal to arrest the course of justice in order to save a woman from capital punishment when the woman's guilt has been clearly established, and when there are no circumstances whatever to mitigate the crime. If there were any reasonable doubt of the guilt, if there were any other basis whatsoever for interference with the course of justice in this case, I should so interfere. The accused was condemned as guilty of murder in the first degree, after a full and fair trial, although, as all men know, a jury in such a case is always reluctant to give a verdict against a woman if any justification whatsoever exists for withholding it. This verdict was then reviewed.
"Her attorney and her pastor appeal to me for clemency. They raised no question as to her guilt, but claimed that she was insane; the attorneys asserted that she was insane at the time the deed was committed and was now insane. The clergyman stated that she was undoubtedly sane at present, but that he believed her to have been insane when the deed was committed, although he did not then come personally in contact with her.
"I accordingly appointed two doctors of the highest standing upon whose professional capacity, common sense and deep conscientiousness I could implicitly rely and directed them to examine the accused, to decide whether she was or had been insane. They reported to me that she was not insane; that she was sane at the time of the commission of the murder and before and since.
"There is thus no question of the woman's guilt and no question of her sanity. All that remains is the question as to whether I should be justified in interfering to save a murderess on the ground of her sex when no justification would exist to interfere on the behalf of a murderer.
"The only case of capital punishment which has occurred since the beginning of my term as governor was for wife murder, and I refused to consider the appeals then made to me on behalf of the man who had killed his wife, after I became convinced that he had really done the deed, and was sane. In that case a woman was killed by a man; in this case a woman was killed by another woman. The law makes no distinction of sex in such a crime.
"This murder was one of peculiar deliberation and atrocity. To interfere with the course of the law in this case could be justified only on the ground that never hereafter, under any circumstances, should capital punishment be inflicted upon any murderess, even though the victim was herself a woman, and even though that victim's torture preceded her death.
"There is but one course open to me. I decline to interfere with the course of the law."
SUSPECT UNDER ARREST.
SHERIFF BRAINARD FOUND HIM NEAR TULLY.
John Truck of Homer Said to be the Man Suspected in Connection With the Death of Frank W. Miller, Caught with Miller's Horse in His Possession, But Had Exchanged Wagons—Coroner's Inquest.
The man who was suspected of being connected with the death of Frank W. Miller of Virgil was captured this afternoon by Sheriff Arthur E. Brainard near the saltworks near Tully. The man's name is given as John Truck of Homer, his home being on Hudson-st., where he has been living with his wife.
The news of the man's arrest was first known in Cortland at 3:30 o'clock this afternoon when Deputy Sheriff John Miller received a telephone message from the sheriff, who was then at Preble, and stated that he had secured his man and rig. Truck had apparently driven first to Homer for there in his barn stands the wagon said to have been taken from the Miller barn Tuesday night. He had the gray horse in his possession when arrested. Sheriff Brainard has been searching for the man since yesterday afternoon, and has been materially aided by Deputy Sheriff Shirley of Homer. He has his horse and wagon with him, and will probably not reach Cortland with his prisoner much before 6 o'clock to-night.
The autopsy upon the body of the late Frank W. Miller was performed at Harman Sheerer's undertaking rooms yesterday afternoon by Dr. Emory of Virgil assisted by Coroner Smith in the presence of the jury. No marks of a bullet could be found anywhere, but it was a noteworthy fact that less than a tin cupful of blood was found anywhere in the body, though the veins and arteries were traced very carefully. Coroner Smith says that it is estimated that one-eighth of a man's weight is in blood. This man weighed 140 pounds, and according to this about seventeen pounds (or seventeen pints) of blood should have been found. Its absence is considered by the coroner a strong proof that all the blood had ran out of the body before the fire touched it. Furthermore there seemed to be a total absence of coagulation of blood in any of the veins as would have been true had he been burned alive without blood having previously escaped from the body. Particularly would they expect to find this in the abdomen, and they did not find it at all.
The fact that they did not find any gunshot marks is not a hindrance to the theory that he was shot as the body was so charred that it might very likely have been impossible to detect them.
The inquest was then adjourned till next Tuesday at 2 o'clock at the village hall at Virgil.
This morning at 11 o'clock District Attorney Duffey accompanied by Dr. F. W. Higgins and a STANDARD man went to Virgil when the doctor was to make a further examination of the body at the instance of the district attorney. From there they were to go to the scene of the tragedy and look it over for traces that might prove clues.
Up to noon nothing had been beard from Sheriff Brainard in his chase after the suspected party. The man in question was seen in Homer yesterday morning with a rig answering to description of the one taken from Miller's stable. He said he was going to Tully to buy a place, which is considered good evidence that he was going in some other direction. However, it is probable that he was not going south as he had previously driven from Virgil north to Homer.
LOCATED AT SCHENECTADY.
The Three Cortland Runaway Boys Took Quite a Trip.
Chief of Police Parker last night received a message from the city recorder of Schenectady, saying that the three boys, John Garrity, Harry Ray and William Smith who ran away from Cortland last week were being detained by the police in that city. The parents of the boys were notified, and at 11:20 the father of the Ray boy left for Schenectady to bring back his boy, and stated that he would bring back the others if they would come with him. The boys have been gone since last Thursday night and must have done able traveling in the meantime.
