Morbid - Episode 469: Elroy Kent & The Murder of Delia Congdon

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Starting point is 00:02:28 Early afternoons. Yeah. Yeah. So we don't really have a song for that. It's morbid on an afternoon. Well, it doesn't slap. All right, we can work on it. We can kind of workshop that.

Starting point is 00:02:45 I have heartburn, so I feel like it's limiting me right now. She's living in an Elka Celts or world right now, so. You know, you're about to turn 27 and then you just can't put hot sauce on your eggs anymore. Everything just falls apart. Like what the fuck, I literally have all the only thing of eating today is my little breakfast burrito that I made which sell out, but yeah, hot sauce.

Starting point is 00:03:03 But I put the tiniest little bit of hot sauce on it, and I can't take it anymore. You're living in an angry tummy world, you know? I know, unfortunately. My tummy's fine, it's just my softest that's being a little bitch. From because of your tummy. Well, maybe I need like spurt in that acid right back up there.

Starting point is 00:03:21 Yeah, I don't like it. Remember when we looked into like what Harper and really is? Yeah, it's a little scary when you really look at what it is. We won't get into it right now, but you guys should look into it yourselves. If you look it up. You'll get up. Look it up.

Starting point is 00:03:32 Fuck yourselves up and look at it. It's pretty gross. It involves fermentation, right? Yeah, there's a lot of really gross things that happen in your gut. When are you doing over there? I'm just fixing a wire because it was in my face. I feel like I was getting slapped by a wire. That's kind of funny. It's like the wire. Because I'm trying to drink macoffee.

Starting point is 00:03:51 You drink your coffee while I drink my fucking alky salt syrup over here. I'll drink my terror mousseau coffee. I feel, oh yummy, from Dead Sled. Yeah, from Dead Sled. Check that out. Yummy. I have a flavor to try later. I hope that my heartburn goes away so that I can try it. I hope you can too, because I love dead-sled coffee. Who does that? T.M. T.M. I don't know.

Starting point is 00:04:12 I love T.M. Like that's our first. Somebody else owns it. Look, only I can love them. Just me. I own the love of them. You know, what's up, man? What's up?

Starting point is 00:04:22 What's up is fair. We're going back in time man. What's up? What's up is bad. We're going back in time today. What? What? My favorite kinds of things, which is old-timey things. You leveled timey things, is in Europe. No, it is not.

Starting point is 00:04:36 It's in America. And it's in our neck of the woods a little bit. Ooh, yeah, okay. Nice little bit. Okay. You could drive there, I guess. Oh. It's there. So this is a little bit. Ooh, yeah. Okay. Nice little bit. Okay. You could drive there, I guess. So it's there. So this is a wild one.

Starting point is 00:04:48 It has to do with, you know, how shitty the death penalty is and how really shitty it was back then. Okay. It has to do with mental illness and how it was handled back then. Not well, but. And it has to do with whether or not somebody was executed for a crime they potentially didn't commit. So it's a big thing.

Starting point is 00:05:12 That always stresses me out a little bit. This one's a lot. I will say. This one's a lot. So hang in. So we're going to be talking about Elroy Kent and the murder of Diliah Kongdom. Okay. Now, Elroy Kent is our convicted murderer here.

Starting point is 00:05:31 So I wanna talk about him first, just because he's the one that we're gonna talk about Diliah, of course, but I just wanna bring up Elroy because you should know what we're working with here and why it was such a shock that he eventually receives the death penalty. Okay. Because, whoa, like he had a lot going on.

Starting point is 00:05:50 So, Elroy Kent was born in Rutland County, Vermont, in 1878. He was born to George and Caroline Kent. According to the 1880 census, he had one sister, Bel Kent, but later he would end up having six more siblings. Oh shit. The big family. That census really popped off.

Starting point is 00:06:08 It really did. But for back then, that was just like normal, you know, that that's a family. Yeah, that was like having two kids. Exactly. So Kent himself said that he always hated school when he was younger. He was kind of a troublemaker. He couldn't really focus, and he would run away from home a lot. And he'd probably just to get some peace and quiet.

Starting point is 00:06:26 For real. But each time he did this, he would either be tracked down by the local constable and just returned back to the family or he would just take it upon himself to come home. He was like, I never really ran away for a long time. I just did it all the time. No, exactly. No, when he did bother to show up at Homer's school, he spent a lot of time, like I said, getting in trouble, he liked to prank people, he just liked to cause havoc,

Starting point is 00:06:51 he liked to cause a lot of trouble for people. Okay. Once he actually set fire to a neighbor's plow, when he was younger, like a kid, that's a dick move. And it was being stored in the man's barn, and he only intended to do it. This is why his reasoning skills were not great even from like, you know,

Starting point is 00:07:09 kids reasoning skills are not great anyways, but like his were shockingly bad. Okay, because he was like, I thought this was a joke, lighting fire to this plow in a barn. Yeah. But like, we should work on your sense of view. Yeah, like luckily it was caught,

Starting point is 00:07:24 but if it wasn't caught, it definitely would have spread very quickly and burned the entire barn down and probably the surrounding structures. Oh my God. And you just like couldn't understand that. He was like, it's a joke, guys, get over it. Do you know like roughly how old he was?

Starting point is 00:07:36 I think when he did this, he was somewhere in like the 12 range. Okay, I feel like he should know that. Yeah, you absolutely should. Now, not only was he a pain in the ass at this point, getting into trouble, running away all the time, just causing issues for everybody around him, but Ken's actual criminal career began way earlier than this. He began his criminal career when he was just seven years old. At seven years old, he and his friend from school stole a cooking stove for a hut. How the fuck did they manage to even move a cooking stove?

Starting point is 00:08:11 No idea. And so they did that. They got caught, but he was seven. So they weren't going to like throw them in prison for that. They were just like, wow, that's really bad. Don't steal things. Don't steal ovens, you little shit. But later when he was in his teens, he stole a horse from a neighbor in Brookline Vermont

Starting point is 00:08:26 and wrote it for several miles, but then just jumped off it, let the horse go, and hopped a train bound for Townsend. Okay, I feel like he's running from something. Yeah, and that's the thing you can't really find out. A lot about that. There's just not a lot about his family. I mean, 1800s.

Starting point is 00:08:42 But once he was in Townsend, he actually found work there. He found like short-term work chopping wood. And while he's there, he breaks into the train station at night and steals three mileage books that he later gave to friends and people he knew. Okay. Now, mileage books are books that dry... Like, train conductors would use to log their hours and their mileage.

Starting point is 00:09:05 I know I just motioned a car, but I motioned a car wheel. Like I was like steering wheel driving. Well, you don't know how to drive a train. You know, maybe I don't think they have that, but you know, but who am I? Who am I? That's just my little pen to mind for driving something. Anything, even though like I've played, I'm like, you know, we're good.

Starting point is 00:09:25 Cause that we do it. She's really going crazy on the ten and two there. Now it's like a ship's wheel of like, wow. But these books were not valuable monetarily. But like, they were just valuable to these drivers and to like administration purposes, like for administration purposes. So it was just a very strange thing to steal.

Starting point is 00:09:49 And kind of a dick move. A very dick move. It'd be like now if somebody stole your Google calendar. Yeah, it's like they just stole shit that's important to you because you need it to like function. Just function like your job. Like it's like that's all. And it's like he couldn't sell those.

Starting point is 00:10:04 He wasn't making any money off of them. He just stole them to be a dick. Yeah. You know? And they're also very clearly marked as property of the railroad. So like, I don't know a lot of people that are gonna wanna take those off your hands

Starting point is 00:10:15 because like, that's bad. Great. So they were quickly recovered. Like, okay, it was people like, that he gave them to, or like, I don't want this. And would just leave it somewhere like, that's not mine.

Starting point is 00:10:25 Because why would you want that? It's just such a strange thing to do. So and because he did this, he was quickly arrested and sentenced to 20 months in the House of Corrections. Yeah. He stole shit and he broke into a train station. Yeah. So wrong. The casual theft of a horse by which by the way was quickly recovered as well.

Starting point is 00:10:45 I end the theft of completely valueless mileage books. These are just petty crimes in the grand scheme of things. They're not violent. Again, he's really not doing anything that he's gaining any kind of value for himself. He's just doing it to be a fucking around. And this was stuff he did when he was a teenager. It was just kind of like, okay, he's just, he's just doing it to be a fucking around. And this was like stuff he did when he was a teenager. And it was just kind of like, okay, he's just, he's just El Roy. This is El Roy.

Starting point is 00:11:08 It's just who he is. But in 1896, when he was 18 years old, he was brought before a judge for something different. He was brought before a judge for trying to burglarize a store in Brooklyn, which we're starting to ask a light. Yes, we can see. That's the thing when you were saying, like, it's just like petty crime.

Starting point is 00:11:27 It's like slowly going up. Yeah, it's getting worse and worse. And he claimed that he was like, I did not try to rob this man's store. That wasn't my intent. He did admit to the judge that he had destroyed several of the man's beehives. That's fucking rude.

Starting point is 00:11:41 Which again, just rude shit. And like, wow, you're really, you're playing with fire there, buddy. Yeah, like, that's just fucking rude. Which again, just rude shit. And like, wow, you're really, you're playing fire there, buddy. Yeah, like, that's just really rude. And he had broken a light in the store. He admitted to that. So I was just being disruptive as hell. It's what he's telling me. And what happened was his uncle ended up paying a fine

Starting point is 00:11:56 and he was free to like, to go after this. Oh man. But only two months later, he was caught again, trying to break into the home of a man named Royal Mars. Yes. His name is Royal? Yes. Mars.

Starting point is 00:12:10 Me too. That's an awesome name. I am Royal Mars, baby. And you don't get away with trying to break into Royal Mars, this house. I don't know if you thought you would. I never did. I never thought I never did. I don't know why Elroy thought he could.

