The DeLeon Free Press. (De Leon, Tex.), Vol. 38, No. 53, Ed. 1 Friday, June 17, 1927 Page: 4 of 6
six pages : ill. ; page 27 x 19 in. Digitized from 35 mm. microfilm.View a full description of this newspaper.
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Photos by Baxley, Stephenville.
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to Buried Beside His Mother
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to suffer the penalty of death, alone,
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STEPHENVILLE PECAN*
EXPERT ESTABLISHING
NURSERY IN ARIZONA
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(Mr. Snow) “How do know that
them two women were killed first?”
(Judge Keith)
court shall issue
accordance with
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F. M. Snow, triple alaper, confessing in Forth Worth on Sunday fol- ,
lowing the finding of head of Bernie Connally in an abandoned cel-
lar nine miles southwest of Stephenville.
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“The clerk of this
a death warrant in
this sentence and
Answer: "No. The motion for r
new trial was filed the second time;
but that was overruled,
overruled before this mandate was re-
turned. And that’s all the appeal
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“Now Mr. Snow, this is the most
unpleasant thing I evef performed in
my Mfe. I know, as well as the jury
knew, who tried you, that you are
By courtesy of the Stephenville Tribune we are able to show pictures ©i
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Judge: “Well, you burned those
women in the fire place, didn't you ?”
(Mr. Snow) “There was more than
one in that, 1 wasn’t the only one,
there were others, 'l havent’ got no
rights. I know, and I don’t deny noth-
ing but that That’s the straight
truth about it. I wasn’t the only one.
That’s all
Answer: “Well, I don’t know, but
Snow, there is no remedy for you.”
(Mr. Snow) Judge, there wasn’t 5
minutes difference in the three. Yes,
all were killed at the same time, and
the boy was the first one that fell.
You know you called him a man, he
was of age, and of a man’s siae."
(Judge Keith:) Having said nothirig
against the passing of the sentence,
it is my duty to give the judgment,
sentence and decree of this Court in
a accordance with the verdict of the
jury in your case, that on the 15th
, .„ 9’ day of next July, be
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I itei
rm said date, that is, the 15th day of
July 1927, to carry out this judgment
and to execute vou on that date by
causine electricity suffi-
ciently strong to cause death to pass
through vour body and to continue to
pass through your body until death
eft sues.’’ i
Friends of Ross R. Wolfe, the Step-
henville necan exnert and proprietor
of Wolfe’s Pecan Nurserv, will be in-
terested to know that/Mr. Wolfe is
establishing a necan nursery in the
Colorado river valley at Yuma, Arix.
Mr. Wolfe and Messrs Chadick and
Peters of Stephenville, are now in
Arizona making preliminary arrange-
ment*.
mat Appeals of this State and
mandate was issued on the 11th day
of March, 1927, by the highest crim-
inal court in the State confirming
t judgment of conviction and com-
bing me to observe the order of
court in all things, and to hare
nt and verdict bf the jury
obered and executed.
Judge J. B. Keith: “Let’s have or-
■der in the court room.
“Mr. Snow, at the December term
of this court, 1925, a grand jury of
this county returned a bill of indict-
ment against you charging you with
murdering Bernie Conally, your step-
son, in December, 1925. And on the
I8th day of January, 1926, your case
was called for trial and you went to
trial on the charge of murdering Ber-
nie Conally. It took ten or twelve or
maybee thirteen days to try the case
—ten I believe it was. And on the
28th day of January 1926, a jury of
thia county returned a verdict against
you .finding you guilty, , as charged
by that indictment and assessed your
punishment at death.
' ' ' X’-;‘ * ' *
“In due time, your case was appeal-
ed by your attorneys to the Court
of Criminal Appeals of the State of
Texas and in Mareh, 1927, along
about the first of March. your case
was affirmed by the Court of Crim-
inal Appeals of this State and the
found the head and from that and all
circumstances your arrest was made
certain, the trial and conviction fol-
lowed. Mr. Snow, you committed an
awful crime, the worst that could
have been committed on this earth. I
hope that God will forgive you. 1 don’t
know whether he will or not. but I
hope he will.”
RM
Ohs
“Now it becomes my most unpleas-
ant duty, Mr. Snow, to sentence
as directed by that court today. 1
being the first day of the first term
after your case was affirmed. Hare
you anyhing to say Mr. Snow, why I
shouldn't pass the sentence of the law
upon you,”
(Mr. Snow) “Why, where is my
lawyers, Judge?”
Answer: “One is at Fort Worth and
one is in Collin county and the other
is supposed to be in Dublin. But this
is not a matter that your lawyers
could help you in at all, Mr. Snow.”