This morning Truant Officer Birdlebough wired the Schenectady authorities to hold the boys until the arrival of an officer or until the arrival of some one who would guarantee to return the boys to Cortland.
PAGE TWO—EDITORIALS.
A Great Triumph.
Lord Curzon, the new viceroy of India, has pointed out that the greatest blessing that the west has given to the east is medical science. This is probably an unimpeachable bit of truth. Medical science for some reason has stood still in all oriental countries. Diseases are treated with incantations and amulets in Turkey and Persia, just as they were in the days of Solomon, and the medical science of China stands just exactly where it did in the fourteenth century. It is not to be wondered at that India has been the breeding place of plagues that have ravaged the earth. It is to that fecund country that we owe the Asiatic cholera and the black death, just as we have for centuries owed the mortality that swept the Mediterranean to the foul cesspools and fouler pilgrimages of Bagdad and Medina. If England had done nothing else for India but to introduce rational medical science and the pharmacopoeia of the west, she would still be entitled to the name of savior. It was during the recent outbreak of the plague that science for the first time came face to face with the superstition and besotted ignorance that propagate disease, and a magnificent fight science made of it against caste and race prejudice and benighted frenzy. The result has been that the black death can never again ravage Europe so long as sanitary laws are enforced and men are compelled to observe the simplest rules of health and cleanliness. It has been proved that, given a few generations of intellectual development and rational living, men lose in a great measure the susceptibility to the plague. It was almost entirely shut in among the natives of India, and it now threatens to die out without extending into the temperate zone. Compare this fact with the record of the fifteenth century, when the population of Europe was 100,000,000 and in six years one-quarter of that number had perished by the scourge.
◘ After a ten years' fight against the sweatshops of New York, State Factory Inspector O'Leary said recently, "Yes, they are there yet, and they always will be there so long as there are ignorance and idleness, and immigration keeps the supply far above the demand." This is another evidence that some of the worst wrongs of society cannot be reached through legislation, but only through education and the moral redemption of the individual.
LADIES' LITERARY CLUB.
Second Entertainment Held with Mrs. Gillette Last Evening.
The second entertainment of the Ladies' Literary club was rendered last evening at the home of Mrs. N. H. Gillette on West Court-st. The participants were the ladies not appearing in the "ghostly invitation" of Jan. 9. Each member and guest was given the following catalogue of books:
CATALOGUE OF LIBRARY.
Presented by entertainment committee on the Ides of March, 1899:
History of Cortland, N. Ash.
In the Hemlocks, Johnson.
Drums, The Heavenly Twins.
Old English Reader, Mrs. Mudge.
Critique, After Ruskin.
Chaucer, Pepsin Gum.
Sketches of Travel, Roe.
Red Rock, Miss Gale.
Lady Wentworth, Longfellow.
Biography of Musicians, H. Tins.
Evelyn Hope, Browning.
Poems on St. Patrick, Wat. Rous [Watrous, Cortland family name.]
Ghost Story, Anonymous.
Books were called as desired by the ladies without regard to list order. The event of the evening was a work in three volumes, illustrated, in fact a little drama very amusing in character.
Refreshments suitable to the season were served. The next meeting of the club will be held at the home of Mrs. Rankin, 18 Tompkins-st.
BREVITIES.
—O'Leary & McEvoy's store was connected with the telephone exchange to-day.
—Prof. A. E. Darby, Cortland's celebrated violinist, yesterday started a class in Syracuse.
—The Loyal circle of King's Daughters will meet with Mrs. Isaac Edgcomb, 5 Venette-st., Friday, March 17.
—The name of Hotel DeRuyter will be changed to the Sautelle House in honor of its new purchaser, the circus man.
—New display advertisements to-day are—W. H. Angell, Fresh roasted coffee, page 5; C. F. Brown. Enameling, page 6.
—The Cortland Political Equality club will meet with Miss Verdine E. Peck, 6 Venette-st., Monday, March 20, at 3 P. M. All are welcome.
—During the month of January there were more incorporations of companies in this state than ever before in a single month. The number was 313.
—The third students' recital of the Conservatory of Music will be held in the Y. M. C. A. rooms, Monday evening, March 20, at 8 o'clock. The recitals are free to the public and every one invited.
—During the squall this morning, the wind was so violent on the hill that one of the electrics was in danger of being blown off the track. The car was stopped and the passengers alighted.—Ithaca Journal.
—The examination of James Albro of Cuyler. who was charged with grand larceny in taking a team of horses belonging to L. D. Taylor one night last fall, resulted in his discharge yesterday afternoon by Justice Kelley.
—H. F. Boyce has sold his fine farm just west of this village to Thomas E. Collins of Syracuse, giving possession April 3. The consideration is stated at $4,000, a few cows and farming implements being included in the deal. Mr. Boyce, and son Alison Boyce and family go to Cortland to reside. Their departure will be deeply regretted by all.—DeRuyter Gleaner.
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