Starting point is 00:12:24 I was born with the knowledge that you do not attempt to break into Royal home. I thought we all were to be honest. That's why I was. Maybe that's a more modern knowledge that we are born with. For us. They didn't have it then. But for this one, he was sentenced to jail and I don't know how many months because I couldn't find the exact, it just said many months. Many, many months. Many months. How are we using the fuel? It's many, that's how many we have. That could be anything.

Starting point is 00:12:51 Yeah. So at this point, he's just a pain in the ass. He's kind of an asshole. Yeah. But so far, sure he's escalating, but he's not really stealing again anything of value. He's not reselling things. He's not hurting people physically. Of course, it's like the 1800s to nobody's like, hey, what's going on with you?

Starting point is 00:13:11 Why are you doing this? Why are you taking random shit? Because it did seem at times that the act of stealing was equally more important as the value of items that he was stealing. It seemed like he just liked doing it. To do the act of breaking in somewhere, the act of stealing worthless shit that would just make someone's life slightly inconvenient. Right. Like a very strange set of events.

Starting point is 00:13:37 That is weird. But this changed in 1899 when he was 21 years old. He said, it's the brink of the 1900s. And what's crazy to me is he's like, we're entering a new era. But what's crazy to me is he's getting older and escalating and I'm like, so your punishment gets greater, the older you get.

Starting point is 00:13:54 So why are you escalating your crimes so that the punishment you get is going to be far worse? Deescalate. So he's 21 years old, 1899. And that year he was caught robbing a store in Milton Vermont. No, he just broke a light. And just broke a light.

Starting point is 00:14:08 No, he stole seven gold watches, a suit of clothes, a hat, and a pair of shoes. And he thought he was going to get away with that? Yeah. Damn. And the thing that's a loop. Well, this one's wild to me because during the while he was in the middle of robbing this store, a night watchman saw him. And the night watchman fired his double-barreled shotgun at him.

Starting point is 00:14:29 Oh my God. His, him in the leg and the back with buckshot. What? I was like, whoa. In the back, you said? Yeah. Holy cow. He was left in really bad shape.

Starting point is 00:14:40 And the injury from the shotgun, he, he had ended up being hospitalized for several weeks from it. Wow. But he recovered and once he was finished healing, his crime set earned him three years and the state prison wins there. It's great to jail. So they were like, you feeling good? Cool.

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Starting point is 00:17:03 really take a moment to think about what you need from yourself. I am such a people pleaser that I'm constantly taking care of other people, and I put their needs way before my own, and then I feel sad and a little depressed and like, I want this too. Can somebody give this to me? And then I don't want to spend all my time on anybody else. But when we spend all of our time giving, like I said, it can leave us feeling

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Starting point is 00:18:00 Just fill out a brief questionnaire to get matched with a licensed therapist and switch therapists any time for no additional charge. Find more balance with BetterHelp. Visit betterhelp.com slash morbid today to get 10% off your first month. That's betterhelp.htlp.com slash morbid. So after his release from Windsor in 18, I think it was, so the timelines between these ones get a little hairy. What's old? Because this was in 1899, but they say like after his release in Windsor in early 1900,

Starting point is 00:18:37 so they say it was a three year prison stint, I'm not sure if he actually served the whole three years. Because it seems like it's about 1901, 19, like somewhere around there that this happened. Okay, maybe he got off for like good behavior. Yeah. Maybe like time served in the hospital or something. So either way, he was sentenced to the three years in the state prison in Windsor.

Starting point is 00:18:56 He did serve some time. Oh, yeah. Now, after he was released from there, he traveled to Brattleboro. Where's the Brattleboro? And is that a main? Brattleboro? And is that a main Brattleboro? I need to look it up now, because I need to know. I'll vamp.

Starting point is 00:19:09 I just vamp. Don't go to main that often, so I don't know a lot about it. I've been to like, I think, portsmith of Vermont. It's for months. Oh, good. We're in Vermont.

Starting point is 00:19:17 I only went to Vermont one time. Vermont's cool. Yeah, I liked it. Yeah, we like Vermont anyway. Brattleboro Vermont. Okay. So he traveled to Brattleboro and he was traveling there to visit his cousin WG Kent. I always love how everyone's name back then was like WG Yeah, it wasn't a full name. I like it, but like I it's nothing really goes past royal Mars

Starting point is 00:19:39 No, nothing will beat that and I obviously know that like they had real names and that those are initials Wait, what they did. Yeah, oh like I'm know that like they had real names and that those are initials. Wait, what? They did? Yeah. Oh, like I'm not saying like, DW's name was WG. Like that's, I know that, but I like how they referred to them as that. Yeah, it's like, like DW.

Starting point is 00:19:54 Exactly. My favorite. Where my Arthur heads out there. What was? So, I'm off staying with that family. His cousin, his actual family. WG. He learned that his cousin WG had recently got a payment of some sort of $50. Oh, hot, a big money.

Starting point is 00:20:12 Yeah, so one evening while everyone was asleep, Elroy Ken just goes through his cousin's shit looking for that money. And he's, you're staying in my home. Staying in my home. Staying in my home. Staying in my home. Staying in my home. Staying in my home. Staying in my home. Staying in my home. Staying in my home. Staying in my home. Staying in my home. Staying in my home. Staying in my home. Staying in my home. Staying in my home. Staying in my home. Staying in my home. Staying in my home. Staying in my home. Staying in my home. Staying in my home. Staying in my home. Staying in my home. Staying in my home. Staying in my home. Staying in my home. Staying in my home. Staying in my home. Staying in my home. Staying in my home. Staying in my home. Staying in my home. Staying in my home. Staying in my home. Staying in my home. Staying in my home. Staying in my home. Staying in my home. Staying in my home. Staying in my home. Staying in my home. Staying in my home. Staying in my home.

Starting point is 00:20:26 Staying in my home. Staying in my home. Staying in my home. Staying in my home. Staying in my home. Staying in my home. Staying in my home. Staying in my home.

Starting point is 00:20:34 Staying in my home. Staying in my home. Staying in my home. Staying in my home. Staying in my home. Staying in my home. Staying in my home. Staying in my home. Staying in my home.

Starting point is 00:20:42 Staying in my home. Staying in my home. Staying in my home. Staying in my home. Staying in my home. Staying in my home. Stay was like I said this guy. Hello, friends. I'd like to report a crime. He said fuck this guy. Fuck blood. My cousin is in the hospital. Like blood is not thicker than water, my friends. It's not thicker than mud. I can tell you that.

Starting point is 00:20:55 Blood might be thicker than water, but it's harder to clean when it spills. Oh. That was her fucking quote this year. Shhh. Blood may be thicker than water, but it's harder to clean when it spills. Oh. That was her fucking quote this year. Blood may be thicker than water, but it's harder to clean when it spills. I was like, who okay to that? Like, damn, just casual murder reference.

Starting point is 00:21:14 I was like, Andy, what? Shit. Wow, okay. Damn. But like Teresa says. Yeah, I mean, W. Do I felt that? W, she felt that in his heart of heart.

Starting point is 00:21:24 Nine, what one? I'd like to report a crime. Yeah, so mean, WG what felt that W she felt that his heart of heart nine one what I'd like to report a crime. Yes, so the chief of police traced L Roy's movements back to his mother's house in Manchester. Now he's getting his mom involved. So they call Caroline Kent and they're like, Hey, your son who has been a jackass. His whole life and has been able to get all of our asses. He was like what I mean, we know he's there. We're like traced him here. And Caroline was like, no, he's not home. She's aiding in a bedding, but oops, because they searched the home

Starting point is 00:21:51 and they found him hiding in the basement. Oh my God, it's giving good fellas. Right, and he was taken to Newfain jail. So by the time he was sent to Newfain for taking $12 out of his cousins belongings. Yeah, oh wait, also I meant blow, not good fellas. Don't yell at me. That's okay.

Starting point is 00:22:08 I'm sure in good fellas, somebody hid in a basement. I love that probably. I do too. But Kent had become kind of a notorious local criminal, but like mainly due to this like myth he had created around himself. Right. Because like we're saying, he did some shit,

Starting point is 00:22:25 but it wasn't like cray cray. But it was all more like head scratching shifts. You Mikey. Mikey sneezes. It was a cute one. It was. It's okay. You did not have to be sorry.

Starting point is 00:22:34 Goddamn it Mikey, shut up. How dare you. There's no sneezing in the workplace. Unpublish this episode. Fuck it. Runet. Runet. So like I said, all his shit that he's doing is more just like chin scratching, head scratching.

Starting point is 00:22:53 I'm confused by him kind of shit more less than like, wow, he's like physically harming people. Yeah. Like nobody's a fine of him. Yeah, like it's more just people are like, oh my god, it's that all where I can't. He's kooky. Put your $50 away. But in according to a news report from January 1902,

Starting point is 00:23:09 it said Kent has a dark record. He knows it and does not hesitate to talk about it. Indeed, he relates his experiences on occasions with considerable gusto. Ooh, gusto. So they're basically like, that man loves to talk about his shit. Like he's just running around being like, yes.

Starting point is 00:23:25 Just fast. Dark passenger, that's me. But by the time he was in his early 20s, he had been arrested and jailed at least six times at this point. And it had spent more than a quarter of his life locked up for petty crimes all of it. So he kind of looked at jail stretches

Starting point is 00:23:42 as just like inconvenient at this point. And he also just kind of like loved that everybody was like, oh, that's that, that kooky criminal Elroy Kent. Like he loved his reputation. So he was just like, he's, he's honestly kind of giving, and again, I've never seen it, but it's giving picky blinders. Like, like, it's giving like he likes that reputation. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:24:04 But I could see that, you know, there's one of the outsiders, right? There's definitely more violent, I would say, well, they're more violent than him at this point. Oh, no. But, yeah, so, but I would say, like, you're right, like, the kind of, like, they attitude. He's walking around like he owns the place. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:24:18 You know, so, yeah. The guy got a red right hand is playing at all times when he's walking and so that makes sense. Love, love, love. So, he actually said to a reporter in 1902, because they would like press would ask him and be like, he's still being cookie all right. And he was like, I am.

