Democratic Sentinel, Volume 14, Number 50, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 January 1891 — EXPIATED HER CRIME. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

EXPIATED HER CRIME.

MARY ELEANOR WHEELER IS HANGED AT LONDON.

Made a Confession at Last—Tha Murderess of Mrs. Hogg and Hor Babe Acknowledges the Justice of Hor Sentence. The report cabled from London that Mary Eleanor Wheeler, alias Mrs. Pearcey, had been rescued from the gallows and condemned to prison for life was somewhat premature. The woman was hanged on the 23d of December. A cablegram from London says: Notwithstanding the report of the noted alienist, Dr. Forbes Winslow, to the effect that the woman was subject to epileptic fits

and might have killed Mrs. Hogg while in that condition, Home. Secretary Matthews decided not to interfere with the course of justice on the ground that the crime bore conclusive evidence of deliberation as to the death of the child at least and also of premeditation. During the-iast few days Mrs. Pearcey has been much broken down. Instead of maintaining the calm front which she showed at her trial, she frequently threw herself on the bed and sobbed convulsively. ' But she made no confession until this morning. Her mother saw her for the last time last night During the night Mrs. Pearcey was quiet and resigned. She got up early this morning and prayed for some hours. To the Chapr Ikin she acknowlenged that the sentence was just, at the same time asserting that much of the evidence was false. She never mentioned Hogg, and gave the im-j pression that she alone was guilty of the murders. The hanging passed off without incident, the unhappy woman dying almost instantly. The crime was committed in October.' Mrs. Pearcey and Frank Hogg had been friendly before Hogg’js marriage, and 'were intimate after it, Mrs. Pearcey being supported by a gentleman of means (named Crichton. Mrs. Pearcey was tnadly in love with Hogg, and maintained an appearance of friendship with Mrs. IWgg, who knew nothing of the intimacy. Mrs. Pearcey invited Mrs. Hogg /to visit her one afternoon and bring the I baby, then eighteen months old. According to Mrs. Pearcey’s partial confession Mrs. Hogg came, and they had some words. What followed wss shown by some blood stains Jn the kitchen and the finding of the bodies of Mrs. Hogg and child. After braining Mrs. Hogg with a poker and cutting her throat, Mrs. Pearcey probably suffocated the child. Then, under cover of darkness, she conveyed the body of Mrs. Hogg about a mile in the baby carriage and left It on the roadside. The body of the child she deposited In a field. The police suspected her from her actions when she went with Clara Hogg, the murdered woman’s sister-in-law, to identify the body of Mrs. Hogg. Search of her house revealed the evidence of murder. The husband, Frank Hogg, was for some time under surveillance, and narrowly escaped lynching. The authorities became satisfied, howevii 1 , that he was ignorant of the murder. He is said to have become, insane since the trial.

MARY ELEANOR WHEELER.