USA > Maine > Oxford County > Norway > A history of Norway, Maine : from the earliest settlement to the close of the year 1922 > Part 24
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HISTORY OF NORWAY
Ansel Dinsmore came to Norway from Minot. He married Judith C. Morse, daughter of the early settler, Nathan Morse. Mr. Dinsmore had a good farm extending from the main road to the lake. He was a carpenter and builder, and no man could handle a crew of men to better advantage than he. He was much employed by Ezra F. Beal. Mr. Dinsmore had an analytical mind and no Norway man of his time was better informed on all public questions.
Edwin A. Morse was born in Norway. On attaining his majority he left home to work in Massachusetts. Afterwards he was in charge of a crew of workmen in the construction of a railroad. He later re- turned and purchased a farm in the old neighborhood. His wife was Clara Miles. Mr. Morse was one of Norway's substantial citizens.
Alanson M. Dunham was born in Paris. At 26, having married Christina Bent, he moved the next year into district No. 8 on the east side of the lake. His was one of the best farms in that section. His wife died after the census of 1850 was taken and he married Mary A. Denison. Mr. Dunham was a kind neighbor and a good citizen.
Wm. R. Crockett was a native of Norway. He married Lydia B. Stetson of Sumner, a woman respected and liked by all who knew her. They lived on the old homestead and faithfully cared for his parents in their old age. Mr. Crockett was a prosperous farmer and a good citizen.
Ephraim S. Crockett was an older brother of William. He mar- ried Sarah D. Penley and had a family of nine children. All attended the school in the winter of 1865-6. The mother had died six years before and the oldest daughter, a very capable girl, was the head of the household. Every one in the neighborhood always spoke in high terms of Mrs. Crockett. The family lived on the "tongue" of land extending into North pond. It was a good farm.
Moses Parsons also was a native of Norway. He married Sarah Brooks, and had two girls-the younger, Lydia, only attending school that winter. The older one, Apphia, married Wm. H. Stiles. They were the parents of Capt. Moses P. Stiles, former postmaster here. Mr. Parsons had a good farm and was thrifty and prosperous. He and his wife were very kind-hearted people.
Thomas H. Richardson was born in Portland. He received his education in the schools there, and went over sea on a pleasure trip. He married Hannah J., sister of Ephraim S. and Wm. R. Crockett. They had four children who were scholars that term. Mr. Richardson had a good library of books which the teacher made use of that winter. They were later destroyed in a fire that burnt his dwelling house. His farm was first owned by Jacob Tubbs, a Revolutionary soldier, who purchased it of Francis Lightfoot Lee, heir of Arthur Lee.
Daniel Cummings was a native of Gray-the third Daniel Cum- mings in a direct line. He was twice married; 1, to Nancy Bird; and 2, to Lydia Pratt. He had seven children by the first and three by the second. One of the latter was Orrington M. Cummings, who is now (1922) living at 83. He is the only head of a family residing in No. 8 in 1865-6 who survives. (He died in the summer of 1923.) Mr. Daniel Cummings' farm was on the Millettville road. It is
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NATHAN W. MILLETT
EDWIN A. MORSE
SIMON STEVENS
MOSES PARSONS
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now owned by Harry M. Jackson. Mr. Cummings had strong common sense and was possessed of an abundance of good judgment. There were other good people in the district: Calvin Richardson and wife, Joseph R. Morse and wife, William Knight and wife, Alva B. Davis and sister, Sophia, and others.
No part of the town had better citizens. The teacher obtained his certificate from Samuel Cobb, a brother of Sylvanus Cobb, Jr. He was a fine looking man and well educated. He had the Cobb cast of features but not the long hair and beard of his brother Sylvanus.
Mr. Uriah Holt Upton of Upton Ridge was a member of the school board. His words of commendation at the close of the school are with me still. He was a good townsman, a good school official, a good farmer and a good man.
There were a few others in other sections of the town, who should be mentioned here:
John A. French was a native of Norway. He married Aurilla P. Chase. Mr. French was the founder of the Boston Herald. Owing to poor health he retired to a farm at Fuller's Corner. He was a good speaker and an able man.
