The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1869-05-17
DAILY PRESS.
PORTLAND.
Monday Morning, May II, 1869.
The TRAGEDY a, BroolIyn.
SUICIDE AND ATTEMPTED MURDER.

SoiAinssSo s"i~iuc. Oolh the persons con-
nected with the terrible event were living at
the house of Mr.. Benjamin Flint, retired
merchant, Miss Scribner being sister of
Mrs. Flint. Young Talbot was man who
had formerly resided in Boston, but his par
ents and relatives being dead he had sought
Mr.. Flint. his fathers old friend, and had en-
gagged in business on his own account while
boarding at Mr.. Flint's. He was regarded as
man OF irreproachable habits. He had re-
ceived a fine education, had travelled exten-
sively in Europe and was person OF refined
and cultivated tastes and habits. He had
sought Miss Seribners hand in marriage, and
her rejection of his suit is supposed TO have
been the occasion of his subsequent conduct.
We take the following account of the suicide
and attempted murder from the New York
Herald of Thursday:
There were crime and villainy in this culti-
vated heart, and ON Wednesday night, or rath-
or Thursday morning, it developed itself. He
went home between the hours of eleven and
twelve o'clock in the stiffness of the night,
sober and clear-headed, it believed, and inn
mediately ascended to his room, which was
the large rear room on the third floor.
A moment to consider the situation of the
rooms in which this tragedy had part. The
front room on this floor between which were
passage, closets, &c, was Talbot's loom;
the large back room Miss Scribner's. The
hall bedroom, froat, is occupied by Charles
Flint as his sleeping apartment, and the rear
hall room was the latter's studio, or, as lie
humorously termed it. his "den." This was
always locked, and the keys were kept in its
occupants pocket. Directly underneath Tai
bots room, on the second floor, was Mr.. and
Mrs. Flint's room, and the front room on this
floor is used as q sitting-room. The position
of these apartments should be remembered.
In going to his room Mrs. Flint heard Tai
bots footsteps and quietly said to her hus-
band, "There is Talbot" He entered his
apartment, but not to remain, with bottle
OF chloroform, which he had purchased that
evening. After partly disrobing himself, TAX
ing off all superfuous clothing and boots, he
thoroughly soaked a towel with this subtle
agent and then laid it by for moment until
his other deadly agent could be secured.
Stealthily he left his room, entered Mr..
Charles Flints, searched about, and, after
finding his pants, abstracted the keys there
from and just as fox-like leaving, sought the
"den." This door he had to unlock, which
he succeeded in doing without awakening
Miss Scribner, whose open door he passed, OF
any other member of the family. He sought
Cares's pistol, afive-barreed revolver, man
ufactured by the Manufacturing Arms Com
pany, which he knew was there deposited in
a leathern case. 1t was found. BE knew il
was loaded. Murderous. like, he stole back
to his room, grasped the towel saturated with
chloroform, and quietly, noiselessly stole to
the open door of her "whom he loved" She
was asleep. He pushed the half-closed door
cautiously farther back, and then quietly
stepped to the bed behind her and covered
her face with the towel. Her life was saved
providentially. Talbot did not know wnat
an agent he was dealing with, and the excess
i've quantity thrust in his victims face
strangled her and she awoke. At once she
recognized Talbot and Indignantly inquired
what he meant, and with heroic courage
struggled from the firm grasp of the villain
that desired to render her unconscious-foI
what God alone knows.
When freed from him Miss Scribner rush.
ed from the room to the head of the stairs
and cried for help, using her sisters name.-
These screams elected answers from the
room below, when Talbot, knowing his at
tempts had failed, slipped quietly to his own
bed and lay down on the outside. The trem
bling, frightened girl hurried, almost fell
down stairs towards her sisters room, whom
she met at the threshold of her door, when
almost fainting, she half swooned rpon th,
bed upable to speak word.
| is 1T A BURGLAR?
.s,,s Ms: I'll, Flint little dreaming that he who
deity which had emanated from talbot, and
which she believed were woven about his
heart, would do wrong, at once imagined bur.
glars had gained an entrance to the dwelling
and, with her husband, went up stairs to his
room. Upon entering she at once detected
the presence of choloroform, when she anx-
iously asked, "Why, Talbot, what is the mat
ter?" He at once responded, "Nothing; lei
me get up; I'll put on my pants and come
down." mo, no." said she, and hurried
away, her mind full of perplexing doubts
Her husband meanwhile had been ransack.
| ing closets and all other places where robbers
might be supposed to be hidden, when they
started to go down again to their room to
quiet their sister. The house was now all ex-
element. Talbot at this instant slipped from
his room again and down stairs reaching Mrs
Flint's sisters room before her, having to
/ take the long, roundabout way through the
sitting room TO accomplish this, and then he
| made his
| SECOND ATTEMPT AT MURDER.
| He held the loaded stolen revolver in hi:
hand and quietly approached the bed. Th'
work must be quickly done. Approaehin.
| his intended victim he aimed at her head a
she lay almost dead with her previou
| alright; but Providence again shielded hel
| His rustling caused her to turn her head from
| the right side, on which she was lying, to he
left, and this slight DETECTION saved her life
| as the ball meant to be sent crashing through
| her delicate brain cut away a portion of her
| left eye, but did not infict dangerous wound
| Again her strength served her, and
| jumping from her bed, she crouched down in
| front OF bureau in the room, when she
threw up her hands as the second shot went
whizzing from its chamber of death on its
murderous mission. Again he was foiled
| The singular, cutting, deadly mlssive crashed
| through her left hand, breaking bones and
severing delicate tendons, but it was not fatal
and Talbot, thinking no doubt that he had
succeeded in his purpose, ran cut, going
| through the same rooms, when he met Mr.
and Mrs. Flint on the stairs. They were SC
| speechless with astonishment at the report:
Of the pistol that his "What is the matter p
remained unanswered by them. Down stairs
| Miss Scribner was met, hernight clothes Gov
eIed with blood, and the picture OF terrible
misery and excitement.
THE SUICIDAL SEQUEL.
Thinking he had accomplished his last iel
purpose, the doomed young man, long aban-
doned of reason and hope, rushed up stairs
to his own room and shut himself in. For a
third time the pistols loud report broke upon
the startled ear of night, bewildering yet fur
ther the electrified inmates of the house, and
summoning the steps of the now thoroughly
startled neighborhood. A heavy fall upon
the floor above told the story of the would-be
assassin's fate, and closed the last act in this
terrible domestic tragedy,
SOUTHERN ENTHUSIASM. IL Recently, a:
Judge Francis, the genial editor of the Troy
Times, was sauntering down Broadway, ht
was suddenly accosted bya sharp-featurei
high cheek-boned, black haired gentleman in
spring suit of clothes, who grasped him
warmly by the hand, and said:
General, LIDO assure you, sir, before God
that this is one of the happiest moments
of my life. My heart is filed with gratitude
to God that am permitted to thus grasp you
by the hand. God bless you, sir, God bless
you thousand times"
Judge Francis was slightly staggered at this
warm hearted salutation; but before he could
express his thanks, the fiery-eyed Southener
continued:
8Yalr capnYo+ oonooiva cir fha warmth n (