(Mr. Snow) “Really, I don’t know
but here, wasn’t my case repealed the
second time?” Z
guilty. In fact, you confessed it Mr.
Snow, time and again, twice at least.
The first thing you did according to
your statement and according to the
testimony in the case was to murder
your wife and her old mother. I don’t
know just how you did it. I don'b
know whether you knocked them in
head with a stick, or axe, er whether
you shot them, but I do know you
murdered these two women and that
you placed them under the floor of
your house or you hid them seme-
where, and you then came to town,
and you met here, Bernie Conally,
who had hauled a load of wood here
on that day, and you rode home with
him, behind him in the wagon, he
driving to your’ residence and when
you reached that niece, in my opinion
to keep him from knowing that his
grandmother and his mother had been
slain and murdered, you shot him in
the back, with a Winchester. He fell
from the wagon and bruised his face;
he was then nlaced in the wagon and
driven to Cedar Mountain. On Cedar
Mountain his clothes were stripped
from his bodv and his head was sev-
ered from his body with an axg and
the dothless bodly was left on the
mountain to be nreyed upon by the
wolves and vultures. You then took
the . head of the poor boy, wrapped it
in and old tow sack and some clothes
he had on and undertook to hide it in
an old cellar, but fortunately, umler
the direction of the great and al-
mighty Ged, «ome boys out trapping.
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Snow Makes Feeble Retort To Court After Being Sentenced; Asks
by myself. And I think I must have
y°u a litthv luck yet. I pray to God that
I will have luck, and if 1 <lon*t and
go down, I want to be put by my old
mother. Mr. Hassler here, knows
where she is buried ait. That’s where
I pray for my grave to be. You all
may think I’m lying, bub I’m not, and
that’s all right, but I am telling, you
all the straight truth and really, I
hope 1 haven’ got an enemy in the
house. I lore vou all and God be
with us all and I hope to meet you
all in Heaven.”
day of next July, be executed, Mr.
Snow, in accordance with the laws of
. , ., ., „ .. ■ i the State of Texas. That is, the clerk
And that’s all the appeal . .
I of this court is now directed to issue
there is in it. I ___. . ■
| a warrant to the warden o fthe pen-
(Mr. Snow) “Well, excuse me Judge | itentiary of this state, directing him
I dont’ know much, but I just wanted
to ask you about it.” "ZL <
Answer: “That*’ all right, just say
whatever you want to.”
(Mr. Snow, standing and faclng the
crowded court room:) “Well. Judge,
there is one thing I want to say.
warrt all the congregation to hear,
want to speak loud as I can. but my
lungs are weak. Everybody amf' the
Judge also. It is not right for m>t
turn the same over to the sheriff of
this county, who shall deliver the
same to the warden of the state
itentiary at Huntsville, Walker coun-
ty, Texas, who shall execute the same
in accordance with the la^ jn SUcfaj
case provided, and the sheriff of
Erath county, shall also at th«^^M
tinio ho .Iclivcrs said warrar^MH|
h\ the clerk of this courMHH
the oerM.n and bodv of the sajd^^^
Snow to the warden of the stattHRn
itentiaries at Huntsville,
county, Texas, who shall executeSHB
sentence on the date aforesaid.”
Sentence signed < by Judge J. ■
Keith.—Stephenville Tribune. >
shown in the upper left picture. On the extreme right is an exterior
view of the Snow home. In the circle below, Bernie Connally, whom
Snow admittd shooting and then beheading. In the center, left to
right. Assistant District Attorney Tolbert of Tarrant county. Snow,
Ranger Captain Tom Hickman and Court Stenographer W. R. Swaim
Below, left, the cellar in which Connally’s head was found. Center, a
“close-up” of Snow. Right, W. D Van Bl-aroom holding a piece of
bones found in a pile of ashes in the yard of the Snow home
FOR SALE—I hare a brand nc.w-^
lawn mower cost $9.98, my price S7. A
also nractically new garden plow >S.
Mrs. D. R. McCoun. or inoufre at
Free Press '■
(Mr. Snow:) “Please. Judge, will
you let me ask you a few questions?”
Answer “Yes.rt
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(Stenographic report of sentence
imposed by J.B. Keith, Judge of 29th
Jndieial District Court, Monday, June
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The fireplace in the Snow home near Stephenville, where the bodies
of .Mrs. Snow and her mother* Mrs. S. A. Olds were cremated, is
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Scott, R. L. The DeLeon Free Press. (De Leon, Tex.), Vol. 38, No. 53, Ed. 1 Friday, June 17, 1927, newspaper, June 17, 1927; De Leon, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1262142/m1/4/: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Comanche Public Library.