Starting point is 00:24:33 I mean, really, what else happens in Vermont? Yeah, exactly at that point that like nothing. So he said the two things I love best are whiskey and railroad rides. Let's go, baby. He's living nice. Now we're right now being like, Elroy Kent, he's a kooky guy.

Starting point is 00:24:47 Yeah. Oh, it's gonna change. Okay, I'm gonna, I'm gonna quite... It's gonna change, but I believe there are extenduating, there it is. Extenduating factors that come into play later that I think were a little ignored. Okay.

Starting point is 00:25:03 I also wonder if he actually committed the crime that he was convicted for. Oh, sure. And I wonder what you guys will think. So the paper said poor, poor Elroy Kent, finding enjoyment only in whiskey and railroad rides and seeing nothing before him but prison life. Okay.

Starting point is 00:25:20 So everybody just kind of gave up on him too. They were like, this guy is a loser and he's just gonna be in prison forever. That's sad. Which again, he didn't really give them much of a choice but to look at him that way. Truth. So the theft of the money from his cousin

Starting point is 00:25:30 actually resulted in him. So he went to prison for, he was sentenced to the three-year prison stint. He didn't serve the entire thing. Like I said, I don't know exactly how much he served of it. But he ended up having to go back to prison because they had given him, given him parole for the cousin stealing thing. I didn't know exactly how much he served of it, but he ended up having to go back to prison because they had given him parole for the cousin stealing bank.

Starting point is 00:25:49 He broke it. He broke the parole because he robbed a store in Milton while he was on parole. He's got to stop it. Wow, man. And actually, this was the first example of someone violating parole in Vermont's history. Whoa, look at that.

Starting point is 00:26:01 Good old Elroy. Yeah. So it was actually Governor William Stickney, who was the one who insisted he be sent back to prison to finish his sentence out, because he said he just had a flagrant disregard for the law. Truth.

Starting point is 00:26:13 And he did. Yeah. So 100% I'm on the governor side. Go go go. No. Once he was released finally from Windsor again, Kent found Brattleboro authorities waiting for him with a warrant for his arrest right away,

Starting point is 00:26:28 because they said, hey, you violated parole after we let you out for stealing your cousins' $12, but now you have to go back to jail and finish that sentence. Ooh. Because they were like, we got you out. We paroled you, you broke the parole, you went back to jail for violating the parole,

Starting point is 00:26:43 and now you've come out, we're gonna make you finish off that sentence. So yeah, that's nuts. It was only a few more months in Newfayne at this point, but now you had to go back. Okay. So we just got out and they were like, ding-ding-ding, you're going to that one now. Goodbye. Now on December 6th, 1902, he actually escaped from prison. Of course he did. Honestly, I was waiting for that. Yeah, that was the obvious next thing. He has the vibe of somebody that escapes He does. Now this is where shit gets wild. Okay. And this is where his life changes again From being a petty criminal who we can all go. Oh my goodness. That El Roy. He's so kooky. That's funny This is when it turns and this is when something happened that makes it turn in my opinion at least. Yeah, sure So he escapes from prison and he hops on a train in West Dumberston And this is when something happened that makes it turn, in my opinion at least. Yeah, sure.

Starting point is 00:27:25 So he escapes from prison and he hops on a train in West Dummerston headed away from the city. Everything's going according to plan. Everything's smooth. He's hanging out on this railroad car. He's thinking about the whiskey he's gonna have. He's like my two favorite things. He's having so excited.

Starting point is 00:27:40 He's having so excited. And then someone on the train car looks at him and recognizes him and calls him right the fuck out. He freaks out thinking everyone else is gonna hear this and everyone else is gonna recognize him and he does not want to go back to prison because now he's thinking like I'm just gonna get away from here and start living my life.

Starting point is 00:27:57 So he jumped from the moving train and it was as it was approaching Williamsville station. He jumps out and his head hit one of the railroad ties. Oh. And then, and according to the Boston Daily Globe in 1902, it hit with great force. You would think. Now, according to reports that were came out later, Ellroy had sustained a skull fracture when he hit the tracks. Holy shit. He hit, he. He had a skull fracture and he lay unconscious on the tracks for several hours. Oh my God.

Starting point is 00:28:29 Before he went up. No one helped him. He just woke up and he wandered away to a nearby farmhouse. And when he got to this farmhouse, the owner of the home called the local doctor, Dr. Pepe White. And I know I saw Ash's face.

Starting point is 00:28:43 I had two. Pepe. When he. When the doctor came, he saw that Kent not only had a skull fracture, but he was like, this man has a piece of rotten wood that was driven into his brain when he fell. I'm sorry. Hual? This man has a skull fracture from diving out of a moving train. And when that happened, somehow a piece of rotten wood had been driven into his brain. Not just his skull, his brain. He basically had like a road pickle about him.

Starting point is 00:29:15 Literally. Holy shit. So the doctor took out as much wood as he was able to and dressed the wounds and just kind of like, you're going to survive. I hope you're going to survive this. And the next day, the doctor saw him again, and he was there to kind of examine the wound, make sure it was,

Starting point is 00:29:30 make sure he was still alive. He was still alive. Like drain everything, do what he had to do. During this whole thing, he discovers that quote, the wood had been driven through the top of the head diagonally, through the brain, to the base of the nose.

Starting point is 00:29:44 What? How is he even functioning? A piece of wood, two and eight, seven eighths inches long, and an inch in diameter was removed. How is he functioning? Two and one-fourth ounces of brain tissue were cut off. And a piece of gauze, just a yard square, was packed into the opening. They put gauze, just a yard square, was packed into the opening. They put gauze into his brain.

Starting point is 00:30:07 So as you can see, anything that happens from here on out, likely the result of some mental illness and some severe, like, cognitive issues. I was just going to say that's like the most traumatic brain injury I think I've ever heard of, which does not excuse anything that happens later. Absolutely not. But means that he should have been sent to a hospital for anything that had happened after this

Starting point is 00:30:36 and probably not executed for anything that happened after this. So this is, it's honestly what's sad is. If they had sent him to a hospital, it probably would have been worse. I know it's true. It's very true, especially back then. Now, we, it's obviously it's impossible for us to sit here and say for sure that any of this, that this injury that he got when he jumped out of the train affected his behavior and like impossible, but like impossible for us to like totally sit there and save 100%.

Starting point is 00:31:05 We're not doctors. But like, come on. It seems like that would have a pretty bigish, like effect on what was going on here. But please sit there and tell me with two inches of wool stuck into the middle of your fucking cranium that you'd act normal. Feels like this is, and what we know is that by 1903,

Starting point is 00:31:22 his behavior and his thinking was becoming very disordered. I'm sure I'm predictable enough for officials at the prison where he was brought back to after this. Oh my God, they just threw him back in prison. But the officials actually had him transferred to this from the state prison in Windsor to the quote unquote, this is what they called it, hospital for the insane in Waterbury. Sure. Now, that was because the officials that the prison were like,

Starting point is 00:31:50 something's wrong. He's a different, like, this is a different beast. Like, that's gotta go that way. Was he like violent now? I think he was becoming so disordered. He was like unpredictable. He was bizarre. And he's still, I mean, he's still as rotten wood in his brain. He literally, and wood in his brain.

Starting point is 00:32:05 He literally, and pieces of his brain were taken out. Oh my God. Like, that, yeah, holy shit. This is insane. This case did bring, as you'll find out, like at the end of it, like this brought up a lot of discussion about one, the death penalty as a whole,

Starting point is 00:32:22 to how, you know, executing the, like, what they referred to as the criminally insane back then. And also, just like, the, what we're going to see is, like, this was kind of a circumstantial case. Yeah. So it's like, and it's kind of based off of stuff that it's like, you executed this guy. Yeah. And you didn't really know if this is, like, oh, I don't know about this one. Oh, no. So they did bring up a lot of discussion. And it did also lead to like the death penalty in Vermont, like stopping. Like this was really this was at least part of the discussion. It was cited many times. Wow. Okay. While people were fighting to get the death penalty, um, abolish abolish. That's what I was looking for. Thank you. No problem.

Starting point is 00:33:03 And it also gets brought up now as like a way of being like the Despendal C is barbaric like look what happened here. Wow. So this case really did have a lot to do with that, which I guess is the positive that comes out of it because see this is what I don't understand when some people don't like old timey cases because I'm sitting here right now like holy shit What it leads to so much it does and it's like this like, this was before the forensic science boom that had happened. So it's interesting to see the scrappy way in which cases had to be solved and what happened when you didn't have the tools to solve it correctly and what comes out of that. I just think that's really interesting. Don't worry. In my case this week has a lot of forensic DNA and there you go. So you know, we're balancing it. Yeah, I like it.

Starting point is 00:33:45 Yeah. And what's, and we haven't even talked about Delia yet. We're going to get to Delia, who is the victim in this case. And it's like, she also, like, this is, there's a lot here. There's a lot here. There's a lot of different victims here. There's a lot on site. It's sad.

Starting point is 00:34:00 Yeah. The whole case is very, very sad. But sometime in the evening hours of, because he's been transferred to the hospital now, in the evening hours of August 12th, 1905, he had spent 18 months in confinement at this point in the hospital. He escaped from the hospital. Disappeared out into the night.

Starting point is 00:34:19 The press went wild immediately. They're really terrified. Pretty terrified. Again, at this point, he hasn't been outwardly violent in his crimes still. But I'm sure people were worried. But now they're a little worried. But what they really went after was criticizing the hospital

Starting point is 00:34:35 and criticizing the state for the administrative and security failure. Yeah, like why was he left alone? Yeah, like what's happening here? Why was that allowed to happen? Now, according to reports, quote, in order to make his escape, this was in the Rutland daily heralds, by the way.

