Martha Place was executed
in NY in 1899. She threw acid in the face of her step daughter and then
smothered her. Afterward she attacked her husband with an ax and nearly killed
him.Gov. Theodore Roosevelt refused to pardon her and she was executed.
The New York Times wrote
of the incident:
“The straps across her
face were quickly buckled on, the pad drawn over the eyes, the signal given,
and the current turned on. … The body scarcely moved. The prayer book in the
woman’s left hand twisted across the wrist and slipped partly out when the
muscles relaxed. Her thin lips merely tightened.”
Warden Sage reported to
his superiors: “The execution was entirely successful. There was no revolting
feature.”Martha Place was described by the press as “homely, old, ill-tempered,
not loved by her husband,” before her execution.
At age 23 she was struck
in the head by a racing sleigh and family members said she was never the same.
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