Wm. P. French, a younger brother of John A., was the leading citizen of the Chapel and surrounding country for the greater part of his life. He was in early life a school teacher as was his wife, Emeline A. Stevens. They had four children, three boys and one girl. Arthur and Augusta were school teachers, the other two were farmers and apple buyers. Arthur was one of the finest young men ever born in Norway. He died in his early manhood, greatly lamented.
Charles W. Ryerson, a native of Paris, had just settled in Norway. He married Susan R. Marston. Mr. Ryerson was the foremost man of his section of the town. He was frequently elected to town office and was one of the organizers of the Norway Grange, Patrons of Hus- bandry, of which he was master for many years. He was later attacked with deafness, which prevented his election as county com- missioner and member of the Legislature.
David Frost of Frost Hill was the leading citizen of the southwest section of the town. He was called "King" David Frost and appar- ently liked it. All in that part of Norway looked up to him as father, counsellor and friend. He never lost his hold upon the people there to the day of his death.
George E. Gibson was born in Brownfield. He came of a long race of able ancestors. He was one of the ablest men of the town of that day. There have been many moderators of the town meetings in Norway for the past 60 years; but few were his equal-none his superior. He married Mary E. Randall, a school teacher. They raised a fine family of children-six boys and two girls. One, John Frank, is one of the leading business men of Visalia, Cal., and has large financial interests there. Another, Fred Herbert, is Judge of the Municipal Court at Cloverdale, Cal. He was formerly a school teacher in Norway and a member of the school board. The daughter, Abb E., was formerly postmistress here and was very popular with all classes.
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Simon Stevens was the youngest son of Joseph Stevens, the pioneer. He was born in Norway, Aug. 10, 1798, and married Rebecca Atherton of Waterford. He was a prominent citizen of the town in his day and was respected by all for his good judgment and sterling qualities. He was town clerk from 1842 to 1852, served eleven years on the board of selectmen-nine of which he was chairman-and two years as a member of the Legislature. He died Mar. 27, 1891.
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CHAPTER XXXIX.
THE SAVINGS BANK ROBBERY OF 1867.
On the morning of Sunday, September 22, 1867, the store of Lee Mixer, now the Advertiser office, situated on the corner of Main and Bridge Streets in Norway village, was found to have been broken into the night before and the safe containing the books, papers and funds of the Norway Savings Bank, blown open and its contents carried away.
Parties had been seen in the vicinity about midnight by Dr. C. E. Evans who had been out attending a sick patient, and by Wm. C. Cole. The latter saw a man enter the store but had no idea that he was a burglar. The mother of I. N. Small heard the explosion, but thought nothing serious had happened.
The burglary was discovered by Chas. C. Sanderson, one of the village lawyers and principal business men of the place. He was also one of the trustees of the Savings Bank. He was an early riser and that morning he had got up and gone out for a walk before sunrise. There had been a heavy dew during the night and Sanderson noticed the fresh tracks of a horse and wagon leading to and from the Con- gregational church shed into the street, and he mistrusted that thieves had been at work somewhere in the village and at once he thought of the Savings Bank whither he immediately went. He found the front door to the store open, and soon dscovered that the burglars had entered through the Main street window where a piece of glazed cloth still hung to prevent the thieves from being seen while at their nefarious work. They had blown open the door to the safe and stolen its contents.