Starting point is 00:34:49 Or excuse me, no, it was in the St. Albans daily messenger the next one. Oh, excuse me. It said, in order to make his escape, he was obliged to unlock three doors and make his way out through an attic window, which was not barred. Y'all.

Starting point is 00:35:05 So they were like, why was that able to happen? We got it. We got to fix these things. And in hospital staff just checked his cell during the morning rounds, and he just wasn't there. And it tells me like, why were there not like rounds on rounds on rounds? Exactly. And they made note of that they saw that he had procured in some way a new suit of clothes,

Starting point is 00:35:23 and his old one was found in its usual place, which is just outside the cell door. Yikes. So they're like, how did he even get new clothes? Like, what was going on there? What was going on there? Do you believe that possibly he was helped? I don't think so.

Starting point is 00:35:35 I think he just was able to walk through three doors and up into an unbarred window. It was like, bye. Because he still had some, you know, he wasn't like, you know, unfunctioning. you know, at this point, like he was functioning, but his behavior and his thinking was definitely scattered, scattered and might, mightily different than what it was before. So once he had escaped and they had discovered that he escaped, Sheriff F. H. Tracey was sent from Montpelier to Waterbury to lead the search for him.

Starting point is 00:36:05 He told reporters a basic description of Elroy. He said his height is five feet, four inches, weight 160 pounds. He has hazel eyes and brown hair. He wore a light mustache when the last scene has a deep scar on the left side of his forehead. I bet he does. Two inches long, one-half inch wide, 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 six times. Or it's a buck shot. So it's like, I think those are the ones, and I should probably look it up before I say this, but I'll look it up. I think though, I believe those are the ones that it like, like several pieces shoot out. Like it explodes a little bit. Ooh, that's going to look it up. Absolutely terrible. It does sound pretty terrible. I keep feeling that in my egg. I think

Starting point is 00:37:03 my egg. I think. Did it? Yes. So it's a big shock. It's like shotgun shells for hunting game, I guess, are a buckshot. And basically it says the most commonly produced buckshot shell is a 12 gauge, which we've heard of. And they hold eight pellets inside of them. So when they hit, it's like the pellets explode. It's one of those things. Or when they shoot at the pellets explode of them. So when they hit, it's like the pellets explode. Yeah, it's one of those things. Or when they shoot at the pellets explode, I think, yeah, schematics. I'm not completely familiar with all that, but I believe that's like a very rudimentary way of saying it. I like that word rudimentary. But but basically when you shoot someone with a with a

Starting point is 00:37:38 buckshot, they're going to be, they're going to have several scars. They're going to get fucked up. Yeah, it's not going to be great. So he had they explained his description, but unfortunately investigators lost his trail pretty quickly and he didn't really come back into their focus until like two months later. Oh, shit. That's when his brother, uh, Luellin, I think it's called Luellin. It's called, I said, it's it's pronounced as well. Um, his brother Luell, reported that Elroy had attacked him, reported to a police. Now, according to news reports on the morning of September 29th, both of them, the two brothers, apparently Elroy had been like with, yeah. They had been transported a load of potatoes to the market and nearby rocking him and had

Starting point is 00:38:22 returned with supplies and some provisions like flower sugar, and apparently liquid fire, what is liquid fire? I looked at this stuff and I cannot find a natural response. Do you think it could mean many things? It could be like oil of some kind. I think it's something like that, but they call it liquid a fire. A fire. Which sounds like wild fire from like game of thrones. Like I feel like it's like this green, glowy liquid that they have.

Starting point is 00:38:51 And I'm like, why do you have that? For real. It just makes me think of baked Alaska. There you go, like wood fire. I don't know. No, later that evening, I guess Luleen's young son, George, said he heard shouts and groans outside the house. So he went out there to investigate what was going on.

Starting point is 00:39:07 And according to him, he said about, quote, 40 rods from his house, which thanks to Dave, I now know is 220 yards. To fly this day. 40 rods. Dave knows all. He does. Apparently George Kent, the son, found the family wagon overturned, and he saw a large pool

Starting point is 00:39:27 of blood next to it. Oh, no. So, a little bit further away, he found his father lying beside a creek with his nose broken, a large gas gash in the back of his neck, and his face and head badly cut. Oh, no, that's very violent. Yeah. Now, once he'd regained consciousness, Lulin told police that he and Elroy had been out on the road. They got into an argument,

Starting point is 00:39:49 and the argument scared the horses, so the horses ran off. When this happened, the wagon overturned. According to Lulun, the wagon flipped with him underneath it. Ooh. Now, when that happened, the force of that drove an iron bar into his neck.

Starting point is 00:40:06 Dude, what the fuck? Yeah, and when he asked Elroy, he was like freaking out asking Elroy to pull the metal bar out of his neck. Can we stop with the impalements of everyone? He said that Elroy quote, tried to drive it in still farther. And then he said he lost consciousness and couldn't remember anything after that. But when he came too later, he said Elroy was gone and he had taken Louis Lynn's wallet. That's your brother, dude. So after all this petty theft, generally nonviolent crimes, everything has turned out. We're getting violent. Because if his brother was to be believed,

Starting point is 00:40:43 Elroy didn't just attack his brother and steal his wallet. He had tried to kill him. And it kind of seems like maybe he thought he was dead. I think he probably did. I think he probably did. I think he probably did. Oh my God, I used to scrub dust, wash, shampoo, disinfect, vacuum, spray, spritz, my entire freaking house.

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Starting point is 00:44:36 [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ Now, luckily, Elroy was arrested about three weeks later and had him Connecticut. A local constable actually spotted him crossing a railroad bridge and just recognized who he was. Just Elroy still walking out across railroad bridges. Elroy still just doing whatever the hell he wants to do. I would never, ever approach another railroad ever again.

Starting point is 00:45:00 No, he loves railroads. He does, but like, what's the other thing? Even after that, I love his deep. You can take the boy from the railroad, but you literally cannot take the railroad from the boy. But it's still in his head. Accurate. So the constable questioned him. And during the course of the questioning, he determined that Elroy was definitely responsible for a burglary that it also occurred the day before in town. Oh, what another one? Yeah. Confirmation of this came quickly

Starting point is 00:45:25 when he searched his pockets and discovered all the stolen shit from the house. Oh, my God, Elroy. So he was confirmed to be Elroy Kent and the Constable contacted Sheriff Chase, Tracey, who traveled to Connecticut and brought him back to Vermont. I couldn't.

Starting point is 00:45:40 So Elroy said that he had managed to escape the hospital by picking the locks with a piece of metal from his shoe in a length of wire. What the fuck? So he said once he was outside, he had just climbed down the wall, wearing only a shirt, and then he swam down the Wannuski River until he felt like he was far enough away. And he just got away. This man has lived a life, and he's probably like 25 at this point. Truly.

Starting point is 00:46:03 Now, the next day, he said he stole a new suit of clothes and then he made his way to his brother's house in Townsend. Hey, Browie. When asked about the assault on his brother, Kent said he was like, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, he was like, I don't really have any explanation for that. So he was returned to the hospital in Waterbury pretty quickly. Okay.

Starting point is 00:46:22 Now, once he was brought back to Vermont by the sheriff, he spent several more years in the hospital in Waterbury. And that was an until the early, I don't know why I keep, can't say until. That was until. That was until. Yeah. And it's not enough coffee.

Starting point is 00:46:38 And it's termasoo coffee. It's making me excited. So I can't speak. Do more. Do more coffee. Do more coffee. It is a drug. I will do more. Do more coffee. Do more coffee. It is a drug. I will do more.

Starting point is 00:46:46 Do your coffee, right? I'm gonna do my coffee. My God, she's doing coffee right now. Whoa. I just did some coffee. Okay. So that's really yummy. No.

Starting point is 00:46:55 That's a lot. Terrible. Yeah. This was until the early morning hour. See that work. Check it. Of July 11th, 1908, when he and a fellow inmate named John Keenan escaped again. They need to close this hospital right before it's out.

Starting point is 00:47:11 If he, the same guy, you would think that you'd be keeping even more tabs on him. A little bit. Like, tags on him anyways, but even more so now. Because he's escaped once. Y'all. Yeah, he's escaped again. This was years later. He escaped again. And he even told you how he did it the first time.

Starting point is 00:47:27 And you're not checking this out. Oh, and this is even worse. He escaped using a duplicate key that was given to them by another inmate who tried to escape the previous week. What? It was like, here's my duplicate key. You can use it. How did you get like what?

Starting point is 00:47:41 They created a printer out there in Yeah, it was in 1908. They created a ladder using pieces of Keenan's bed sheets and used it to climb over the wall surrounding the hospital. I was like, right this way. Just this way, hospital administrators said they were confident that both men would be recaptured within a few days. Confidence is a nice thing to have. Yes, especially at that point.

Starting point is 00:48:04 It's a nice thing to have. I, especially at that point. It's a nice thing to have. I think that's all you have at this point. That's really all you got because that confidence was pretty unfounded. Who could it be? Now let's talk about Delia Congda. Yeah. So Delia had a lot of struggle in her life as well.

Starting point is 00:48:17 But she seemed like she was kind of thriving out of it, which is really cool. It's sad though. Yeah. She was born into one of Wallingford Vermont's founding families. Oh, wow. But she contracted Scarlett Fever at age eight.

Starting point is 00:48:31 Back then, Scarlett Fever is a, whoo, crazy that she lived. And this rendered her completely deaf at age eight. Oh, wow. So until then, she had been able to hear and it was like a, like just boop, that been all it wants. It's terrible. And it also affected her speech to such a degree

Starting point is 00:48:49 that it was difficult for people to understand what she was saying, so she would get frustrated and like, it was tough. Yeah. Now, several family members also said that Dilya had actually been born with a cognitive impairment. Okay.

