St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1873-02-14
The New Hampshire Murderer.

the murder of his niece, GeOrgiana
Lowering. at NOrthwOOd, n. H., last
October, was concluded at Exeter, Feb.
5th. The circumstances of the murder
will be remembered as brutal and tiend-
ish with scarcely parallel i'll the all
mails of crime. Evans who Is 64 years
of age. has led ii vagabOnd and wall
dering life from his youth up. He was
engaged in an attempt to swlndle
Hartford insurance company, and final
" adopted the role of Second Advent
preacher.
The old insanity plea was urged in
his defense, but DR.. Bancroft of the
to the prisoners sanity. Yesterday,
before the proceedings commenced.
Evans sent his keeper after water, and
during his absence attempted suicide
by hanging himself with one of his sus-
penders. After the keeper prevented
the hanging or attempted hanging, Ev-
ans said ''Why didn't YOU let me
hang | wanted to die. During the eX-
animation, Evan manifested the great
est interest i'll the evidence, frequently
whispering to his counsel and evidently
making suggestions. His appearance
was that of IL man with very little hope
left, and oppressed not SO much by
deep sense of guilt as 10y utter despair.
The evidence in the Evans case was
all in 10y three o'clock, Mr.. Locke's plea
for the defence occupied but half an
hour. when Attorney General Clarke
closed for the prosecution. Judge Doe
charged the jury, and they retired at
five o'clock. and i'll half an hour
brought i'll ii verdict of guilty of muir
der in the first degree.
The sentence of the law WAS then
pronounced by the clerk upon the
prisoner as follows: The sentence of
the law pronounced by the courts upon
YOU. franklin b. Evans, convicted of
murder in the first degree, is that You
he imprisoned i'll the State Prison at
Concord. until the third Tuesday of
February, lS74, the day appointed for
your execution, and that on said thlrd
Tuesday of February, 1874, hctween
the hours of ten o'clock i'll the forenoon
and two o'clock i'll the afternoon. You
he hanged 10y the neck until You ale
dead.
The prisoner exhibited II" sign of
emotion during the scene. lie WAS
then remandcd to the custody of the
Sheriff. who will to-day remove him t"
Concord.
CoNCoEp. y. H.. Feb. Il. Evans.
the Northwood murderer. arrived her,
this evening on the 10 train. i'll
charge of sheriff Odlin. of Exeter. and
WAS committed to prison. He WIS not
inclined To say much during the rldc.
and occasionally. when asked about the
murder of the joyce children. at R"N-
bury. would muttcr some inc"hrlcnt
replies. He cvimccd Il diSp">iti"n L"
talk to the crowds that had assembled
at the various stations on the way. ami
when taken to the prison whintd feeble
remon>trtmccS against being deprived
of his effects. y large crowd awaited
his arrival. hut he WAS taken quietly /"
prison.
lie CONFE>>E> THE JOYCE MURDER AND
SEVERAL OTHER HORRIBLE CRIMES.
After Evans had confessed the North
wood murder. Drew questioned him ~
to his Whereabouts for the last IL ,lcals.
him To Rhode Island. and then back I"
RoNhury, Mass. His mention of RoX
bury and the similarity of the two mur-
dcrS suggested IL me for the first time
that he might have pcrprtrated the
murder of the joyce children. of which
had then but II dim recollection, and
of the circumstances of which | have
now hut little knowledge. then in
terogated him on the subject. and the
questions on my part and the replies on
his were deemed 10y me of 81 much i'm
portancc that | Immediately reduced
the substance of the conversation to
writing. The following Is the CONVEX
sation
Question 10y Sheriff Drew Did You
stop on Your way home from Rhode Is
land at RoXhury
Evans / did about Il week.
D.-Why did you stop i'll RoXbury
FL don't know.
D.-Where were YOU when the joyce
children We're killed:
Ell didn't hear of il until | got t"
Manchester.
D.-Where did you live at the time
the Joyce children were killed!
Ell did not hear of the murder un-
til got back to Manchester.
D.-Was there much excitement in
Manchester
FL did not ask about it.
D. What an awful thing the nun
der of those two little girls was (Mr
Drew thought ut that time the children
were both girls.)
Mo, Mr.. Drew, one of them WAS
ii boy.
D.-No, Frank, they were two girls
E.-Mr. Drew one of them WAS IL hoy.
D.-Which one of them was the ell
der
E.-The girl.
D.-How old do YOU think the girl
was
Ell don't know should think from
II to II.
D.-How old WAS the boy
E.-Iie WAS younger than the girl.
D.-IIow do YOU think they were
killed?
E.-The boy WAS stabbed i'll the back
several times.
D. Should you think more than
four or five times.
Eyes, | should.
D.-Which of them WAS killed first
E.-The boy.
Did he make much ado?
Ell won't answer another question.
| see what your drift is.
Dwell, let it go; care nothing
about it.
Mr.. Drew then left Evans and in IL
short time was sent for by him and
went back into the room, when Evans
asked him the following questions
''Mr. Drew, what did them men want
this morning!" (meaning Jonathan F.
Berry and John j. Berry of Darlington,
who came out of curiosity to see Evans.
but did not make themselves known to
him. :