The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1873-10-31
From q pamphlet rust published by ex-
Lient-GSy. Leonard Sargeant.I
A REMARKABLE TRIAL.
One of the Most Singular Cases on
Record.
The True Story Of the Famous BOOra
Trial in Vermont, Fifty Years Ago.

III the spring OF 1917, tleTe NV
ed in the town of Manchester, VT.
near the BattenkiH river, family
named Boorn. The family con
sisted of the father, Barney Boorn
his wife, two grown up sons, Ste
phen and Jesse, a daughter, Sally
who had been married eighteen
years to a man named Russell Col
vim, and who, with her husband
and two children, also lived with
her father. The old people were
generally considered respectable,
and in comfortable circumstances,
while the younger members of the
family were considered rather wild
and reckless. The son-in- law,
ColVin, was a man of weak intel
lect, and was at times insane, and
would sometimes absent himself
for days at a time without giving
any account of himself, and, once
he was gone eight or nine moRths,
though it was said that he CORES
pended with Instantly during that
thine. 4f -.s-i' s'''
i On these occasions Colvin gen
orally took with him his favorite
boy, q child two or three years old,
and would carry it most of the
way on his back. In the month of
May, 1872, during the absence of
Mrs. Colvin, who was on a visit to
a neighboring town, Colvin sud
denly disappeared. No particular
inquiry was made at the time, as
she Boorns reported that he had
had gone on one of his customary
Journeys. Days and weeks rolled
by, and months heightened into
years, and nothing was heard of
the missing man. People began
to make inquiries, and, as is usual
in such cases, rumors of painful
nature began to spread, and suspi.
cions of foul play were communi-
Gated from one to another.
To add fue! to the flame it was
remembered that the young Boorns
had spoken strangely of the dis
appearance Of Colvin, though no
one had taken much notice of 1T
at the time. One of them had
stated that he knew Colvin was
dead, and the other that they had
put him where potatoes would not
freeze. Though these were, prob.
ably, idle remarks when made, they
served, greatly, to make people be-
lieve that the Boorns were respon-
sible for the disappearance of Col
vim. 1t was also known that Col
vim and the Boorns had not been
on good terms, and that they
sometimes quarrelled. In a short
time the public came to the con-
clusion that Colvin had been muir
dered, and that the Boorns were
the murderers, and hundred eyes
and ears were on the alert to dis
cover evidence of what they al
ready believed to be true.
And evidence was not long in
forthcoming. Some children who
were at play at the old Boorn place,
found hat in mouldy, dilapidat-
ed condition, and it being recog-
nized as the hat Colvin wore at
the time of his disappearance,
search at once began for the bones
of the unfortunate man. About
this time Amos Boorp, uncle of
Stephen and Jessie, and a man of
unimpeachable character, dreamed
that Russell Colvin came to his
bedside and told him that he had
been murdered, and to follow him
and he would lead to the spot
where he was buried. This was
repeated three times. The place
of burial, as described in the
dream, was an old cellar-hole,
about four feet square, over which
house had formerly stood, and
which was used, at the time of
Colvin's disappearance, as place
for burying potatoes, as was fire.
quently done in those days, but
which afterward had been filed up.
There was nothing very singular
when we consider that Mr.. Boorn
was greatly exercised about the
matter, and conjectured such
things in his waking hours, but to
the many OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES of
that period it was coordination
strong as proof of holy writ"
b About this time a barn on the
Boom farm was burned, and 1t was
supposed by many that the body
had been concealed under it. An.
other circumstance occurred which
attracted considerable attention.
A lad with a. dog was walking
short distance from Barney Boorn's
when the dog began to dig Zero
ciously beneath an old stump.
Soon some bones were dug out,
and Oh being examined were pro-
nounced to be human. This was
too much for the excited inhabi-
tants. stephen Boorn had recent
" removed to the State of New
York, but.Jess Boorn was arrest
ed on complaint of Truman Hill,
town grand juror, and brought be-
fore Joel Pratt, justice of the
peace, for examination. This was
the 9th day of April, 1919, nearly
seven years after the supposed
murder.
The examination commenced
Tuesday AMI lasted until Satur-
day, and was attended by large
! cOncourse of people. The coan-
Try was secured for evIdence. The
old ceiiar-h hole was re-opened, and
a large knife, pen-knife and a
button were found. The large
knife and button were identified as
having belonged to Colvin. The
bones found in the hollow stump
were brought into court, and four
physicians were called, who, after
an examination pronounced them
to be the bones of a human foot,
together with some toe-nails, and
perhaps a thumb-nail. One of the
physicians, who lived in Airing
ton, after thinking the matter over,
4 concluded there might AFTER all,
be some doubt about it and on ex-
aiming q human skeleton at
home was convinced that he had
been mistaken, and the next day
went into court and retracted his
former statement. The other ply.
sicians were not satisfied, and to
settle the matter sent to q neigh,
boring town and had a leg, thai
had been amputated and buried
exhumed and brought into court
and on comparing the two speci
mems, every one was convinced
: that, the bones were not human
This dampened the public ardo
somewhat, and it is probable tina
Jesse would have been discharged
} but that on Saturday he made ;
a statement that he believed Colvil
= had been murdered, and that hi
brpther Stephen was the murderer
: That Stephen told him, the prev