Starting point is 00:49:01 And Scarlett Fever kind of exasperated that whole thing, exasperated, excuse me. It's hard to say. By the time she had become an adult, Delia's parents and several of her siblings had actually died from various illnesses, and her remaining siblings had just moved away. And she left her? Yeah, I think that I don't know what the whole story was, but it made me sad too. Yeah. But she made the best of it though, because of all this,

Starting point is 00:49:27 she inherited the family home, which was this large farm on Sugar Hill. As she's doing the like hill, yeah. She said, I got this house. And she, so she had a little bit of a reputation that people call her like a spinster. She was only like 40, by the way. Oh, yeah, of course so.

Starting point is 00:49:42 She's 40. But in reality, Delia was never alone. And she was never lonely. She had mostly was surrounded by friends. Her neighbors were like all surrounding her at all times. Hell yeah. They all took care of her, looked out for her, looked out for her greatly. And they didn't look out for her in a way that like made her feel like they were like

Starting point is 00:50:02 pitying her. Like we have to look out for you. Like people genuinely liked her and were spent time with her a lot. She always had friends over. She was like thriving. I was like, you know what? Like I'm a cool person and everybody knows that.

Starting point is 00:50:13 Yeah, it sounds like it. Also, she had local school children at her farm all the time because she would bake them cookies regularly. Oh my god, shut your fucking face. She's just like this nice person that's like I I was Delta tough set of cards, but like, but here I am working with it. Like everybody likes me and I'm awesome. Yeah, I got into that.

Starting point is 00:50:30 I got into that. And just like, live my life. Oh, she sounds really cool. Yeah. So on the morning of July 23rd, 1908, two of Diliya's neighbors named the Sprig Brothers, they were working in the field next to the Congden House because she allowed them to farm on her land

Starting point is 00:50:46 because they were so close, all of her and her neighbors. And that's a huge deal back then. You don't just give up your land for part. Yeah. So while they're working, they said they were approached by a small man who said he was looking for work. Five foot four. Five foot four, exactly.

Starting point is 00:50:59 According to the Spray Brothers, they said, the man noticed Delia in her yard. And they noticed, they saw that he noticed this. And they said, the man noticed Delia in her yard. And they noticed, they saw that he noticed this. And he said, who's that woman? And they were like, why do you need to know that? Yeah, who's asking? And then they said, he, quote,

Starting point is 00:51:13 proceeded to say what sort of things he would like to do to her. Oh, I don't like that. So horrified by these statements, I guess the brothers looked at him and said they would, quote, shoot full of holes anyone who tried such a thing. Fuck yeah. And they said, you better move along

Starting point is 00:51:29 and you better seek work somewhere else. Yeah, because you're not getting any work here. You're not getting any work here. Like not after saying that, which I was like, fuck yeah. They said, we will make you Swiss cheese. Yeah, like these men are like, you know, their brothers. Don't you dare fuck with Delia.

Starting point is 00:51:42 Like, she's our girl. I love community. Now the next day, Delia didn't get the bottle of milk Your brothers. Don't you dare fuck with Delia. Like, she's our girl. I love community. Now the next day, Delia didn't get the bottle of milk that was left on her front porch by the milkman. Neighbors, of course, noticed this immediately because, like I said, they all love her, they're looking out for her.

Starting point is 00:51:57 So they went right to her home to knock on the door and see if she was okay. And I'm sure even more so those two brothers now. Yeah, of course. So when they entered the home, they found Delia lying dead on the pantry floor. No. They said, quote,

Starting point is 00:52:10 in a condition which indicated she had been ravished and with several deep cuts upon the head. Oh, no. Now a large amount of blood was coming from her head. It had pulled next to her. There was blood spattered on the walls and the pantry. Sheriff E.C. Fish was immediately called out to the scene. He started talking to anyone who was on the farm around the farm, all the neighbors. After a pretty quick investigation of the scene, he actually

Starting point is 00:52:36 arrested a man named Frank Rogers, who was an occasional farmhand and was known as a pretty tough character. That's a quote, tough character. Rodgers had actually served three sentences at the House of Correction. And people said they saw him on the property the previous evening. Okay. So that's why he was taken in.

Starting point is 00:52:55 So they did a little examination of the scene and they determined that Delia had been probably preparing breakfast for herself in the pantry. Oh my God. When whoever had killed her had approached her from behind and struck her on the head several times preparing breakfast for herself in the pantry. Oh my God. When whoever had killed her had approached her from behind and struck her on the head several times with a wood splitting ax.

Starting point is 00:53:10 How senseless. Yeah. Now, according to state's attorney, Robert Lawrence, when she was discovered, Delia, quote, was fully dressed and had tooth brush in her hand, which had been broken in two. Oh my God. Her false teeth were in the new joining room,

Starting point is 00:53:23 and it appears as if she retreated into the pantry when attacked. No. So sad. The killer had then taken the handle of the axe and wrapped it with fabric, and like with her clothing fabric, and had twisted the fabric around her neck and then used the axe as a grot. Oh my God.

Starting point is 00:53:44 And had literally grotted her with the ax and her own clothing. After... After pleuralizing her, after sexually assaulting her, which they found definitely happened. Oh no. And beating her in the head with the ax, they then grotted her. My God, and she was just making breakfast.

Starting point is 00:54:00 Just making breakfast, just woke up. Oh my God. The body also showed signs of bruising and what they referred to as criminal assaults, indicating that she was very likely raped. Lawrence, the state's attorney, he also told reporters she had evidently put up a fierce fight for her life, but, and this is his words, not mine,

Starting point is 00:54:21 remember we're in 1900s here, but as she had been deaf and dumb from an early age, it was impossible for her to cry out. Obviously, cognitive impairment was treated and discussed rather definitely back then, so we would never say deaf and dumb. No. Like what? But I didn't...

Starting point is 00:54:38 If I had not anybody ever thought that was okay. Well, that's like, why would dumb the word for cognitive impairment from birth? Like, come on. Like, no. And it's like, why would dumb the word for cognitive impairment from birth? Like, come on. Like, no. And it's like, all you have to say is like, because she couldn't hear them coming and because she, like, you don't have to say,

Starting point is 00:54:55 like, she was just unable to cry out. Right, right. You know, like, we know who Dili is. Like, people in the area know her. Just put it simply. Like, you don't need to make it sound like that, but it's like, you know. It's disrespect.

Starting point is 00:55:05 Stupid times, basically. Stupid times, stupid statements. But it's important to say them because that's the time period. And it's similar to what we're saying. And look at it and go, my how far we have come. But sort of.

Starting point is 00:55:17 What he was saying was she put up a fierce fight. Yeah. But that she was able to, unable to cry out. She couldn't get the words out. She obviously probably didn't hear the person coming up behind her when she attacked her. And she's already been struck in the head like a mediator.

Starting point is 00:55:30 So maybe she couldn't at that point even yell out. Incapacitator. And she's in her own fucking house. Like she's in her own house making breakfast. Yeah. Like what the hell? So after killing Delia, the killer then went through all the drawers, went through all her stuff,

Starting point is 00:55:48 and the problem here was that she lived alone, so nobody could say whether anything had been stolen or not. Right. They didn't know exactly how to do that. Yeah, nobody even knew. So based on this, they did conclude that the motive was likely robbery because of the ransacking, but again, with no evidence that something is stolen, that can be staged. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:56:06 And to me, it looks like she was raped and brutally murdered. That looks like the motive. That's what I was going to say is like the rape of the murder of the doll. And the way he said it was evidence was found to indicate robbery as the motive. Some of the furniture being ransacked and drawers being found open and the contents of the drawers thrown about. Which I'm like, that to me, sounds staged. Definitely. The content of the drawers thrown about. Which I'm like that to me sound staged. Definitely.

Starting point is 00:56:26 The content of the drawers thrown about. Yeah. So the evidence against Frank Rogers, the sometimes farmhand, was not great. Okay. Flimsy and circumstantial might be a better way to put it. Okay. He'd been seen in the vicinity the night before. There's that.

Starting point is 00:56:42 Couldn't easily account for like all his movements and the days leading up to the murder, but it was really just them going, well, you have a reputation for being a criminal and being violent sometimes. So it's probably you. Yikes. That's about it. That's really all they had. Right.

Starting point is 00:56:58 It was only after examining his body and the clothes he was seen wearing that day on the day of the murder that he was actually released because There was no evidence of blood. There was no evidence of a fight. He had no scratches no broot There was no blood on his clothes and there would be and that it would have been next to possible impossible to achieve Coming out of that with no wounds defensive wounds nose blood on your clothing and he would have been covered mm-hmm So two days later on July 27th, it was the autopsy of Delia Cungdon. And this was to determine the cause of death

Starting point is 00:57:32 and hopefully the order of events that had happened. So doctors, BH Stone and William Stickney, reported that Delia had been attacked in her home by the assailant who sexually assaulted her first in the main home of the house. Then she had run, she had fled into the pantry to hide. Oh my God. But her attacker had followed her and struck her on the head six times with the wood-splitting

Starting point is 00:57:57 acts. Oh, this is heartbreaking. Which caused six cuts to her scalp. But the doctors determined the cause of death was actually strangulation caused by the handle of the axe having been wrapped in her shirt and grew and grouting her. This is horrific. Yeah. So also what's like a really strange thing here is that and this also worked in Frank Rodgers' favor of them being like it's probably not him. Yeah. Was they found something in the barn on the Congden property? Okay. Carved into the wall.

Starting point is 00:58:28 Oh. I don't like to. Next to a pile of hay that was clearly recently disturbed. Uh-huh. Where the initials EK. And you don't know if he did this or at all? Yeah. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:58:43 You said wait, there's more. So here's the thing. I'm not saying he didn't do this. I'm just saying there were, it is really circumstantial evidence. Oh, okay. My gut tells me he probably did. Oh, okay, I see. But I don't think they had enough to get victimized. Oh, okay, I see.

Starting point is 00:58:58 And I don't think they had enough to execute him on, for sure. Gotcha, gotcha. Now, police, I was like, excuse me. I was like, I have misunderstood. I think he definitely was sleeping in that barn, for sure. Gotcha, gotcha. Now police, I was like, I have misunderstood. I think he definitely was sleeping in that barn, for sure. Yeah. But that doesn't say that he could hurt her. Okay. Now police had no luck tracking Alvara. I can't. So like they found those things and they haven't been able to find him. And that was since he escaped the hospital to race before this. For the second time.

