Bellows Falls times. [volume] (Bellows Falls, Vt.) 1856-1965, 1860-08-17
A Marvellous Murder Case.

A Man Condemned to Denth for Murder
In the gear 1919, and liberated upop the
production alice Of the murdered victim,
nor, after lapse Of torty-one years, con-
.tesses the murder and the cheat By whtch
he escaped punisipept.
Among the Personal" paragraphs in
The TRIBUNE Of July 80, appeared the
subjoined:
The Ceceland Plaindealer narrates the
capture of lot of counterfeiters, and in
connection with it tells the following tale
There is strange history connected
with Jesse Boorn, one of the men arrested
at Burton. Some forty years ago, cold.
blOoded murder was perpetrated in the
State of Vermont The murdered man
was a brother-in-law of Boorn, named
Cooley, and circumstances pointed to Boorn
and his brother as the guilty parties. They
were tried, convicted, and sentenced to be
hung. The execution-day came, and large
crowds poured into the village to see
the murderer swing. They ascended the
scaffold, and the moose was placed around
their necks, when the supposed dead man
appeared in the crowd The Boorns were
set free just as they reached deaths door,
and Immediately fled the State. Jesse
Boorn, now nearly 70 years old, confessed
to Mr.. Hackett at Burton that he and his
brother did murder Cobley-the person
who appeared before the gallows being a
man from New Jersey, who bore a striking
resemblance to the deceased, and who was
expressly hired to play the villainous part.
The affair created great excitement al
the time throughout New England, enc
lawyers retained for the defense in des
perate murder cases have eyer since quotet
the Boorn case for the benefit of their eli
ents."
How much of the Plqiadealer's accoun
may be fact and how much fancy, as re
CARDS the identity of the man now arrested
with Jesse Boorn, and as regards the con
fession and its truth, there are no means a
present to determine but as to its nara
tive of the murder trial, that is in the mali
correct. 1t errs as to the name of the mur
dered man, which was ColBin, and not Cob
ley; and again, as to the appearance o
that man in the crowd before the gallows
upon which both the Boorns were about t
die. Jesse Boorn, and his brother Stephen
were both condemned TO death tor the mur
der, but in consequence of Jesse's confes
sion that Stephen alone was the murderer
his (Jesse's) sentence was commuted to i'm
prisonment for life, and the appearance Q
the murdered man was not On the day fxet
for Steph ems execution, but on the 22d o
| December, 1919, more than month be
fore. Criminal annals afford no case more
extraordinary and interesting than this one
the marvels of which are heightened by thj.
last chapter from Tie CleveIand Plain
dealer. Annexed, send you report o.
the trial, condemnation, and liberation Of
the Boorns, which ] cut from newspaper
some years ago; in connection with Jesse
Boorn's present reported confession, its in
terest is yitalized, and its republication may
crafty readers of The TRIBUNE.
REMARKABLE CASE.
The Supposed Murdcrers Proved Innocent
The following case of conviction foI
murder while the parties were in fact limo
cent, and no murder had been committed
is one of the most remarkable in the his
tory of the world.
1t happened, as viii be found on pc
rusal of it, in Vermont in 1919; and III
singular denouemeni excited extraordinary
attention at the time
We invite for It a careful Perusal.