March 24, 1899. He was arraigned July 8, 1899, and pleaded guilty of murder in the second degree. This plea was accepted by the Commonwealth, and he was thereupon sentenced to State Prison for life. The case was in charge of Oliver Stevens, district attorney..

JOHN ROBERTS of Lawrence, indicted in Essex County, May, 1899, for the murder of Maria Roberts, at Lawrence, March 4, 1899. He was arraigned May 18, 1899, and pleaded not guilty. William J. Bradley and Frederick F Sherman were assigned by the court as counsel for the prisoner. Nov. 3, 1899, he retracted his plea of not guilty, and pleaded guilty of murder in the second degree. The plea was accepted by the Commonwealth, and he was thereupon sentenced to State Prison for life. The case was in charge of W. Scott Peters, district attorney.

PETER F. KING of Sturbridge, indicted in Worcester County, October, 1899, for the murder of Mary King, at Sturbridge, Sept. 12, 1899. He was arraigned Oct. 30, 1899, and pleaded not guilty. Charles Haggerty and Jeremiah Kane were assigned by the court as counsel for the prisoner. On Oct. 30, 1899, he was tried before Sherman and Hopkins, JJ., and a verdict of not guilty was rendered by reason of insanity. The prisoner was thereupon, under the provisions of Pub. Sts., c. 214, § 20, committed to the State Asylum for Insane Criminals at Bridgewater. The trial of the case was conducted by Rockwood Hoar, district attorney.

WILLIAM WOODS of Worcester, indicted in Worcester County, in January, 1899, for the murder of Mary A. Woods, at Worcester, Nov. 14, 1898. He was arraigned Jan. 18, 1899, and pleaded not guilty. John E. Sullivan and C. M. Thayer were assigned by the court as counsel for the prisoner. No further proceedings were taken in this case, the prisoner having died in Worcester jail in May, 1899. The case was in charge of Rockwood Hoar, district attorney.

JOHN W. SEERY and JOSEPH E. SEERY of Dedham, indicted in Norfolk County, in September, 1899, for the murder of Ellen Seery, at Dedham, July 2, 1899. They were arraigned Sept. 18, 1899, and pleaded not guilty. Thomas E. Grover and Edwin C. Jenney were assigned by the court as counsel for John W. Seery, and Asa P. French and Benjamin H. Greenhood as counsel for Joseph E. Seery. On Dec. 11, 1899, the defendants were tried by a jury before Braley and Sheldon, JJ., resulting, on Dec. 21, 1899, in a verdict of not guilty as to each. The trial of the case was conducted by Robert O. Harris, district attorney.

EDWIN RAY SNOW of Yarmouth, indicted in Barnstable County, October, 1899, for the murder of James T. Whittemore, at Yarmouth, Sept. 13, 1899. He was arraigned Oct. 18, 1899, and pleaded not guilty. Thomas C. Day and Raymond A. Hopkins were assigned by the court as counsel for the prisoner. On Jan. 1, 1900, he retracted his plea of not guilty, and pleaded guilty of murder in the first degree. The plea was accepted by the Commonwealth, and he was thereupon sentenced to suffer the penalty of death in the manner provided by St. 1898, c. 326. The case was in charge of the Attorney-General, assisted by L. Le B. Holmes, district attorney. The defendant was seventeen years and two months of age when the murder was committed. In view of this fact, I recommended to the Governor and Council that the sentence be commuted to imprisonment for life. This recommendation was considered favorably by the Governor and Council, and on January 11 the sentence was commuted to imprisonment for life.

The following indictments for murder are now pending: —

JOSEPH LAVEY of Boston, indicted in Suffolk County, September, 1899, for the murder of Mary Ann Painting, at Boston, Aug. 16, 1899. He was arraigned Nov. 20, 1899, and pleaded not guilty. Thomas J. Barry and Harry J. Jaquith have been assigned by the court as counsel for the defendant.

WILLIAM H. F. KELLEY of Lowell, indicted in Middlesex County, October, 1899, for the murder of Theresa Kelley, at Lowell, June 30, 1899. On Nov. 8, 1899, he was arraigned, and pleaded not guilty. Nathan D. Pratt and John J. Harvey of Lowell have been assigned by the court as counsel for the defendant.

HAL A. HOLLINGSWORTH of Douglas, indicted in Worcester County, October, 1899, for the murder of Mertice Mabel Leonard, at Douglas, Oct. 8, 1899. He was arraigned

Oct. 30, 1899, and pleaded not guilty. Herbert Parker and John E. Abbott have been assigned by the court as counsel for the defendant.