Starting point is 00:59:25 Yeah, but several people in the area said they had seen him at least in the area of the Congan farm a week earlier. I bet they did. So residents of East Wallingford believed he was kind of harmless because up until this point, they didn't know what the brother thing was. Like they were kind of, you know, so in their words, they called him, quote, a half-witted tramp who had drifted in. Jesus Christ, they really knew how to insult people about them.

Starting point is 00:59:53 I'm saying. A half-witted tramp. A half-witted tramp. I know what I'm calling the next person that crosses me. Yeah, there you go. You're a half-witted tramp. But they figured he just drifted in to find work. And so they were like, eh, when they saw him out and about,

Starting point is 01:00:06 they were kind of just like, eh, yeah, I guess he's supposed to be in a hospital, but like, we can't keep him there. Problem. Which I'm like, did anyone know what he put, he did to his brother? It doesn't sound like it. Did you all, that didn't come out?

Starting point is 01:00:18 Apparently it was not widely reported. Apparently not. And Elroy can't, he definitely matched the description of the man, the sprague brothers described seeing the day before Delia's murder. And like you said, he's looking for work. So that's why to me, most of me believes he did this for sure. I think it just, I think there, when it comes to the execution is where my problem was.

Starting point is 01:00:42 Sure, yeah. It's like there were other things happening here that I think he should have just been put back to the hospital. But do you think maybe, and we'll talk about that for a little bit. We'll talk about that. Now, investigators searched like abandoned buildings and other areas that they said they knew that like people who drifted in and out would kind of hang out

Starting point is 01:01:02 and use like unused buildings. And there was one on an unused outbuilding on a nearby farm that they looked at. And they found an area of, you know, disturbed hay kind of like in the barn. And they said it looked like it had been used as a bed. And on the wall near it was carved E Kent. Oh, another one. Another one. Okay. Another one. Another one. Now, this is why it's like, so he did it here, he did it there. It's clear he's sleeping in these places and then leaving his initial on the side. Yeah. Which also I'm like, why are you leaving your initials? Yeah. That's the thing. Now, the carving matched that of the one found in Deelia, Congdon's barn, and investigators

Starting point is 01:01:41 were like, okay, so Kent had definitely slept in her barn the night before the murder. That barn we can see is connected to this. The next one we can trace his movements that way, but they also noted that from the barn he could probably see into Delia's bedroom and would have been able to track her movements the next morning. Oh, that barn. Freaky. So they theorized he probably watched. He waited for her to unlock the door to the house. And when she did, he snuck in an attacker and then tore the house apart to search for any money or anything valuable.

Starting point is 01:02:16 And it's, I mean, we have like the account from the two brothers of him explicitly saying what he wanted to do to her. Exactly. And then she was raped. And that's the part that really stuck in my mind is like, you know, but again, it's based off of somebody's, somebody saying something and they never heard the conversation. That's the only thing.

Starting point is 01:02:32 So this is a matter of like, do I think you did it? Yeah. Do I think they had enough to convict him and execute him? Probably not. Yeah. But this was a different time. You didn't need as much. Yeah, exactly.

Starting point is 01:02:44 No, this was definitely not the first time that he had been leading the police on like a wild goose chase at this point. No. But this time was a little different because they're not dealing with the petty criminal, Elroy Kent. They're dealing with a man who has clearly demonstrated

Starting point is 01:02:59 that he does have a capacity for violence. When he did do his brother, it was wild. Terrific. He also kind of has everything to lose if he's captured at this point, which is not good. So the search for Kent began immediately around the area once they found those carvings, and it was around the areas of Wallingford, Rutland, and Brattleboro. So for some extra power and some extra help, Sheriff Fish gathered deputies from the area who had known or dealt with Kent in the past, so like so from outside areas.

Starting point is 01:03:30 And they thought maybe they would have like unique insight into who he is, like his character, so they could kind of determine where he might be. Okay. And the Sheriff's Office also got some bloodhounds in. Oh shit. And they tracked Kent's trail from the Cungdon farm

Starting point is 01:03:45 to a spot in the mountains near his sister's home in Wallingford. But they soon, they got, like the dogs got super exhausted. It was a long way. I mean, it's not. Yeah, and they needed to rest. Yeah. And they couldn't even start the search again

Starting point is 01:03:58 till the next day. So they began again, the next day, August 1st, and the dogs lost his trail. Oh shit. Handlers tried to get them back on track. They gave him a pair of his old shoes that he wore at the hospital. And they were able to track them again briefly, but they were only able to track him as far as an abandoned building on his sister's property. How fucking cool is that kind of bloodhounds?

Starting point is 01:04:23 Fucking wild. That is a whole subject that I could just sit there and read about forever. It's a fascinating thing. I really do think that would actually make a very cool episode. That would be cool, like how it came about, how they are great. Yeah, that's just really cool.

Starting point is 01:04:40 I mean, because you could go back to like, oh yeah. Oh yeah. They've been using bloodhounds like bloodhounds, cadaver dogs, all that stuff like dogs are wild even like in royal times when they would go hunting it is interesting

Starting point is 01:04:51 I think you would do a really good job at that that would be a fun one I would put it in the little little jar of ideas jar sounds better yeah bucket so we'll go with that bucket it's a jar

Starting point is 01:05:04 but they did try. They gave them the shoes worn at the hospital. They only got to that abandoned building on the sister's property in East Dorset, and then they lost the trail again. They've never heard of Dorset. Now luckily investigators received a tip that afternoon. Apparently some berry pickers were the ones who gave this tip. They were working at a nearby farm, and they said a man wearing a bloody shirt and lightly and pretty much according to the matching KEN's

Starting point is 01:05:29 description had been discovered in some bushes on the property and was scared away before anybody could call the police. The dogs managed to pick up a scent where they said and it followed they followed it for nearly 10 miles down the highway and then they lost it again. Damn it. And according to the owners of the dogs, really the only reason they would lose the trail was if the scent was too old. Okay. So that kind of led investigators to think that Kent was definitely no longer in the area. He had long gone.

Starting point is 01:05:58 Yep. Now, the dogs losing the trail definitely sucked. But a week later, they became kind of hopeful because a new clue and a pattern was starting to emerge. Wherever Kent was, he just couldn't help believe his initials somewhere. Anywhere he stayed overnight, he would leave his initials carved into it.

Starting point is 01:06:18 Very interesting. Yeah, it's wild. It began like emerging in different locations around southern Vermont. He would do it on trees. Are there any? Are there any? That still exists that you know of? I don't know. That's a good question. We should look it up because I wonder if there are. I'm sure a lot of these buildings are probably gone, but they set on trees and stuff too. And in one case, this is pretty wild. Three boys passing by Red Mill pond in Woodford,

Starting point is 01:06:46 on August 8th, they stopped at a local barn and they carved their initials into the side of the barn, because remember, it's like 1908. What else are you gonna do? Right. Guys, it low-key kind of feels like literally everything right now is the most expensive it's ever been. Actually that really is happening, I think.

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Starting point is 01:09:06 EK. Oh, creepy. So it's like he saw those initials and I was like, I was here too. Yeah, right. Creepy, creepy. Now, Ken's family was still in the region. So investigators were thinking he might be making his way through the mountains in the direction of Massachusetts.

Starting point is 01:09:19 Hey. But they had no idea where he was going to show up next. Now, as weeks went by, and investigators were failing to bring this guy in, couldn't find him anywhere, the news started focusing more on them and their failures, unless on the murderer on the loose. Among other things, the articles were saying that the Wallingford deputy sheriff, Alan Leonard, and AC Mason, who were in charge of the hunt for Kent, had been spotted drinking on the job, and when they were refused for their alcohol, they produced bottles from their

Starting point is 01:09:51 jackets. It's like, like they'd brought their own liquor. BYUB, baby. No, in late August, attorneys for Leonard and Mason filed a lawsuit against Olen French, who was the publisher of the Vermont Phoenix, and they sued him for $5,000 each. Damn. And back then, that's a lot. And the basis of the lawsuit was the Vermont Phoenix had published articles that quote,

Starting point is 01:10:13 falsely, wickedly, and maliciously injured the officers by claiming they quote, appeared to be as much a menace to the peace and good order as Elroy Kent. Oh, no. Yeah. So that's just a little like, woof drama. Now, well, these are the lead investigators are just trying to fight with the press now over their reputation. Sheriff's deputies were just trying to continue the search and trying to make this happen. You know, the main focus. The job. Then they finally caught a break in late October.

Starting point is 01:10:43 It was when it was then that a man matching Ken's description was arrested in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Hey. He was trying to sell a stolen bicycle. Believe it. I bet it was over. Right. So he was arrested and the man said his name was William Allen.

Starting point is 01:10:57 And he said, I've never heard of Elbera Kent. I don't know why you're talking about. Several hours of questioning later, he said, you know what? I'm Elbera Kent. Well, shit. Here I am. He said he escaped from the hospital in Waterbury, and he vehemently denied having anything to do with Deelia Congdon's murder.

Starting point is 01:11:12 And why are you like that? He was like, sure, I escaped, for sure. And I just didn't want to be caught and put back in the hospital, but I did not murder that woman. Oh, God. Now, in order to be sure, it was the man that they were looking for, state's attorney, Robert Lawrence, would sent to Pittsfield to identify him and bring him back,

Starting point is 01:11:28 and he definitely was Elroy Kent. Yeah, my figured. So, on the morning of October 26th, he was brought to Rutland County and the company of deputies Leonard and Wilkins. Again, he admitted to being a fugitive from justice. He was like, for sure, I've been out running you because I didn't want to go back in the hospital, but he continued to deny anything to do with Celia Congan's murder. And he said he wasn't even in the vicinity of East Wallingford at the time of the murder. Wow. When they reached the train station in Rutland, I guess like more than 200 people had shown up just to see him. Like people on the train. And I guess he was quoted as saying, I didn't know there were so many fools in all the world.

