History of Strafford County, New Hampshire and representative citizens, Part 6

Author: Scales, John, 1835-1928
Publication date: 1914
Publisher: Chicago : Richmond-Arnold
Number of Pages: 988

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HISTORY OF STRAFFORD COUNTY

told that she was in the front entry asleep; they said they had been out gun- ning and had called to get some drinks of cider.

Mr. Page went to the entry and found Miss Hanson dead, having bled profusely. He told the men she was dead, supposing that she had fallen down stairs. They expressed surprise, but left the house and went into the woods. The neighbors were informed, and search was made for the men and they were found and arrested. An investigation was held and they cleared themselves of having any knowledge of the murder. Two other persons, brothers, of the name of Howard, one of whom had been often employed by Miss Hanson on her farm, and who sustained a bad character, were immediately suspected and warrants were taken out for their arrest. When the officers reached their house and entered the front door the brothers made their escape by the cellar door, and went to Dover; the officers pursued them and succeeded in arresting them just as they were entering a car to leave on the train for Boston. They were taken to Rochester for examination, which was held before Richard Kimball, Esq. The officials seem to have made it so searching that one of the brothers, Andrew, made a full confesssion of his guilt ; as nothing appeared against his brother, Emery, he was set free.

"From his confession it appeared the object of perpetrating the crime was to obtain money from Miss Hanson, which he knew she had in the house. He said he left his brother's house, near Great Falls, Tuesday morning (day of the murder ) with his gun loaded and went to Miss Hanson's house determined to get her money. Her brother was away. He tried to persuade her to give him money, and she gave him a small sum. Then he threatened her if she did not give him more; she said that was all there was in the house. He told her he knew better, and finding she would not give up, he raised his gun, took deliberate aim and shot her through the neck. The ball passed completely through and caused instant death. He then took the trunk be- longing to her brother, Jacob Hanson, broke it open and stole what was in it, about thirty dollars, in cash, and a pocket knife. The trunk of Phebe, which was said to contain nearly $1,000, he failed to find. The money and knife were found later. Howard is a young man about twenty-five years old."

The trial of the case commenced on Tuesday, August 13, 1844. Charles W. Woodman, county solicitor, was the prosecuting attorney, assisted by Attorney-General Walker. Counsel for the prisoner were Daniel M. Christie and John P. Hale. The trial occupied two days. Mr. Hale's argument, about three-quarters of an hour, was directed against capital punishment. Mr. Christie argued that if the prisoner were guilty, which he neither affirmed nor denied, he was guilty only of murder in the second degree. The case was given to the jury about 12 o'clock (noon) who, after being out all the after- noon, came into court and reported that they could not agree, six being in

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favor of returning a verdict of guilty of murder in the first degree, and six that it be for murder in the second degree.

The case was again tried at the February term of the court of common pleas, when Attorneys Bell and Christie were counsel for Howard. About two hundred jurors were summoned before the panel was completed. From the first fifty only four were chosen. The trial occupied nearly a week, the defense being carried on with great skill by two of the ablest lawyers in the state. Mr. Christie, who was then in his prime, occupied five hours in his argument which was very ingeniously woven and held the close attention of every one in the court room, which was crowded. The jury were out only a short time when they agreed upon a verdict of guilty of murder in the first degree. The counsel for the prisoner immediately made a motion in arrest of judgment, so the sentence could not be given until the next August.

The execution took place July 8, 1846, nearly two years after the murder was committed. The local papers gave a full account of the scenes attendant upon it. The number of spectators in attendance was estimated at three thousand, a third of whom were women. The larger part of them could not see anything of the hanging of the prisoner, at which they expressed much anger toward Sheriff Gorham W. Hoitt because he had erected the gallows in the rear of the jail, where it could not be seen from the street. The sheriff had also endeavored to conceal it by a canvas, from those who had mounted fences, but this he was compelled to remove by the threats of the more boisterous part of the spectators to demolish the fences of the jail yard if the canvas was not taken down. It is the tradition that the sheriff was very much frightened by the mob tendency of the spectators and took down the canvas as a compromise. When the hanging was booked for the previous date, but was postponed by a reprieve from Governor Steele, the gallows had been erected in front of the jail where everybody could see. One man, who was present and witnessed the execution, told the writer he never saw a more excited crowd of people, and when some one shouted, "There he goes," several women screamed and fell senseless in swoons. It is the tradition that Sheriff Hoitt dreaded to perform the work, and became so nerved up he was never quite himself again. It was well that the Legislature not long after decreed that all executions henceforth should be performed in the state prison. The Howard murder trial was probably the subject of more talk and discussion than any homicide that ever took place in New Hampshire. The Silver street jail was built in 1827 and began to be occupied in 1828, the year the old jail was sold.

