hands of a second mentally disturbed young man, this time in his twenties. This instigated a public outcry for a decision in the Pomeroy case – by this time things had reached fever pitch. Gaston reconvened his committee for further debate and a final vote. By a vote of 5–4, the committee recommended that the sentence stand and that Gaston should sign the death warrant. But Gaston remained resolute in his unwillingness to execute Jesse. It was probably this decision that cost Gaston his re-election and in 1876 Alexander Rice was appointed the new governor of Massachusetts.
Several years after the trial, in 1887, when the hunger for Jesse’s blood had died down, Rice called his advisors together and discussed the fate of the boy waiting on death row. The decision was that although the punishment must remain severe, people were now distant enough from the crime to accept a lesser form of punishment. Rice was in agreement and, without causing too much attention in the press, he commuted Jesse’s death sentence to life in prison. However, to make the sentence more severe due to the severity of the crime, Rice ordered that Jesse serve his sentence in solitary confinement.
Jesse was confined in Charlestown State Prison, and the only visitor Jesse ever received during his time there was his mother, Ruth, who was permitted to see him once a month. Jesse suffered a exceptionally boring existence, he ate alone in his cell, exercised alone, and was periodically allowed to bathe. He was granted access to reading material and became a voracious learner.
Over his years of confinement, with nothing more to occupy his mind, he made several attempts to dig his way out. He did on one occasion actually manage to get out of his cell, and on another he attempted to blow off his cell door by stopping up a gas line. The only people he ever saw were the guards who patrolled by his door.
Finally, in 1917, four decades after he was imprisoned in his little cell, Jesse’s sentence of solitary confinement was relaxed and he was allowed to move in with the other inmates. For a while he relished in the fact that he was the prison’s most notorious inmate. He loved approaching new prisoners, introducing himself and asking them what they knew about him. It pleased Jesse greatly that most of the inmates had grown up hearing of the infamous Jesse Pomeroy. But over the years when young men sent to Charlestown prison had never heard of him, Jesse became just another old face in the anonymous prison crowd.
Gradually his health began to deteriorate and he was moved from Charlestown to Bridgewater prison farm, where he could receive better medical care. It was his first and only ride in a car and he showed no sign of excitement or curiosity whatsoever in a world that had long stopped having any meaning for him.
Jesse Pomeroy died at the age of 71 after having spent 58 years of his life behind bars, almost all of it spent in solitary confinement. He was dismissed by the press as ‘the most friendless person in the world
. . . a psychopath’.
Jessica Holtmeyer
In Clearfield, Pennsylvania, unable to sleep the last 48 hours, Rick and Jodi Dotts watched the clock and paced the floor. Their eyes were bleary, their bodies exhausted, but they could not sit still . . .
It was Mother’s Day, Sunday May 10, 1998, around 5.45 p.m. Rick Dotts was driving home along a bumpy country backroad after having first stopped at the shops. He had been working long hours and was exhausted. On the front seat beside him were a dozen red roses for his wife. He was looking forward to a nice dinner with his family as his oldest daughter was coming home for a visit. All of a sudden his car hit a deer.
He stopped the car and got out to see if the deer was still alive. As he stared at the motionless doe a dark premonition replaced the nice thoughts he had been happening, and he somehow knew that something horrible was about to
Several years after the trial, in 1887, when the hunger for Jesse’s blood had died down, Rice called his advisors together and discussed the fate of the boy waiting on death row. The decision was that although the punishment must remain severe, people were now distant enough from the crime to accept a lesser form of punishment. Rice was in agreement and, without causing too much attention in the press, he commuted Jesse’s death sentence to life in prison. However, to make the sentence more severe due to the severity of the crime, Rice ordered that Jesse serve his sentence in solitary confinement.
Jesse was confined in Charlestown State Prison, and the only visitor Jesse ever received during his time there was his mother, Ruth, who was permitted to see him once a month. Jesse suffered a exceptionally boring existence, he ate alone in his cell, exercised alone, and was periodically allowed to bathe. He was granted access to reading material and became a voracious learner.
Over his years of confinement, with nothing more to occupy his mind, he made several attempts to dig his way out. He did on one occasion actually manage to get out of his cell, and on another he attempted to blow off his cell door by stopping up a gas line. The only people he ever saw were the guards who patrolled by his door.
Finally, in 1917, four decades after he was imprisoned in his little cell, Jesse’s sentence of solitary confinement was relaxed and he was allowed to move in with the other inmates. For a while he relished in the fact that he was the prison’s most notorious inmate. He loved approaching new prisoners, introducing himself and asking them what they knew about him. It pleased Jesse greatly that most of the inmates had grown up hearing of the infamous Jesse Pomeroy. But over the years when young men sent to Charlestown prison had never heard of him, Jesse became just another old face in the anonymous prison crowd.
Gradually his health began to deteriorate and he was moved from Charlestown to Bridgewater prison farm, where he could receive better medical care. It was his first and only ride in a car and he showed no sign of excitement or curiosity whatsoever in a world that had long stopped having any meaning for him.
Jesse Pomeroy died at the age of 71 after having spent 58 years of his life behind bars, almost all of it spent in solitary confinement. He was dismissed by the press as ‘the most friendless person in the world
. . . a psychopath’.
Jessica Holtmeyer
In Clearfield, Pennsylvania, unable to sleep the last 48 hours, Rick and Jodi Dotts watched the clock and paced the floor. Their eyes were bleary, their bodies exhausted, but they could not sit still . . .
It was Mother’s Day, Sunday May 10, 1998, around 5.45 p.m. Rick Dotts was driving home along a bumpy country backroad after having first stopped at the shops. He had been working long hours and was exhausted. On the front seat beside him were a dozen red roses for his wife. He was looking forward to a nice dinner with his family as his oldest daughter was coming home for a visit. All of a sudden his car hit a deer.
He stopped the car and got out to see if the deer was still alive. As he stared at the motionless doe a dark premonition replaced the nice thoughts he had been happening, and he somehow knew that something horrible was about to
Similar Books
