The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1873-04-18
TEE GAMBIA TRAGEDY.
The Authorities Satisfied that the somnambulsl
Fitz is the Perpetrator Of the Assault
on Emerson-Statement Of the Detec-
tive Who Worked Up the
Casa Thrilling History.

GAMBIA, N H., April II. 1874
| Detective George n. Chapman, who has been en-
gagged in the work Of investigating the causes OF
the late frightful murder In this town. has arrived
at the conclusion that the crime Is the result OF
somnambulism and insanity, and that the boy VIII.
fred Lincoln Fitz ~ the author OF the crime. Ap-
pended Is his story, given just as 1t was told to me
In this town today
THE DETECTIVES STATEMENT.
~ hardly know what to make Of the matter. In
all my experience have scarcely ever seen case
80 difficult to investigate; not that have had any
trouble in finding out the facts, but that the theo-
res thereby connected are OF such startling
nature that I have great difficulty in my
attempts to explain them to myself To begin
with, all know about the ease when l was
sent here was the fact that Jonn A. Emerson. a
boy, had been found fatally wounded In bed in this
town; that the boy Fitz. resident OF LEVEL.
Mass, was suspected OF the crime and that the
townspeople were In q fearful state OF anxiety
about 1t. l went to Lowell first. Mrs. Fitz
and Mr.. Fitz and the boy, with his twin sister.
were called upon and interviewed, and then it
was that got an inkling Of the real truth In the
matter. The boy, 10 aeems, is o sOmnambulist. He
Is good boy In the main, but he has been ad-
dlcted to habits not altogether conducive to the
preservation Of good health. He Is quiet in be-
havior, good natured and studiOus. He Is men,
Der of church and was one OF the most intelligent
Of all the school boys Of Lowell; but he 10 none tho
Less partially insane.
THEFT NO. I.
Only few weeks ago qnite number OF scho-i
books, parlor ornaments and matters Of q like
nature were missed about his fathers house. In.
vesti0aion and search resulted In nothing definite,
UNTIL finally, it was ascertained that the boy had
stolen the missing articles while walking In his
sleep and secreted them in garnet. Physicians
were called to examine into the CASE and
Mr.. Fitz advised to send the boy into
the country, the opinion being that too
close an application to study had ruined
his health. The child accordingly was sent
to the house Of his uncle, Jesse n Fitz, resident
OF this town. on the 7th Of March last. Mr.. Fltz
has done everything in his power to follow out the
instructions OF his brother The boy has been well
cared lor and kept in the open air SO far posi-
BILE. He has been accustomed to go into the woods
with his uncle and chop wood and in other ways
has been exercised with view to the recovery OF
bodily strength. The iirst manifestation Of q re-
turn to his old propensity was the 9TH OF April
The house OF Mr.. Suel Brown, distant about half
mile from the residence OF Mr.. Fltz, was visited
by some unknown person during the night, ana
everything was turned topsy turvy therein.
only the papers were taken out. and they were
thrown aboat the room, the money being LEFT I'M
boy F1tz was the author OF this depreciation.
ATTEMPTED DEPRECIATION.
On the 9th OF April occurred second ofence, OF
which the boy has been proven guilty. Just across
from the house where he has been living Is
the dwelling of . Mr.. Augustus Robbins, house
awake. This house is fully one-elghth OF
mile from the Fltz Homestead, and between
which has IS been swollen by the Spring
freshets On the night In question the boy get out
Of bed while asleep, dressed only IN shirt panta:
looms, turned wrong side out. and slippers, and
walked across this meadow to the Robbins House.
On doing so he had to lord the brook. He walked
nIndfh n hnra apd rfad m rat In fha
dows, as was evidenced by the tracks in the snow,
but failed to enect his purpose. Then he returned
a rubber coat, ladder and broadaxe, and changed
his slippers for PAIR OF rubber boots. This must
back to the house, and by the use OF the ladder he
climbed into an attic room Just over that occupied
BY MRS. r. ROBBINS Pin asleep She tsa
a chair IN the attic, with the broad axe in his
OF the hand. He was still asleep. When awakened
he appeared to be thunderstruck and very much
scared He couldn't realize where he and
family appreciating his condition reas-
MIN Or ana this put ssc n 70 PED fs
uncle took extraordinary precaution towards
keeping the hey in the house Every door in the
front door, and that was double locked inside and
bolted. The windows were fastened BY nails put
was taken to prevent the boy from getting out Of
the house.
HIS LAST ADVENTURE.
On Tuesday night, however, he managed to
elude the vigilance Of his guardians. He went to
bed at fifteen minutes past nine O'Clock, leaving
remained down stairs till ten O'Clock, when,
thinking that she had forgotten to lock one
churn against the inside, SO that as she
she Vent to bed. Afterward the boy got up in q
somnambulistic state, UNASSIGNED the door, and
taking an ordinary woodchopper's axe from the
ohoA and a hop IN n n q
Snss deep to 81 the M house s. Of s.I M Rove
ior or window, "a needless step, for the window
was less than three feet from the ground, and
the house before He made his way out OF the par
lor in the darkness across the hallway, up one
e. he into john
Emerson, his victim, lay asleep The axe was used
THE soMNAMBULIsT ESCAPED.
While he was at his work, however, Mrs Rowe.
who slept in the next room to the wounded boy,
heard . noise and asked, What is the matter,
Johnny ~ She received no reply. ,Stlll wakeIul,
she listened for moment when she heard sound
like the fall of an axe, followed by softly sounding
footsteps. when she went into Johnny's room. She
felt about the bed until, horror struck, her hand
INTO pOo eoo sncd ns n sne
from information received from Mrs. Fitz, she Is
convinced that he was assaulted by the boy Fits,
who, by the way, Is relative oil the Emerson boy.
Mrs. Ftz says that she was
ALARMED BY THE INFORMATION OF THE TRAGEDY.
nephew might have been the cause thereof she re-
paired to his room at ten minutes past twelve
O'Clock that night. The boy was sound asleep In bed.
Then she examined the door, which she had last
ened before going to bed, and found that IT mad
since been opened
s'Therefore,n concludes Mr.. Chapman, 81 think
that the boy Ftz was the perpetrator or this crimes
and that he did IL while in semnambulistic state.
i think, moreover, that he is partially insane.n
Mr.. Chapman's statements are corroborated by
other evidence in my possession, and may be de-
pended upon as fair, just and impartial presentar
ton Of the facts in the case.