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One of the Cases on Record Occurred Inthis State.In Chicago recently a mulatto *o-1 man was convicted of iminler and 1 sentenced to le hanged. The event L caused quite a discussion as to whetherr or not a woman had ever been exe-1 cuted in this country, and all that the ? lawyers or anybody who has said uny-' thing about the matter could do to ? answer the quesion was to say that 5; only two women—Mrs. Surratt, who I was convicted of complicity in the assassination of Mr. Lincoln, and a ' woman who was convicted of child ) murder in New York—have been ex-* ecu ted; and by the way, the New York woman was afterwards proven• to be innocent.There lias been a number of women executed for murder, one of whom, Elizabeth Potts, was hangedI in Nevada. On .Tunc 20, 1890, Josiah} and Elizabeth Potts, husband and • ‘ wife, were executed at Elko, this* state, for the murder of Miles Fawcett, a man 70 years of age, committedII near Carlin in 1888. They crushed Fawcett’s head with an ax, nmti-r late I the body and buried it in the• cellar of his house. The remains were f i not discovered until a year afterward.• The evidence was entirely eircum-1 stantial, but the Pottses were convicted, and the supreme court and board of pardons refused to grant a new trial or commute the sentence of* hanging. They protested innocence* to the last, and the woman especially 1 went to the scaffold with a coolness* that was remarkable.New Jersey has executed several women, if we remember correctly, one to our positive knowledge. Jersey 1 justice is a pretty clean cut affair. Jt ? brooks no nonsense and is not influenced by the matter of sex. While 1 capital punishment exists we do not know why it should not hang Lady Macbeth as well as Mr. Macbeth. Hut it is a job that men do not like to have anything to do with. It is ■ had enough to be compelled to hang a 1 man. But nature revolts at the ex-: edition of a woman, though she may be possessed of 77 devils. With the• average man the fact that his mother 1 was a woman has a powerful influence 1 in prompting him to respect woman-- kind, even if a particular woman is• utterly unworthy of respect.
Newspaper Details
Silver State
Winnemucca, Nevada, US
Wed, Apr 24, 1895
Page 3
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USA 19 Oct 2022
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