Orleans independent standard. [volume] (Irasburgh, Vt.) 1856-1871, 1860-08-10
A Sensation Story Spoiled.

OF OolKln, IoTly years aSos ~ Sioii.
and escaped by producing man IRON
New Jersey SO much resembling Colvin
as to induce the belief he was the very /
man, and SO cleared him from the gallows
and let him and bis brother go free.
The Cleveland Herald, after recounting
the story, and expressing its distrust Of
many of the sensation stories which
End their way into the newspapers, adds |
the following:
"This morning we visited Jesse Boorn
in the county Jail. He positively denied
the statement in city paper that ne
had confessed to Deputy Marshal Hack
EFT bis connection with the murder of
Colvin, and had told Hackett that the man
who came from New Jersey was bogus
Colvin, selected tor this purpose on &C
count of personal resemblance TO the
murdered man. His story to US was
rambling and incoherent which might be
accounted for by bis age and palsied
state, but be strenDously denied that Col
vim was murdered. and in the main con-
firms the story narrated above.
The identity of the man produced at
the trial with the supposed to be murder
ed Colvin, is substsntiated by cores
pendent of the Philadelphia Bulletin,
whose statement is so interesting that We
copy it:
More than forty years since de-
ranged man came to my fathers house.
near Tuckerton, New Jersey, hungry
ragged and dirty. He was cared for du-
ing the night. He said he had been
murdered in Vermont, and never would
return there again. 1t was winter, and
extremely cold He walked across the
bay on the ice and Iounged about the
neigbborhood for weeks; said bis name
was Russell Colvin, aud his people lived
in Vermont. He travelled up shore
few miles above Toms River, TO the
house of a Mr.. Polhamus. The fami-
ly so pitied him as to give him home
with them during the balance of his life.
have been there several times, and
seer him attending to pigs and poultry
about the farm. A number of years
after he came here-say fifteen years or
less, l can't recolleet-two men were tri-
ed, in Burlington, Vermont, for the muir
der of this same man. One was found
guilty of murder in the first degree and
sentenced to be hanged; the other was
sentenced to Imprisonment for life.
A lawyer, connected with the tri-
al, deemed the case most singular
one, and inserted notice in the paper
inquiring if any one knew said Russell
Colvin, giving withal description Of
, the man. This caught the eye of a
: brother of Mr.. Polhamus, at whose house
the man Colvin was living. He forth
; with wrote to said lawyer, detailing the
t above facts. Polhamus and the lawyer
were soon on their way to New Jersey
: to see the murdered man. They found
him there and, Colyin knew the lawyer
! called him BY name al first sight. After
! some persuasion bis reluctance to 60 tc
: Vermont was overcome, and all three
I started north. When they arrived al
/ Burlington, the court house was soon fill
] ed, with an excited community, all anx
a ious to see the dead man. Officer,
a were soon collected, the prisoners were
: brought in, and they, as well as the com
a munity, recognized Colvin at once. Tht
7 prisoners we're discharged, of course
Colvin's wife and two sons came to Sc,
him, and used every endeayor TO induce
him to go home and remain with them
All entreaty proved useless and vain, re
turn to New Jersey he would and did
and lived after at the house of Mr.. Pol.
hamus.
A pamphlet was published of the tri
!, al and all the facts therein stated, whiel
was reading one-evening at the hous'
of Mr. Polhamus and in the presence o
Mr.. Colvin. He muttered all the tim
1 was reading until had to lay it aside
as lie was getting angry at the sight c
, il. Mrs. Polhamus said the sight of th
book always enraged him.
To the best of my recollection the lis
- tory ran thus: Colyin and his ivy
!, brothers-in-law were working in the fiel
T, together, making stone fence. A httI
son of Colvia's was near. They got il
:. to a quarrel, the boy was scared and ru
!. home. In few hours. on returning, hi
- father was missing; be charged ther
with killing his father, and they threaten
ed bis life if he said that again. year
passed before anything was done in th
case, and think the son started the er