Starting point is 01:12:06 Like, damn. That's funny. You're saucy. I don't want to laugh at him though. No, because you just don't know. I feel like he did it. So yeah, no matter what, he was like, he was a shit head from beginning before the trauma.

Starting point is 01:12:17 So it's like, he was a bad guy. And he heard his brother. He did, and he heard his brother. Like, really bad. Yeah, like, could have killed him. Like, heard his brother and robbed him and robbed his own cousin. Like, really bad. Yeah, like, could have killed him. Like, heard his brother and robbed him and robbed his own cousin. Like, I would lowkey call that attempted murder.

Starting point is 01:12:30 Oh, that was what they called it, attempted murder. So there you go. That's what they looked at it as that. He walked away, probably thinking he had killed him. Yeah. No good. So, Elroy Kent had already been indicted by a grand jury for the murder of Delia Congdon.

Starting point is 01:12:43 So, he pled guilty, not guilty, and was held in a cell to await trial. The trial began March 30th, 1909 in state's attorney, JC Jones, John Sargent, and Robert Lawrence announced that they intended to call more than 30 witnesses to the stand. What's funny is that most of them, apparently, all the witnesses, apparently, quote, complained of being kept away from their farms at sugar making time. I mean, they were noise. Hello, priorities.

Starting point is 01:13:10 Priorities, I mean, especially at that time, it's like this is a big fucking deal. Well, now I'm sure. I'm sure. I'm in a serious time here. And I think sugar was expensive back then, right? Yeah, so it's probably like you're really taking money out of my pocket here.

Starting point is 01:13:22 The trial was a bit over two weeks long and throughout it, the prosecution called several witnesses, like the Sprig Brothers, were called to the stand, all the sugar farmers, all the sugar farmers, and they claimed to have seen Kent in the area just before the murder. And the motive that they were putting out there was robbery.

Starting point is 01:13:37 Well, yeah, I don't think that was the full motive and it was rape. Because remember, I think he, even before the head injury, he seemed to like just doing the act of robbery. Yeah. You know what I mean? Like, I think he liked it, and I think he escalated into needing more to like what he was doing.

Starting point is 01:13:53 Yeah, totally. Yeah. But the prosecution introduced several pieces of evidence. They had, Deelia Congdon's bloody clothing. They had section of wood bearing, Kent's carved initials that they had taken out of various places. Where is it now? Where is it? I couldn't find. I just tried to look while you were saying.

Starting point is 01:14:10 Because I feel like there's got to be a tree somewhere with some initials on it. Well, you would think like some random museum in Vermont would have it. Would have them, you know? Just be interesting to see from all those years ago. Yeah, you know. So long ago. Right. And just such a freaky weird thing. It's such a weird thing that he did that. Yeah.

Starting point is 01:14:26 That's why it's just really interesting. Dr. B.H. Stone, who was one of the men who completed Dilius autopsy, also testified and said that Diliia, quote, was subject to the most outrageous treatment before she was killed. Herbert Savory, a former inmate, testified, and he's claimed to have overheard Kent confess that he killed

Starting point is 01:14:45 Dilla. It killed Dilla. So, quote, she couldn't tell. We know how that goes. Sometimes when you listen to former inmates or present inmates. It stinks because you want to and it could help testimony of the truth. Well, that could help test them on the truth. Line of information here and it's like sometimes it works out.

Starting point is 01:15:04 It's really like a 50-50 shot if it's going to work out. Because at the same time, then there's some of the worst because they're just trying to get out. Yeah, they have something to gain. Right. But the most crucial testimony definitely came from Deputy Leonard. He claimed that Kent had practically made a full confession to him. Following the arrest. Oh, shit. He said, quote, Kent told me that Miss Kongden saw him before he reached her and that he grabbed her and threw her into the milkroom.

Starting point is 01:15:27 Oh. Now Leonard's testimony was corroborated the following day by Dr. W. W. Townsend, who was the physician at the House of Corrections. That was where Kent was staying. And he said he had also discussed the murder with Kent. And according to Dr. Townsend, Kent knew very specific

Starting point is 01:15:46 and intimate details of the crime, and had even corrected the doctor at one point. The doctor asked something about the crime happening in the kitchen and he said, no, it happened in the milk room. Oh. So the final bit of damning testimony came from Elgin Taggart, who was an employee

Starting point is 01:16:03 of the East Wallingford Cheese Factory. Oh, the cheese tax, the cheese tax. That's a great song. Anytime you hear cheese, you have to sing it anytime. So Taggart told the jury he had spoken to Kent just before the murder, and it was when Elroy Saudelia, and made, quote, an obscene remark about her. Like the Sprig Brothers, Taggart had told Kent that quote, he had better keep away from that house. Hell yeah.

Starting point is 01:16:28 I love that our neighbor's protector. I love that our neighbor's protector too. And the shitty thing here is that we're dealing with like sinister people. I feel like it almost made it more exciting for him. I know, because they're like, he is the one. That did it, but he was sure it's even more forbidden.

Starting point is 01:16:42 Yeah, exactly. Now, the evidence and testimony against Elroy Kent was unfortunately still pretty circumstantial. Like you were saying. You know, like, that's just the reality of it, but there was a lot of it. Yeah. And each piece seemed to kind of corroborate the next.

Starting point is 01:16:58 The next. You know, so rather than try to disprove the state's claim, Kent's defense attorneys knew that, you know, circumstantial evidence can still be pretty compelling. Yeah, definitely. And Ernest O'Brien and John Spelman, his defense attorneys, decided to take like a pretty broad approach to the defense.

Starting point is 01:17:16 They said, Elroy was nowhere near the house at the time of the murder. That was the first one. And they said, even if he was, his profile, he is profoundly mentally ill and could not be held accountable for what he's done. Okay. At least not held accountable in the sense that he is not sane.

Starting point is 01:17:32 Right. And held accountable in the sense that he's going to go to prison for this or be executed. Like he's going to have to, like we're going to have to do an insanity defense. And he needs like psychiatric treatment. Yeah. So as an alternative, they also suggested that taggart, the guy who said that he had the cheese factory guy, he could have been responsible for the murder. Okay.

Starting point is 01:17:53 They claimed that by his own admission, he knew Kong then and was aware of where she lived and that she lived alone. They also said that he was a known heavy drinker and had actually been fired from the cheese factory due to his drinking and appearing with his work. And they pointed out to the jury that when Taggart was called to the hospital in Waterbury following Kensa rest, he could not pick Kent out of a lineup. And he couldn't in any way recognize him as the man who'd shown up at the cheese factory

Starting point is 01:18:20 before the murder. Well, that's interesting. And Taggart's response to this was that he had, quote, made the apparent error purposely to fool Dr. Grout, the superintendent. Why would you want to fool them? Why he would want to do that? Unclear to this day.

Starting point is 01:18:34 That's still don't know why he would want to do that. Yeah. So it didn't look good for him either. It was like, survey says, no. Survey says, I don't fucking know about that. So survey says, the fuck, the fuck? Now, to kind of bolster their insanity claim, the defense called a bunch of witnesses to the stand

Starting point is 01:18:54 to testify about Kens like bizarre and unpredictable behavior and his thinking as well as disorder thinking and the handful of years leading up to the murder. LD Wright, who was a nurse from the hospital, testified and told the court that he had been forced to restrain Kent with a quote leather jacket on occasions where he had become very violent. That's who so.

Starting point is 01:19:16 And he said he had also heard Kent curse, and apparently had an imaginary woman. Oh. Dr. Grout, the superintendent, agreed while testifying that Kent was quote of unsound mind. Yeah, Dr. Grout, the superintendent agreed while testifying that Kent was quote of unsound minds. Yeah, obviously. But they're all like, we are in the hospital, we know.

Starting point is 01:19:31 And did anybody, like, I'm like, did you guys tell them that he had fucking railroad spikes in his head? Yeah, that's it. I'm like, was that introduced into any of it? You would think, I mean, if you told me that and I was on the jury, I'd be like, yeah, I think we should send him back to the hospital. Yeah, I think so. Now, in April 8th, the defense rested their case

Starting point is 01:19:47 and the prosecution had an opportunity to call one final rebuttal witness, just to kind of test of, what witness to those testifying us to Ken Sanity, specifically. The witness was Dr. D. A. Sheris. He was a psychologist from Montreal. Now, this guy told the jury, in his opinion, Kent quote,

Starting point is 01:20:07 was not insane, but had been faking the delusions which he appeared to have. He said, he did not react to any questions like a man who had hallucinations. And he said, I don't believe that he isn't sane. Okay, but I would like to repeat, are we taking into account the wild head injury that he sustained years earlier?

Starting point is 01:20:30 Because it's crazier to me that he would not be, like what they would have said back then, insane. Yeah. Yeah, after having had that accident, to me there's no way in hell that he didn't have any kind of repercussion from that. This to me would be like a slam dunk for the insanity defense.

Starting point is 01:20:46 Yeah. Like, like nobody's saying it's right to what he did, or it's just a final. No. No, no. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no here at the very least, you know, we have to take it into account. Right. But I do guess it complicates things that he did have a long history of crying. That's the thing. That's why this is such a calm.

Starting point is 01:21:10 Is it complicated case? It's a tough case, yeah. It's very complicated because you can see both sides of that. Either way, if he did it, he's got to go somewhere. Yeah. But execution, I don't know about that. And this is the question I was going to ask earlier, because obviously we know he's ultimately executed.

Starting point is 01:21:27 Do you think they thought to themselves whoever made the violent decision? I wonder if that's what I'm thinking. I think I probably am. We keep sending him back to the hospital. He keeps escaping. Whether or not he did this crime, are we, quote unquote, getting rid of a problem

Starting point is 01:21:42 that we have here? I think you hit the nail in the head. I think so too. I think that's really what happened here is like he's been a problem. So we, let's just eradicate the problem. Yeah, and the thing, and this is a perfect excuse. Again, I don't think the excuse was, let's frame him for this murder. I think he probably committed the murder.