THE THIRD EXECUTION ; JOIN Q. PINKHAM

The third execution of a Strafford county man was on the fourteenth day of March, 1879; John Q. Pinkham was the man and Sheriff Stephen S. Chick

HISTORY OF STRAFFORD COUNTY

performed the hanging in the state prison at Concord. The murder was com- mitted in New Durham January 9, 1878. The trial began March 5, 1878, and was completed March 9, and he was convicted of murder in the first degree. The prosecution was conducted by Mason W. Tappan, Attorney- General and Charles B. Shackford, county solicitor. Counsel for the defense were James A. Edgerly and George S. Cochrane. The respondent was sen- tenced to be hanged on the fourteenth day of March, 1879. At a meeting of the Governor and council the first of March, 1879, the council voted to commute his sentence to imprisonment for life, on account of his alleged mental condition, but Governor Prescott refused to sign the warrant for commutation, so he was hanged as decreed by the court.

The murder occurred on the afternoon of January 9, 1878, at a farm house in New Durham. The victim was Mrs. Hiram Berry. Pinkham was a farm laborer who had been in her employ, but had been discharged a few weeks before, as his conduct had become unendurable; he was a confirmed cider-toper, and kept himself boozy cross about all the time that winter. He claimed she owed him for work; she refused to pay it, as she did not owe him anything. He made the demand twice, and was refused; he came a third, on the fatal afternoon, with a double barrel gun loaded, and repeated the demand; being refused he went into the entry where he left his gun when he first came in; returning, he took deliberate aim and shot her dead, in the presence of her daughter, who exclaimed, "You have killed my Mother!" Whereupon Pinkham exclaimed, prefacing it with an oath: "I have killed your mother, and if you speak another word, I will shoot you!" Pinkham then left the house and when about forty rods away he pulled out his pocket knife and cut his throat, but did not do any serious damage, so he recovered all right. Soon after, the alarm being given, he was arrested by Sheriff J. G. Johnson and taken to Farmington, where a hearing was held before Judge Tuttle, who committed him to jail in Dover. The trial in March occu- pied four days, and his counsel, Edgerly and Cochrane, made strenuous efforts to make it appear Pinkham was temporarily insane, but Attorney- General Tappan and County Solicitor Shackford presented proof that all the insanity he had was caused by too much hard cider in his stomach, having previously been on a spree, and the killing was the result of his violent temper.

THE FOURTH FIRST DEGREE MURDER

The fourth, and last, first degree murder case was that of Isaac B. Saw- telle, which took place in Rochester, though neither party was a resident of that city. It was committed on February 5, 1890; the victim was his brother, Hiram F. Sawtelle, of Chelsea, Mass. The trial began December 16, 1890, at II A. M. and was concluded December 25 at 5 o'clock P. M. The prosecuting

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attorneys were Attorney-General Daniel Barnard and County Solicitor John Kivel, with Elmer J. Smart, Esq., as assistant. The counsel for the defend- ant were James A. Edgerly, Joseph H. Worcester and George F. Haley, Esqs. It was a hard-fought battle, but Sawtelle was convicted of murder in the first degree. The case was transferred to the Supreme Court on excep- tions, which exceptions were overruled. A motion for a new trial was heard before the full hench of judges and denied. The respondent was sentenced on the twenty-fifth of December, 1890, to imprisonment in the state prison at Concord until the first Tuesday of January, 1892, and then to be hanged by the neck until dead. On January 25, 1891, Sawtelle was stricken with apoplexy in his cell and died soon after.

