Here are two follow up articles on the Annie Walden incident. They
appeared about 10 years later, on January 3rd and 4th.
Here is some background information.
"Anna Jane Graham was born on May 20, 1869 in Benton, Jackson twp.
Columbia Co. PA. She was the daughter of Rebecca Carruthers Farver and
Phillip Graham, III, and the granddaughter of George Edel Farver and
Catherine Young. Anna was the third of seven children born to her
parents. On Thursday, April 28, 1892, the following article appeared in
the Columbia County Pennsylvania newspaper; Republican:"
ANNIE WALDEN IN THE ARMS OF HER FORGIVING FATHER
Girl Who Killed Her Husband Will Leave To-Morrow for Home in Alamedia.
Special Dispatch to The North American
New York, January 3.
The happiest man in New York City is the Rev. Phillip Graham the
cobbler-preacher of Almedia, Pa., who had come to this city to meet his
daughter, Annie Walden, who was pardoned by Governor Roosevelt on
Monday. Ten years ago she murdered her husband and had been In prison
ever since.. The father Annie Walden Is 57 years old, tall and
good-looking.
"Yes, I am after my daughter, Annie," he said, in answer to the
question of The North American reporter. "She In at the Endicott Hotel,
in the apartments of Mrs. Beekman de Peyster. "I had been trying to get
her pardoned so long," he said, "that I had almost lost hope. I was
thinking of her Tuesday morning as I walked down the streets of
Almedia. She has been constantly in my mind, because, though we have
six children, my wife and I love this little girl the best.
The News of the Pardon.
"I first saw the announcement of the pardon in a newspaper--my wife
was present. I could not speak, but thrust the paper into her hands.
She fell to the floor faint, but was straightway up and laughing and
crying all at once."
Here the old mail stopped and took off his glasses to wipe his gray
eyes with a handkerchief.
"We have not seen her for six years," the minister continued. "It
was more than she could stand to have us come to the prison. "At 17,
Annie had a dozen lovers, honest country fellows. She was the
handsomest girl in town. We never knew who, it was that got her away
from home. It was some city chap. All we know Is that he came, with
his smooth tongue, and she ran away with him.
"We found she was In Philadelphia. We went there, but she had gone
to New York. Once after that she came home, telling that she was
working in the city. We believed her, though afterward we learned
better. Then came the came the shooting of the man.
The Voice in His Dream.
"That was at 8 o'clock in the evening, We had gone to bed out in
Almedia, and I lay awake thinking about her. At just 8 o?clock I heard
her call ?papa? in a faint, frightened voice from her room upstairs. I
jumped up and ran out to the hall. I told my wife that Annie was in
trouble. Again in the night I heard a little cry from upstairs.
"The next morning the Sunday papers had it all. Then we got a letter
from Annie, written in the Tombs, begging us not to go to New York. She
didn?t want her father and mother to see her in prison. We did not
attend the trial.
The Meeting of Yesterday
"She was sentenced for life, and after she had been in prison on
Blackwell?s Island for a time we went over to see her. It was a most
awful meeting for her mother, and it simply broke my heart. I stopped
preaching and went to work at my trade as a cobbler. It was the wrecking
of my life, but it is all over now."
When Mr. Walden reached the hotel Mrs. De Peyster opened the door and
Annie in a black dress, stood in the centre of the room. Nine years in
prison had failed to quench her pride. The girl waited for some token of
tenderness on the part of the father. As she threw her arms around his
neck and dropped her head upon his big shoulders, she sobbed happily ?
and Mrs. De Peyster shut the door.
They will leave for Almedia to-morrow morning at 9 o?clock.
"PRAYER SET ME FREE" - MRS. WALDEN
The Pardoned Woman Says No Other Influence Secured Her Pardon.
Special Dispatch to The North American.
Almedia, Pa., January 4.
There is a general jubilee here over the return to the village of
Annie Walden, daughter of the Rev. Philip Graham. She arrived
unexpectedly on the 7:52 train from Philadelpia this morning. Her
father went to the Hotel Endicott, in New York, for her and after
finding her took the train immediately for home. Every one in this
village is heartily in sympathy with the little woman. The feeling is
that she has been abused.
They walked from the station to their house. The meeting of mother
and daughter was very touching.
The salute of white hankerchiefs was given from every house as the
sturdy old clergyman, with beeming face and the trim little woman, with
flushed cheeks, walked through the village to the Graham house.
Mrs. Graham's sister and brother William were there to welcome her.
The brother was 7 when she went away. The girl was 10.
The house was full of neighbors in the afternoon to bid the liberated
woman welcome to her old home. There was no embarrassment in the party
of relatives and friends that came in. No one seemed to feel that there
was anything to be ashamed of. "Not a word was said about the past.
Everyone passed that by mutual consent, but the woman herself spoke of
it in a quiet way.
When the neighbors had gone, and only the old father and mother and
two younger children were there, Mrs. Walden sat down to talk of her
return.
"there is no need of going over the past," she said. "I have been
misunderstood and wronged. But that is nothing now. I will say that I do
not blame the Judge or the jury. I have only charity for them."
"I want to say that it was prayer that brought me my freedom. The
influence that was brought to bear did not do it. I have prayed for ten
years. So has my father and my mother. Oh, the long years that I hoped
and prayed."
"It is true that the father of mrs. Walsh, the matron at Auburn
Prison, wrote to President McKinley for his influence with Governor
Roosevelt. he does not deny it. Mr. McKinley wrote that he would give it
his immediate attention, and it was just after this that the pardon
came.
"I would not see any reporters in New York, because Mrs. Depeyste and
others advised me not to. I was not at the Hotel Endicott as the papers
thought. I was hid. When father arrived last night they brought him to
me, and I was ready to start."
"I was justified in what I did long ago, My conscience is not
troubling me for anything in the past. I was not ashamed to walk down
the street and the meet all the dear old people of the little village. I
began to meet them as the train got into the county. Almost every face
was familiar, and many I could name. Oh, there is no place like home."
The little woman's eyes overflowed, and she laughed at herself for her
weakness.
"I do not care if I never see a city again," she added. "I am 31
years old, and have lived enough to know that peace and the love of
parents are the sweetest illegible on earth."
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