Mr. Sanderson gave the alarm and went to the Congregational church shed to measure the horse's tracks and find out, before the marks were obliterated, which way the criminals had gone. He dis- covered that the horse had a peculiar shaped shoe on one hoof to pre- vent the animal "interfering," and that the team had gone towards Oxford. At once he started in pursuit. At the forks of the road at the lower end of the village he examined the ground and saw the same tracks on the Fore Street road and he followed, noting occasion- ally on the way the same peculiarities. In this manner he found that the burglars had passed Welchville, over Pigeon Hill, through the Shaker village in New Gloucester and to Gray Corner, which latter place he reached a little after noon. Here he waited an hour for din- ner and to procure a fresh horse and then started for Portland. Four or five miles out of the city at a watering place he again found the same horse's tracks and knew that he was on the right trail. Arriving in Portland he went to the city marshal's office and gave directions for further pursuit of the horse. He then returned home, arriving that night. The next morning he started for Boston and put the case into the hands of J. S. Hunt who ran a detective agency. Hunt, with one of his subordinates and Sanderson went to the rail- road station and watched every one that went through the gate to take the train westward. They barely missed two of the thieves,
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who boarded the same train at a street crossing. On the way to Springfield, Mass., the officers with Sanderson passed through the train to the rear car, and again missed the burglars, who were dis- guised and had their tools and two-thirds of the stolen property- except some papers and notes of no value to them which had been buried in the woods on the road from Auburn to Gray-in a bag over their heads in the hat-rack. As the officers were leaving the car, Hunt looked back and saw one of the criminals whom he knew, Lang- don W. Moore, and while the train was at the station, he had a con- versation with Moore in which he told him he strongly suspected him of being concerned in the robbery. Strange to relate, Moore was allowed to go on, and he and his "pal" reached New York City, their home, where the "swag" was divided. The names of the burglars were Langdon W. Moore and Charles B. Haight of New York and Truman F. Young, called "Doctor" Young of Nashua, N. H. Young had gone to his home from Great Falls, where the "crooks" parted company. He was the one who had worked up the job and had been in Norway village some week or more before the burglary, and was recognized by Rev. Nathaniel Gunnison, president of the Savings Bank, Sumner Burnham, Winthrop Stevens and others, who after- wards testified to the fact. The property taken from the bank was $2746.70 in currency and bonds belonging to the bank, $700 in 5-20 U. S. bonds owned by John Richardson, $100 in currency of the firm of Mixer & Watson, and about $400 of the town's funds deposited in the name of Samuel Favor, town treasurer. Total stolen funds, $3,946.70. Shortly after the robbery Moore sent a diagram of the locality where the notes and papers were buried to Hunt and it was forwarded to J. S. Heald, city marshal of Portland, who went to the place and found them in the bushes near the forks of the road about one and one-half miles from "Auburn bridge," on the road from Gray Corner. The papers were recovered October 2d, and delivered over to Sander- son.
Meantime Young with other burglars than Moore and Haight, broke into a bank at Cornish and he was arrested. Hearing of this break and thinking it might be the same parties who had robbed the Norway bank, Sanderson took Sumner Burnham who had been a detec- tive for many years and on the 20th of October started for Cornish. On the way from Gray Corner they met two men in a top carriage, one of whom Sanderson recognized as Hunt, and Burnham thought the other a man he had seen in Norway previous to the robbery, and believed to have been concerned in the affair, so they turned and fol- lowed the team which kept on to Saco. On going into the Saco House, Sanderson found that Hunt and Young were there. Hunt called Young into the entry and Sanderson followed, and putting his hand on Young's shoulder, told him that he was the man he had been looking for and might consider himself under arrest. Hunt asked what right Sanderson had to make him a prisoner and was told that he had a warrant for Young's arrest for robbing the Norway Savings Bank. Hunt drew a revolver and said he would bore a hole through Sanderson if he didn't let Young go. "Bore away," said the plucky lawyer, "but I shall keep my hold." Sanderson maintained his grip till
HISTORY OF NORWAY
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HASKELL SISTERS
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SCENE OF BANK ROBBERY
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the city marshal and Burnham appeared on the scene and Young was handcuffed and taken to jail.
At the March term, 1868, of the Supreme Court in Oxford County, Young was indicted under several aliases for the robbery of the Nor- way Savings Bank. There were several counts in the indictment which was fifteen feet in length. Enoch Foster, Jr. was the State's at- torney for the county. It was his first term of court as such official. He had a great number of witnesses and every link in the chain of evidence was made perfect. In fact it was said that Foster had three times the evidence necessary to convict. S. Porter Stearns, of Paris, was foreman of the jury that tried Young. Alvah Black was assigned by the court as the prisoner's counsel. No evidence was introduced for the defense, but Mr. Black talked for his client about an hour. He argued that the place where the bank was kept was not a banking house, and under the particular statute by which the prisoner had been indicted there could be no breaking and entering. Foster's plea was one of the very best he ever made in the old court house, and Young remarked as he was taken back to his cell after the trial, that the State's attorney was a young man of considerable ability and that he thought he would in time make a pretty smart lawyer.