KAROP KAPIGIAN of Fitchburg, indicted in Worcester County, October, 1899, for the murder of Nishan Haroutinian, at Fitchburg, Aug. 17, 1899. On Oct. 30, 1899, he was arraigned, and pleaded not guilty. John H. McMahon and Daniel Phalen have been assigned by the court as counsel for the prisoner. The case has been assigned for trial at Fitchburg on the fifth day of February.

MARTHA WILLIAMS of Attleborough, indicted in Bristol County, November, 1899, for the murder of Miletta Williams, at Attleborough, Oct. 4, 1899. On Nov. 23, 1899,

he was arraigned, and pleaded not guilty. ham of Boston appears for the defendant.

Percy A. Bridg

JOSEPH A. HILL of Barnstable, indicted in Barnstable County, October, 1899, for the murder of Mary T. Hill, at Barnstable, June 16, 1899. On Oct. 18, 1899, he was arraigned, and pleaded not guilty. Henry H. Baker, Jr., and Charles F. Chamberlayne have been assigned by the court as counsel for the defendant.

LUIGI STORTI of Boston, indicted in Suffolk County, December, 1899, for the murder of Michele Calucci, at Boston, Nov. 7, 1899. The defendant has not yet been arraigned.

WILLIAM J. YOUNG of Randolph, indicted in Norfolk County, December, 1899, for the murder of Benjamin F. Coolbroth, at Randolph, Sept. 9, 1899. On Dec. 27, 1899, he was arraigned, and pleaded not guilty. A. P. Worthen and Albert E. Avery have been assigned by the court as counsel for the defendant.

ANTONIO PEPE, indicted in Suffolk County, March, 1899, for the murder of Bernardino Minichiello, at Boston, Oct. 24, 1898. Soon after the homicide was committed Pepe went to Italy, where he has since remained. At the request of the United States he has been arrested and held for trial there. Depositions for that purpose have been prepared by Oliver Stevens, district attorney, and forwarded to the Italian court, to be used in his trial.

The foregoing does not include indictments against persons who have not been arrested. (Vid. Pub. Sts., c. 213, § 12.)

THE CASE OF DI BLASI.

Antonio Di Blasi was indicted in Suffolk County on the first Monday of June, 1898, for the murder of James M. Ellis, in Boston, May 23, 1898. The case was not included in the report of indictments found during that year, for the reason that the defendant had not been arrested. He escaped from the jurisdiction, and in February, 1899, he was discovered to be living in Italy, of which country he is a citizen. At the request of the United States he was there arrested and held for the murder. After some correspondence with the Department of State and with the Ambassador of the United States at Rome, officers Watts and Rosatto of the Boston police force were sent to Italy with a formal request from the government of the United States for his extradition. There are no treaty stipulations requiring such extradition, and the Italian government finally declined to accede to the request, but offered to try Di Blasi in its own courts.

Anticipating the possibility of such refusal and that such an offer might be made, the officers had also taken with

them such depositions and affidavits as, under the form of procedure in the courts of Italy, would be admissible to prove his guilt; and upon those documents, supplemented by the testimony of the officers, Di Blasi was tried in Messina, convicted of the murder, and sentenced to be imprisoned for a term of six years.

THE DEATH PENALTY.

I was led to recommend that the death sentence of Edwin Ray Snow, the seventeen-year-old murderer, whose case is reported above, be commuted to imprisonment for life, not because of the previous good character of the prisoner, nor because there were any mitigating circumstances in the homicide itself, but rather because I did not believe that public sentiment in Massachusetts would tolerate the execution of a boy of this age, whatever his previous character and however grave the crime he had committed. The Council were unanimous in acting upon my recommendation, and, so far as I can learn, the sentiment of the people of the Commonwealth is in full accord with the result.

If it be true that the execution of a boy of seventeen years would not be tolerated by the community, it is worthy of consideration whether the law, which, as it stands, requires prosecuting officers to ask for and the courts to impose sentence of death upon all persons, of whatever age, convicted of murder in the first degree, should not be amended, so that it may conform to the existing sentiment of the community.

While the reasons for also amending the law as to women stand upon different considerations, and are mostly sentimental in their nature, it is nevertheless a fact that no woman has suffered the penalty of death in Massachusetts for many years, and, so far as I can learn, during the present century. I doubt very much whether a case could occur where the Executive would not commute a death sentence against a

woman.

It is far from probable that the people of Massachusetts would at present favor the total abolition of capital punishment, although there are many whose views go to that ex