The murder was the result of a family quarrel about property, at Chelsea Heights, Mass., in which Isaac and Hiram and their mother, and Hiram's wife were the dramatis personae. Isaac entertained the idea that if he could get his brother Hiram out of the way he could get possession of quite an amount of property. A daughter of Hiram was sent to board with a family in Rochester. Isaac went to Rochester and sent a telegram for his brother to come there as the girl was dangerously sick. Hiram went there and was met at the train by Isaac, who had hired a team and had it waiting. They got into the team and drove towards East Rochester, Hiram supposing he was going to see his daughter at a farm house. On the road Isaac drew a pistol and shot his brother dead, then held his body upright in the carriage and drove across the Salmon Falls river into Lebanon, Me., about two miles. There in a growth of pine trees he dug a grave and buried the body, having taken along in the carriage a spade and other tools with which to dig. He then returned to Rochester and took the train for Boston. He was not suspected or arrested until three or four weeks after.

The first hearing in the case was before Judge Wentworth in Rochester, on March II. The contending lawyers were County Solicitor John Kivel. now judge in the Superior Court, and James A. Edgerly, Esq., of Somers- worth, who died several years ago. Mr. Edgerly was then in his prime, and keen as a Damascus sword. The chief witness at the preliminary hearing was Mrs. Sawtelle, widow of Hiram, the murdered man. For Mr. Kivel she told a plain, straight story. Mr. Edgerly's cross examination was very severe, as he knew how to be when his powers were aroused. That brought out the whole story of the family quarrels about the property, which caused the murder.

Previous to this first hearing at which the respondent was held, without bail for appearance before the grand jury, there had been a great amount of investigation, it taking quite a while to track the murderer's route to the place where he buried the body of his victim, which he mutilated considerably, and then quite a lot of running and searching for evidence the body was that of Hiram. Newspaper men were here from all quarters, on the watch for the

HISTORY OF STRAFFORD COUNTY

latest discoveries in the affair. So it was a period of excitement never before surpassed in Strafford county. County Solicitor Kivel was on the watch constantly and had every clue thoroughly ferreted out before he had the preliminary hearing, so that he was ready to counter strike every blow dealt by his opponent, Mr. Edgerly.

At the trial in December following two of the most eminent judges in the state presided, Chief Justice Charles Doe and Judge George A. Bingham, and they held the contending counsel, who were very bitter at times, strictly within the rule of evidence and of law. The weather was very cold. The court room at each day of the trial was crowded to its capacity. Judge Doe was noted for his love of fresh air, both at home and in court. The presence of such a crowd in the court room made the atmosphere very much vitiated soon after the sitting began; Judge Doe could not stand it; he ordered the sheriff to lower every window in the room; the cold, bracing air come in with a rush ; he put on his coat and kept the lawyers and witnesses working, though shivering with cold. When he thought enough fresh air had been admitted he ordered the windows closed. This ventilating process was repeated each day, whenever the judge got "fidgity." Several persons caught severe "colds" and were laid up with pneumonia after the trial was over.

In conducting the defense the respondent's counsel became convinced they could not clear him of the charge of murder, so bent all their energy to dis- credit evidence that the crime was committed in Rochester; if committed across the Salmon Falls river, in Lebanon, Maine, then, of course, no legal trial could be held in Strafford County, New Hampshire. No witness saw the shooting; all the evidence presented was circumstantial. In substance it was this :

When Isaac and Hiram were on their way in the team from Rochester Center to East Rochester village a man with a load of lumber met them; soon after he had passed them he heard three rapid reports of pistol shots in the direction of the carriage containing the two men; he did not recognize the men, but afterwards did recognize Isaac Sawtelle as one of the men. Also a woman, living near the road to East Rochester, and not far from where the lumber man passed the team, heard the three pistol shots fired in rapid succes- sion. A third witness was also produced in court who testified to hearing the pistol shots. Other circumstantial evidence was also presented. After the shooting one witness testified he saw the two men in the carriage and one was leaning against the other. Hence it was shown that the murder was committed in Rochester, N. H. This was the last case in Strafford county of murder of the first degree.

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OTHER MURDER CASES

From January 24, 1888, to August 23, 1908, there were 33 indictments by the grand jury for murder in Strafford county; during the past five years there has been no case of the kind before the court. As has already been stated, two of these were for murder in the first degree and were sentenced to be hung; one was hung; the other died before the day arrived for hanging. Fifteen were convicted and sentenced to state prison; three were found to be insane and were confined in the insane asylum. One escaped from jail before his case came to trial. Twelve were acquitted. The larger part of those who were convicted were strongly under the influence of intoxicating liquors, and probably never would have committed the acts had they let rum alone.

