Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1859-06-29
HORRIBLE CASE OF MURDER IN CON-
NECTTCITT

INTO painful excitement by the discovery, on |
Saturday, that a foul murder had been COM
mitted in their midst The facts are as fol-
lows "A young man by the name of John
Warren was employed at farming by Mr..
Hancock, of Wilmington. Warren had wife,
young woman of Is, and they boarded with
the Hancocks. Warren is not yet Il, and his
wife was not 16 when he married her. She
came from Bechertown Mass. OF late some
ill-feeling has arisen between them, on account
Of Warren's undisguised Partially for Han
cocks daughter, Giving in the house where
he boarded,) and he had been heard to say
that if he were not married, he would marry
Miss Hancock
Mrs. Warren was last seen, alive, by Mrs.
Hancock, who says she saw her leave the
house and go towards her Mrs. Warren's)
husband, who was ploughing in a field near
by. This was on Thursday, the I'd day of
June. Her unaccountable absence produced
some enquiry about the neighborhood, and on
the following Monday and the days Immediately
succeeding, there was general search for the
body-nearly three hundred people were en-
gagged in it.
| On that Monday-the fourth after her dis
ppearance-young Warren went, at dusk, to
Stafford, and there hired horse and buggy to
| go to certain place which he mentioned. He
returned the horse and buggy at eleven O'Clock
that night. But it was subsequently ascertain
ed that he had not been to the place which he
named; and it was further discovered that he
had been seen with the buggy in the neighbor,
hood of Mr.. Hancock's house, in Wellington.
Search continued to be made for the missing
woman, but without avail for more than a
week afterwards. 1t is believed that Warren
took the corpse away from the place near Han
| cocks, where it had at first been secreted, and
placed it in the distant spot where it was final
ly discovered.
Last Saturday noon June 25th) the body of
Mrs Warren was discovered in thick piece
of brush, close by the Willimantic river, and
only six rods from the highway, about half
way between Wilmington and Stafford. The
spot where the body lay is on the narrow
strip OF land belonging to the town of Ell
llngton, but running east to the Whitman
tic, and dividing Stafford on the north from
wilmington on the south. 1t is just east of
the chain of hills about Square Pond When
found, the body was much decomposed, and no
flesh remained on the face but the remains
were fully identified as those of Mrs. Warren
being recognized and proved by the clothing
No doubt existed that a murder had been COM
United, though the spectators, of whom hun
dreds soon collected, could not tell, from the
decomposed state of the body, whether or not
any marks of violence existed A coroner's
jury was summoned, and the inquest was held
Sunday afternoon-the body, meantime, hav-
ing been left lying where it was first discover
ed, and by Sunday evening it had been visited
by thousands of people
The verdict of the jury was that the de-
ceased came to her death from violence infct-
ed by the hands of her husband
On the week following the murder, young
Warren had left Wellington by the Palmer
Railroad, and was next heard of in Belcher-
town, where he was arrested not for the MUIR
der, but for a previous theft, and sent to Jail
for sixty days. So he is secure for trial on the
charge of murder. He is native of Mansfield.
From the Stafford News Letter Extra
j. Z. WARREN AND HIS WIFE.-Warren is
young man 20 years of age, son of Ziba War
rem, OF Mansfield, Conn., He ran away from
home when a boy, and has not sustained
very good character since His wife was but
10 years of age when married, and he IT, He
had been improperly intimate with her and
her sister, and she had him arrested under the
bastardy act, with a view of forcing him to
have her. Justice Dickinson, of Belchertown
issued the warrant, which was served by Sheriff
Longley at midnight, Nov. 6, 1856. The cou-
pie lived in one place and another till last Feb
ruary, when they went to live with Martin
Hancock, in Wilmington, about 81 miles from
Stafford Springs. The Hancock family con-
sisted OF himself, wife, and three girls, the two
oldest girls being aged Is and 49, Their
names were Lovinia and Emily, and rumor
among the peighbors said that he was intimate
both OF them. Warren was man of nervous
temperament, not over prepossessng in ap.
pearance, and carrying with him snsnicions
look. His wife was under medium SIZE With
luli bust, rosy cheeks, dark brown hair. blue
eyes, and withal quite pretty
HE INoUEsT.-About a dozen Witnesses
testlhed IN the case, the substance of testimo-
ny being that Mrs Warren left Mr. Hancock's
house on Thursday afternoon, June ID he
tween three and four O'Clock, for the nurnosa
OF visiting her husband in a field about thirtv
roos distant but entirely concealed from view
ny "oods-that she never returned, and War
len saiu sne mad not visited him and he had
not seen her-that Warren on the Saturday
after the disappearance of his wife mada a.,
excuse to go to Stafford to advertise her but
alo no such thing-that on Sunday night his
orother came to see him, and they went away
together, saying that they were going tn their
fathers in Mansfield, but did not 90 tbero-
that on Monday he again visited Stafford and
renamed with his aunt, the widow Balch I'm
elght CLOCK In the evening, When he hired n
r m anu i buggy OF u. L. McGregory, to go to
| capt. Albro's, in Wilmington, about ii miles
that he did not go there, but was seen goirr
towards his place of residence by two men
between nine and ten O'Clock. He did not 90
there, but the men him return in Is or 30
minutes, driving very fast. They saw n Inf
ialo robe on his seat when he went down. but
IL was III the bottom of the buggy when he
returned. They called to him to stop but he
whipped his horse into a run and passed them
| without saying word On that road her
body was found. Warren reached Stafford
about twelve o'clock and stayed at his aunt;s
lie LETT dog with her in the evening. cborg-
ing her not to let him out in his absence,
The Hancock family were disDosed IN mt n
good face ON the matter. They thought thew
lived happily together, and didn't think no lad
murdered her. Lovinia, the oldest girl said
that she had rode out with Warren and his
WHe several times, and that she was iealous
because lie sat between them, and at one time
| got down on the bottom of the wagon when
she spoke to him on the subject. Miss Emily
testlhed that the girls were in the habit Of
going into the fields where Warren was tn
drop corn for him and assist lim in yarious
ways, and that his wife would sometimes an
pear to them suddenly from the brush. where
she had been watching them.
Mrs. Reuben Stanton, Mrs. Aldrich and
her son, neighbors of Mr. Hancock. testified
tnat Warren had said, in their presence, since
his wife disappeared, that she was a fool for
marrying the bitch, for he might have had
LovInia Hancock-that she would make him a
good second wife, and 1t cas not too late 10 hare
her get" Mrs. Aldrich testified that Mrs. War
rem came to her house day or two before she
disappeared in great distress of mind. saving
tlat Mrs. Hancock and Lovina abused her
that II she went out to be gone a few hours,
they would ask her, on her return how much
s sII, Iau earned intlmating that she was mean.
" Ia IL. IL.