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1 A Brief History of Irene Schroeder, Executed by the People of Pennsylvania, February 23, 1931 [1] (1931)

handle is hein.death/bhirsch0001 and id is 1 raw text is: A BRIE? EISTqRY OF IRENE SCHROEDF EXECUTED BY THE PEDPLB OF PETSYLVANIA, FEERUARY 23, 1931 Irene Schroeder, 22 years old, the mother of a four-year old child, was erecuted by the tate of Pennsylvania--in other words, by the poopl of Pennsylvania-- ebriary 23, l91. fur the killing of a State Patrolman, crdy Paul. who had stopped the flight of the woman and G-Ienn Dao ue, Iso exoeced, on tae Eutler New Castle Road following a grocery store holdnp. The woman's 3 year old child, a year later the principal witness against her, was with her. Irene Schroeder was born in Eentwood, West Virginia, of Scotch- Irish parentage. Her father was an unsuccessful fish-peddler, the father of siYteen children H r mo ter (E~d when she, thu young- est child was a; infant. There are eight surviving children, One brother vas shot nd killed escaping from Jefferson City, Missouri Penitentiary. AT 0 Ar brother-. Tom, is still being hunted as the last of the trio wh `kllied Erady Paul. Her motherIs last words aze said to have been: Take care of Irene. She lived first with one growr and married sister, and then was passed on to another, She had, as one newspaper stated, no home, no money, no clothes, no amusements, and very little schooling, as a child. S.e began to work at the age of fourteen. Living with her sister Ruby Schroeder temporarily, at Pellaire, Ohio,o she married her brother-in-law, Homer Schroeder, at the age of iofteen. Schroeder deserted her thirteen months after, leaving her at the age of sixteen with a baby to support. Unable to find work in a tiny town, she went with her baby to Wheeling, West Virginia and became a waitress in a restaurant. Here she met Glenn Lague, ten years he: senior, an autormobile sal(sman, with a wife and two children. D1ague had served during the war in the Ninth Division, and was restless. He was a Surday-School teacher Violently in love, the criminal career of the two began when the girl was 17, with Dague's theft of an automobile, and holdups and robberies in near States. Following the murder of tbe trooper in 1930 in their attempt to escape, the two fled to Arizona, After a sensational capture, they were returned to Pennsylvania for trial with enormous press publicity, and a special prosecutor appointed by the state. The illiterate girl had no real understanding of her situation. She enjoyed the crowds and notoriety. Well, it's a great bally- hoo, anyhow, ain't it? Che said to a policewoman. Eut every- one's trying to make me out bad. I ain't bad. Her aged father made a frantic effort to save her life. In her telegram of fare- well to her sisters she said, 1I am satisfied with things as they are. Love and. take care of papa. She worried about her small son later blam'ing himself for her death, and wrote him a final letter: My baby, there may be those who would try to hurt you by saying you probably said something in the past to contribute to what others call trouble for me. Nothing that ygu ever said caused me any trouble. Be a good boy, and don't be afraid. Have holdups and murders ceased in Pennsylvania since the killing of this young woman and her lover by the State? The United States Lepartment of Justice reports in its monthly Bulletin for March that 4; murders were committed in Pennsylvania, and the three bounding states, Ohio, West Virginia and Maryland, in March 1931, a month after Irene Schroeder's execution. A social worker, Dr. Harvey M. Watkins of Reading, pointed out: It cost the State of Pennsylvania '23,658 to prosecute, convict and electrocute Irene Schroeder at the Western Penitentiary. If one tenth of that amuunt had been spent ten years ago by any social workers on that 22 year old girl, that electrocution would have been prevented. Must we admit that this is the best thing we ran do? In short, how long shall we erect gallows at the end of the road instead of guide-posts at the beginning?

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