After the judge's charge the jury retired and in a short time returned with a verdict of guilty. When the prisoner was brought into court for sentence, his counsel addressed the presiding justice and said among other things calculated to commend themselves to the consideration of the judge that in view of the fact that a part of the property had been restored it should be taken into account in lessen- ing the full amount of the sentence.
Judge Barrows said he had no sympathy with the custom which was becoming too frequent of buying off justice by returning a por- tion of the goods stolen. He then wrote his sentence on the back of the indictment, and it was read to the prisoner by Gen. William K. Kimball, the clerk. It was nine years at hard labor in the State Prison at Thomaston.
The prisoner took his sentence without apparent feeling.
Young, after going to the State's prison squealed on his pals and told the whole story of the breaking which was substantially as follows :
Having gone to Norway and examined the place where the funds of the newly organized Savings Bank were kept, Young thought it an easy matter to break into the store and obtain the contents of the safe. He did not learn what the amount of the funds deposited there were, but supposed that it must be between $5,000 and $10,000. He informed Moore, who was one of the most skillful "operators" in the country, and who boasted that he could go through any combinations even of so-called "burglar proof" safes. Haight was one of Moore's understrappers and was taken into the job.
Young hired a team at Portland to go a few miles beyond Gray Corner, and taking in Moore and Haight started for Norway, distant about 45 miles.
The horse was a large bay, and had a peculiar shoe on one hoof to prevent the animal from hitting the other leg while in motion.
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Before reaching Oxford (Moore says Waterford, which must be a mistake) another horse was hired to complete the journey, but singular to relate, having on the same hoof a shoe exactly like the odd shoe of the Portland horse. Neither of the burglars then knew that either horse wore such a shoe. County Attorney Foster with the officers raked over the ground between Norway and Portland for evidence as with a fine tooth comb, and it seems very strange if a second horse, with the same kind of a shoe, was procured by the robbers that it was not discovered.
The "crooks" reached Norway village about 10 o'clock in the evening and putting the team under a church shed, waited till they judged the people had retired for the night and the streets were deserted, when they started for the scene of the contemplated robbery, a third of a mile away.
It was a bright moonlight night. On the way they saw a watch- man come out of the woolen factory, on the south side of the thorough- fare, into the road and, looking up and down Main Street awhile, he went back into the building. On reaching the vicinity of the store, Young was posted behind a tree on the opposite side to watch for passers by, while Moore entered through the window near the safe, followed by Haight.
A piece of glazed cloth was hung over the window to prevent their being seen from the outside. A hole was soon bored into the door of the safe and filled with powder. Then a fuse was attached. The bolts to the door had been drawn and the place examined to see if any one slept in the store. They crossed the street where Young stood and finding that nothing had occurred to arouse their suspicions of danger of discovery, Moore returned to the store and lighted the fuse. He hurried back where Young was stationed, when the explosion occurred. They saw the puff of smoke come out of the window and mount high in the air like a balloon.
They remained concealed a few minutes when, perceiving that no one had apparently been awakened by the noise, Moore and Haight entered the store and saw that the job had been well done. They took the funds found in the safe and putting them into a bag, departed. They saw no one on the way to where they had hitched the team. The thieves noticed as they drove out from the shed into the road that grass grew in the driveway and Moore remarked to Young that the people didn't travel enough to the church to keep the grass from growing-a matter he then and afterwards regretted, as the tracks were plainly to be seen and might lead to their detection.
They started towards Oxford at a fast gait, and drove to the forks of a road, where they claimed, two of them had previously stopped while Young drove to a village and procured another horse to finish the journey to Norway. Here Moore and Haight got out and while Young went on to exchange the horse for the other one, they looked over the stolen property and took one-third for Young, putting the rest, undivided, into the bag with the burglars' tools. Among the articles taken, were papers and notes of no value to the robbers, but of much consequence to the bank. These were carefully tied up and packed in a box which they took from the safe, and, marking a place
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by taking a certain number of paces from the road, and also from a large boulder, buried it in the leaves under a tree.