JOSEPH E. KELLEY OF SOMERSWORTH

One of the most singular and dramatic of the fifteen manslaughter cases was that of Joseph E. Kelley of Somersworth, a young man of about twenty- four years of age, who murdered Joseph A. Stickney, cashier of the Great Falls National Bank, April 16, 1897. Kelley, according to his own con- fession, did not intend to murder Stickney, but only to rob the bank, but the latter put up a fight and Kelley killed him by a blow on his head and then completed his job of robbery. Following is a brief of his confession :

He said he was out of money and had been planning the robbery for some time. On Thursday previous to the murder he went to the bank to carry out his plans, but was prevented by the presence of a lady. On Friday he wrapped an old overcoat in paper, with the intention of asking Stickney to have the parcel placed in the bank vault. When Kelley reached the bank he tried to open the screen door, and was met by the cashier, who was alone, and asked what he wanted. Kelley made no reply but forced open the door. Stickney shouted for the police. Kelley then hit him on the head with a jimmy, knocking him insensible; he then struck two more blows and cut Stickney's throat from ear to ear with a razor. Then he proceeded to ransack the safe, putting all the money he could get hold of into a pillow case, estimated at $4,125. He carried the spoils to an orchard and hid them, returning, unconcernedly, to his boarding house to partake of dinner. After dinner he paid his landlady $20, which he owed her, placed the pillowcase containing the money into a dress-suit case and drove to Milton. He threw the razor away in the orchard. He hitched his horse outside the village, and called at the house of Farmer Jones, about a quarter of a mile from the vil- lage proper. He asked Miss Jones if her father was at home, saying he wished to put up his team for a couple of days. After further chat with

HISTORY OF STRAFFORD COUNTY

Miss Jones, he went to the store of John Mason and purchased a light, spring overcoat and a slate-colored derby hat. He then drove to Chamberlain's livery stable and put up his horse, telling Mr. Chamberlain that he was going by train to Sanbornville, about ten miles away. He promised to return in three days. He took the Boston and Maine train without purchasing a ticket, getting on to the rear platform. The conductor did not discover him till Union was reached. At Sanbornville, he says, he got off and took the next train for Cookshire Junction, Que., coming into Montreal Junction on the Halifax express. "After I saw Stickney dead," he broke in here, "I felt sorry, but an hour after I did not even feel nervous about it."

Ncar Cookshire he sorted over his money, placing the gold in a separate pocked from the paper. The silver he left in the dressing case. From the description given by Kelley, Mr. Carpenter concluded he had hidden the dress-suit case at Vaudreuil or St. Polycarpe Junction, and at once hurried Kelley aboard a train. Kelley was not sure of Vaudreuil, but quickly recog- nized St. Polycarpe. After walking along the Canadian Pacific tracks for a distance of about five hundred yards a bag containing $810 was found in a covered culvert, where Kelley had thrown it on Saturday. The dress-suit case was found in the middle of a plowed field, about one hundred and fifty yards from the railway tracks. Kelley stated that after leaving St. Polycarpe he had walked to St. Justine de Newton, through a pouring rain, and after having taken several drinks in a saloon, he proceeded to Berard's hotel, where he remained until the Canadian Pacific express came along, boarding it for Montreal.

The murder was not discovered until two or three hours after it was com- mitted, at noontime, but when the news got abroad, Sheriff James E. Hayes and his deputies, George W. Parker, J. S. McDaniel, Wm. H. Rich and Edwin B. Bartlett got on the track of Kelley and traced his travels to Canada, where they found him in Montreal, and on the 22d of April started with him for Dover. Kelley was willing to return, having confessed the whole story of the murder. On the way home Kelley puffed away at a cigar in the train, apparently quite unconcerned. On the way home he told Sheriff Hayes that he wore a disguise when he went to rob the bank. He had on a mustache and a goatee, and this was so effectual a disguise that Stickney did not know him. These, he said, would be found in his room. Stickney shouted when Kelley drew a revolver upon him, but Kelley was afraid to use it, and so hit the old man with a jimmy.