Starting point is 01:21:59 Yeah, he was a pretty good suspect. Something. And I think they just looked at it as like, well, he did this. So this is a way to get rid of the problem. I think so too. But the jury only deliberated for less than a day, only a few hours. They came back to the courtroom on April 10th

Starting point is 01:22:14 and they delivered a verdict of guilty. Yeah. His sentencing was going to be put off until the fall. That's when he could appeal and everyone pretty much assumed he was going to get the death penalty. And as he was being led out of the courtroom by the deputies, he was heard saying, I don't care damn anyway. Wow.

Starting point is 01:22:32 So it's like, I don't know if it's, I don't care what I did or I don't care what happens to me either way. Now in October, 1909, the Vermont State Supreme Court came together to hear the courses, the cases in their fall session. Elroy Kent's was in this caseload. And the defense argued that the state's strongest evidence against Kent was those initials carved in the barn. That was really like the number one thing.

Starting point is 01:22:57 And they said that was not the same as handwriting samples. And it couldn't be treated or analyzed like that. And the court considered the case as a whole, they considered everything and then they came down and said, nope, the original sentence, it's going to stay. In their decision, the justice is wrote, it will be noticed that this is not strictly a comparison of handwriting. It is rather the proof of a habit regarding the use of a character which has ordinarily made and has made in this case affords no opportunity for the development of a habit regarding the use of a character which, as ordinarily made and as made in this case, affords no opportunity for the development of individual characteristics

Starting point is 01:23:29 capable of detection. If a writer invariably makes the same mistake or always adopts the same two or more legitimate methods, which presents substantial differences, his practice therein is a circumstance, which makes his genuine writings available to establish the authenticity of a disputed one. But the respondents' connection with the carving in the Kongden barn does not depend entirely upon the similarity of letters.

Starting point is 01:23:56 The evidence of the respondents' admission that he passed the night of the 23rds in this barn, the evidence tending to show a practice of cutting his initials as a pastime, the evidence that the hay was thrown upon the barn floor on the 22nd, and that fresh whittling were found on this hay just below the carving, their evidence tending to show that the respondent

Starting point is 01:24:17 made the letters. So that's a fancy way to say, he said he did it. Yup. So I think he did it. Denied. That's essentially what he did it. Yup. So I think he did it. Denied. That's essentially what he did it. So bye.

Starting point is 01:24:29 Bye. So they rejected his appeal. And the court sentence can't quote to be hanged in the yard of the state prison at Windsor on January 13th, 1911 between the hour of one in 3pm. Wow. The court also ordered that can't be

Starting point is 01:24:44 quote employed at hard labor in the state prison until October 13, 1910. After that, he was going to be held in solitary confinement until the day of his execution. Oh, wow. That is so fucked up. Yeah. Kents' response to this was, I am not guilty.

Starting point is 01:25:01 So in mid and mid December 1910, the Vermont legislature actually broke for their holiday recess, and they made a boo-boo because they didn't complete all of their end of your business. And when they didn't do this, they unintentionally granted Kent a brief reprieve. State laws stipulated that the legislature must issue a formal warrant before anyone can be executed, which they did not do. Before they went out for recess.

Starting point is 01:25:29 And the problem was fixed. In a new execution date had to be set, though, for January 5, 1912. So they kept considering a year reprieves. Unintentionally. But was he still in solitary at that point? He was going to be in solitary for that. For a year?

Starting point is 01:25:44 Yep. Oh my God. Now, after that, that's like inhumane. That's the thing. It's like this really got like, this is a sad case. Now, all of this, and he's going to be executed, and the execution did not go off without a hitch. So.

Starting point is 01:25:59 When the day finally came, he was taken from his cell in solitary confinement and let out to the yard. By 1 a.m. everything was done and prepared to go. Kent was standing over the trap door on the gallows. He had a noose around his neck. This was going to be the first execution in the state of Vermont to employ an electrical trap door. This electrical trap door was controlled by one of six switches.

Starting point is 01:26:25 Now this new system required six men to each push one of the buttons. They did this so that none of them would ever know which button caused the door to open. It's almost like a firing squad. Like that kind of thing. When the warden gave the signal all six men pushed the button, the door dropped out from Beniz Kent as planned, but when the rope pulled taught, it snapped immediately and he fell to the ground. So they had no other option. The rope was then tied over the gallows and Ken's body was hoisted up and left to hang in the prison yard for more than a half hour. So he just slowly was like, exfixiated.

Starting point is 01:27:07 Yeah. Oh, my. I mean, yeah. What a punishment if he really was responsible. Yeah. That's quite a punishment. Now, when the prison doctor examined the body, he said that he initially said that Kent was most likely killed during the first drop and suffered no conscious thought

Starting point is 01:27:25 after the first tightening of the noose. I don't know about that. But many across the state were horrified by this whole thing because reports came out later that said after seven minutes of strangulation from the gallows, he still had a pulse. What? Also, this reminded a lot of people

Starting point is 01:27:46 of the 1905 execution of Mary Rogers, which she was a woman who was convicted of killing her husband. Very similar kind of rope break situation that happened there, very botched. I want to cover that case, so I'm not going to tell you a lot about it right now, because I looked into it more and I was like, that's actually a very interesting case.

Starting point is 01:28:04 Say that because while I was Googling to find out if his initials were anywhere, I found that and I was gonna suggest you do it. Yep, I'm gonna do it. So the unexpected errors in the execution resulted in people really getting angry, a flood of letters and telephone calls to the governor's office came out,

Starting point is 01:28:23 mostly by people who were like, I don't know. Maybe this is barbaric. Do you think others were just outraged that the execution had taken place at all. Not even just the way it was done. They were like, no, no, because they didn't think there was no evidence. And they said, well, not even that, they said, it's very clear he has mental illness. Like, yes. It likely influenced his behavior in some way. And in response, Governor John Meade addressed a group of press, and he said, my wish in prayers that I may never again be called upon to undergo an experience like that of the last week.

Starting point is 01:28:56 I tried, in short, to do my duty no matter how unpleasant as I bound myself to do when I took my oath of office. The execution of Elroy Kent, like I said earlier, really became a point of rallying, basically, for death penalty opponents. And for decades, it was one of the cases that was cited as an example of one, like the questionable morality here of executing somebody that is clearly mental, mentally ill.

Starting point is 01:29:25 And also just the barbaric way that the death penalty kind of goes about itself, you know, like especially this kind of execution, it's like that is woo. Yeah. And again, you know where we all stand here, like mine, I'm very proud. My view has very much evolved way more towards against us. Yours really has. I'm still. much evolved way more towards against us. Yours really has. I'm still way more pretty in the middle. And which I think is what it should do is it should always be evolving. Yeah. And it didn't help the case that there were rumors when decades after Kent had been executed, another man made a deathbed confession that said he was

Starting point is 01:30:04 the one who murdered murdered Delia Kongden and that he had allowed Elroy Kent to take the fall because he was an easy fall guy, quite literally. It's unclear whether they investigated this further or if they said let's bury that deep deep down. It is what it is. this guy's dying, that guy's dead, whatever, we're just gonna move on. Holy shit. But it definitely raises a question of, oh shit, was Elroy Kent the one to murder Delia Congde?

Starting point is 01:30:37 Because why confess? Why? Like, and a deathbed conversion to me is always very compelling. I know deathbed confessions are the most compelling because I think people are in their most scared state if they just want to release it all. Something lying at the end of your life is not, you know,

Starting point is 01:30:56 why do it? Wow. Yeah. And that is the case of Elroy Kent and the murder of Deelia Condon. That's wild. It's that case blew my mind. Poor Delia, she did nothing,

Starting point is 01:31:09 except be the most brightest light in her community. Be the shabibrant, just thriving lady. And had overcome so much throughout her life. And that's the end she met. Like given off pieces of her farm for people to use, because she's just like, cookies for the kids. Making cookies for school children.

Starting point is 01:31:27 And it's just attacked while she's making breakfast. Well, she's just, and all because she unlocked her door. That's so scary. It's so scary. Wow. But yeah, what a fascinating case. So I'm left very unsettled, I have to say. That's how I always like to leave everybody.

Starting point is 01:31:43 So that's good. That's how you usually leave us. Wow, well thank you for that. You're welcome. Thank you guys for listening. We hope you keep listening. And we hope you keep it weird. But not so weird that just not this weird, I guess.

Starting point is 01:32:00 Not this weird. Yeah, love you. Love you. Love you. Bye. Bye. Hey, Prime Members! You can listen to Morvid, Early, and Add Free on Amazon Music. Download the Amazon Music app today, or you can listen ad-free with Wondery Plus and Apple podcasts.

Starting point is 01:32:46 Before you go, tell us about yourself by completing a short survey at Wondery.com slash survey. What makes a person a murderer? Are they born to kill? Or are they made to kill? I'm Candace D'Long, and on my podcast, Killer Psychie Daily, which you can find exclusively on Amazon music. I share a quick 10-minute rundown every weekday on the motivations and behaviors of the criminal masterminds you read about in the news. I have decades of experience as a psychiatric nurse, FBI agent, and a criminal profiler. On Killer Psychie Daily, I'll give you my expert perspective on cases like the mysterious New York City drugings, Breaking Down Lori Vallow, aka Mommy Doomstays Motives,

Starting point is 01:33:31 and what drove Caitlin Armstrong to murder? I'll also bring on expert guests who add even more insight into these criminal minds. I promise you won't regret adding these ten minutes to your morning routine. Hey, Prime members, listen to the Amazon Music exclusive podcast Killer Psychie Daily in the Amazon Music app. Download the app today!

Morbid - Episode 469: Elroy Kent & The Murder of Delia Congdon

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