On Young's return with the Portland team, he was given his part of the plunder. Within a few miles of Portland, Moore and Haight got out and started on foot for Saco (while Young took the team to the city), which was reached in the evening. Young also joined them there and hiring a team they drove to Great Falls, N. H., where they arrived before daylight Monday morning. It was their intention to take the early morning train to Boston but they overslept and so missed it. Sanderson went to Boston on that train. They boarded the forenoon train, however, and at Lawrence, Mass., Young left there and proceeded to his home in Nashua. Here he stayed for several days and then went on to New York. He learned from Moore and Haight how near they came on the trip to New York to being detected. The robbers thought it best to have the bank officials recover the papers and notes, which had been buried in the woods, and prepared and sent a diagram as related.
After Young had made this confession implicating Moore and Haight, they "went into hiding" for several months, and the Norway bank officials got requisition papers from Governor Joshua L. Cham- berlain for their arrest.
Sanderson with Detective Cyrus M. Wormell of Bethel went to New York to apprehend them and bring them to Maine for trial. They procured the arrest of a man resembling Moore. At the hearing he proved his identity easily and the affair, getting into the news- papers, created such a stir, they hastily left the city without their prisoners to save themselves from being sued for a false arrest.
This unfortunate incident prevented any further attempt to obtain Moore and Haight in New York, or they would probably have been captured and brought to Oxford county for trial.
By the return of the notes and papers to the bank and from Hunt's statements of Moore's natural "high-mindedness," it was thought by the bank officials that if he could be approached in the right manner some of the stolen funds might be recovered. Accordingly one of the trustees in the spring of 1869 wrote to Moore stating that the greater part of the stolen property belonged to poor people especially families who had saved it from their hard earnings in shop and factory, and soliciting his influence to recover it. The letter dwelt at considerable length upon the suffering the loss their little savings had occasioned, and the gratitude they would feel if it was wholly or partly returned.
It is said that Lee Mixer's name was signed to the letter, but it is probable that the wily Sanderson had a hand in its production.
It produced the desired effect and shortly after a man appeared for the purpose of investigating the statements contained in the letter, and negotiating for a settlement.
The "go-between" returned to New York and reported to the robbers. Then he wrote to the bank officials stating upon what terms the money would be returned.
A few months after this the same man came to Norway with the money taken, including interest. He had an agreement with him to be signed by the bank officials releasing Moore and Haight from any
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liability the bank might have against them and promising not to prosecute them for the burglary, they were also to give up the extra- dition papers and the articles used in evidence against Young, which could also be used against them. The bank officials refused to sign this agreement as it might render them liable for compounding a felony.
The "go-between" returned home for further consultation with the result that he came a third time to Norway and delivered the money to the bank officials and received the extradition papers, articles used in evidence at Young's trial, and a receipt releasing Moore and Haight from any liability the bank might have against them.
And thus the stolen funds were recovered. Just how much was actually paid back was never known outside of the parties to the. transaction.
The town voted the town treasurer $400 for the amount of funds. said to have been in the safe and stolen. This money never found. its way back into the town treasury. The robbers never paid it.
Langdon W. Moore with Chas. B. Haight was afterward tried for robbing the Rockland bank and both were convicted and sen- tenced to seven years each at hard labor in the Maine state's prison.
Moore also served a sentence of 13 years in the Massachusetts state's prison for burglary. One of his counsel was H. E. Swasey, a former very popular principal of the high school at South Paris, who had settled in Boston in the practice of the law. He carried the case once to the full court and was successful in having his exceptions sustained.
Moore wrote or had written for him the story of his many rob- beries and life in the Massachusetts and Maine state's prisons which appeared in a Boston newspaper. These sketches were written as he said to show the world "that a crooked official is far more dangerous than a well known thief, and that money obtained by fraud is at a discount and will not purchase peace, comfort and a contented mind."
It was not stated by Moore how much money was paid back to the bank and now that all the parties in the transaction are dead it will probably never be known, and no one seems to know how the amount returned was entered on the books of the bank.
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