The trial of the case began November 8, 1897, but it was taken from the jury November II, as Kelley made a complete confession to the court of his guilt, and the presiding justice fixed the degree of murder in the second degree and sentenced him to thirty years in the state prison. He was then about twenty-four years old. He was a native of Amesbury, Mass., but had lived

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in Somersworth and vicinity two or three years, engaged as porter in hotels and other minor occupations. He was courteous in manner and pleasing in conversation and had made quite an extended acquaintance among the young men of the city.

THE CASE OF JOHN WILLIAMS

One of the most daredevil and sensational murder cases was that of John Williams, on Dover Landing, July 4, 1900. The trial was quite brief, occu- pying only from 9:15 A. M. October 30 to 11 :45 A. M. Nov. 1, 1900. The prosecution was conducted by Attorney-General Edwin G. Eastman and County Solicitor Walter W. Scott. Williams had no counsel. The verdict was "guilty of manslaughter in the first degree." Williams was sentenced to confinement in the state prison at Concord at hard labor for the term of thirty years, and pay costs of prosecution. It is said that Williams is not his real name and that he is connected with some wealthy family in Massachusetts. Four attempts have been made to get him pardoned out on the ground he did not do the shooting; the last petition was in September, this year, 1913; but no pardon or commutation has been secured.

A brief of the case is as follows: Williams and two other young men, all under thirty years of age, had been at work in a stone quarry in Maine, and came to Dover to have a "good time" and celebrate the "glorious Fourth." They had been drinking before they came here, and drank more beer while here, so at night they were in a very hilarious state of mind when they made their appearance on Dover Landing, the shipping section of the city. On one of the streets they saw Magie Donalson and Kittie Scanlon seated on the steps of a residence with John McNalley and Thomas Dobbins. The men stopped and commenced talking to the women. McNalley and Dobbins objected to what was said to the girls, when Williams pulled out a revolver and began shooting, indiscriminately, among the persons on the doorsteps around there. The result was John McNalley was shot dead, Thomas Dob- bins died of his wounds soon after, Joseph Gagnon received two pistol wounds, one in the chin, the other in the stomach, and Arthur Russell had the bones of one leg shattered by a bullet. The shooting occurred about 10:30 P. M. on the night of July 4. The persons shot were young men between thirty and forty years of age.

City Marshal James Fogerty and his assistants made vigorous search for the three strange men and at length found two of them at a public house near the Granite State Park and the third one, John Williams, who did the shoot- ing, asleep under some bushes in the vicinity of the park. At the trial it was proven that Williams did the shooting, not aiming to hit anyone in particular, but at the crowd in general.

CHAPTER V

HISTORY OF DOVER (I)

THE FIRST PERMANENT SETTLEMENT IN DOVER AND NEW HAMPSHIRE

In order to give a clear understanding of where the first permanent settlement of New Hampshire was made, it seems best to begin with a state- ment of the various grants of the territory of New Hampshire, to whom and when made, as this matter of grants has led to much confusion of ideas among the historians, by which they have been led into making erroneous statements; several important facts in regard to this question are now known which were not known by the early writers, some of the discoveries of important papers being of recent date.

November 3, 1620, King James granted a patent or charter to forty persons who were incorporated as "The Council established at Plymouth, in the County of Devon, for the planting, ruling, ordering and governing New England, in America; from the 40th to the 48th degree of latitude, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean." Sir Ferdinando Gorges and Capt. John Mason were important and influential members of this powerful company. All New Hampshire patents and grants were obtained from this Council of Plymouth ; the grants were as follows :

I. MARIANA, to Capt. John Mason, March 9, 1621-2, under which it is claimed that he had Ambrose Gibbons, as his agent, make a small settlement at Cape Ann in 1622 or '23, and they remained there until ousted by the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and Mason lost all control there in 1630.

2. THE PROVINCE OF MAINE, to Sir Ferdinando Gorges and Capt. John Mason, April 19, 1622. This comprised all the cost from the Merrimack river to the Kennebec river, and back into the country a rather indefinite but very great distance. So far as New Hampshire was concerned, nothing was ever done under this grant.

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History of Strafford County, New Hampshire and representative citizens, Part 6

Author: Scales, John, 1835-1928 Publication date: 1914 Publisher: Chicago : Richmond-Arnold Number of Pages: 988

Author: Scales, John, 1835-1928
Publication date: 1914
Publisher: Chicago : Richmond-Arnold
Number of Pages: 988