The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1870-03-11
The American rroppmann.

The American Troppmann.
Next Tuesday is to witness the hang
ing of John A. Munroe, tried for and
convicted of the murder of Sarah Mar
garet Vail and his and her child. The
circumstances attending the crime, the
youth and social standing of the mur.
derer, the chain of evidence by which
he has been surrounded and which has
gradually, but surely, narrowed upon,
until now 1t is about to crush him the
youth and beauty of the woman who,
in double sense was his victim, and
the Internal brutality which could thus
do to death an innocent babe and incite
father to murder his child, make this
case one of the most narrowing which
the Province has ever known.
Told briefly as possible the history of
the crime is as follows:
Last September, as some negroes
were gathering berries in thicket sit
uated about one hundred yards from
the Black River Road, ten miles from
the City Of st. John, they came upon
some human remains, but after seeing
what they were they were struck with
superstitiOus awe, and returned to the
city, but said nothing of what they had
seen. A few days afterwards it came
to the knowledge of persons less easily
affected by terror and superstition than
the negroes, that dead bodies were lying
in the neighboring woods; the place was
visited and the coroner notified, but
not until week after the original dis
covery of the remains had been made,
did that officer set about to examine
the bodies and hold an inquest. The
place was inspected: it was n lonely
spot by a nearly unfrequented road !;
| no houses were near, except farm
house and tavern. No better place
who, like Eugene Aram, wished to
hide from all but the eye of God every
trace of his fearful and dastardly crime.
Had a murder been committed? This
was the question to be solved. How
had the bodies been disposed of, or did
| they die without violence!
Search in the thicket brought to light
the skull, ribs, and thigh bones of an
a dult and the skull of an infant, which
fell in pieces on being taken from the
ground. In addition to these, roll of
hair, portions of a woman's dress, a
woollen jacket, and pieces of under
clothing were found, which probably
certainly, as the jury afterwards said
had once belonged to her whose body
was there decayed and utterly unrecog-
nizable. At some distance, from these
was discovered baby's foot in a little
stocking, and piece of lead, fiat, and
about the size of silver half dollar.
This was all that the utmost scrutiny OF
the place and its vicinage could detect
which could throw any light upon the
identity of the dead. Thus far, no
trace of murder committed had been
found.
But the disposition of the bodies was
such as showed plainly that death had
not been accidental or natural. Limbs
had been torn from the surrounding
trees and placed upon the corpses to
conceal them and moss had also beer
gathered and scattered above them, evi
IDENTIFY with the design of hiding all
evidence of the crime. Murder had
been committed, and henceforth it was
the duty of the coroner to discover the
criminal-the perpretrator Of double
murder, not less appalling and heart
rending than that done by the miscre
ant Troppmann.
AT first no clue to the mystery could
be obtained. No woman and child had
been missed from the neigborh0od, and
inquiries made at the city of st. John
were equally barren of results. The
whole horrible affair apparently was tt
battle inquiry, the victims to be una
) venged, and the law unvindicated. A
man named Kane, whose wife wa'
said to have disappeared in an unac
countable way, was arrested and exam
ined by Coroner Earle, but succeeded
in establishing his innocence beyond tn
: possibility of doubt His wife had n
; child, and was, moreover, alive, ant
had been heard from. A fortnight ha'
l passed since the discovery of the re
! moins, and yet there was no clue Whicl
: might lead to the detection of the mur
4 derer. Doctors had, in the meantime
Q shown that the woman had been kille
by pistol ball, which, penetrating he
I skull, had left there the marks of lead
but the bullet itself could not be found
t THE CABMAN's STORY.
At this critical juncture, cabmal
named Worden said that, in reading
the accounts of the affair given in tn
:. public journals, he had been reminde
o that in the preceding October he ha
,, taken in his carriage to the neighboI
e hood of the place where the bodies ha
d been found, woman and child, az
a companied by man, This story a
10 tracted public attention, and on bein
% questioned, Worden said that the ma
IS who had gone with them was John
80 Munroe, a well-known architect of tn
le city, and young married man,
ID whose integrity there had not hither
ID been doubt. Investigation into Mul
roe's history brought to light fac
d which fully justified his arrest.
IN The story is one of seduction and
r usual result--murder. A few years AZ
" Mumoe became acquainted with q