Connecticut western news., 1873-07-25
The Goodrich Mystery.
Solution of the Strangely Sad Proble

Solution of the Strangely Sad Problem . The murder of Charles Goodrich i r h1s house ln Degraw street, Brooklyn n on the 23d of March last, has ceased , be mystery, by the confession of gull a made by Kate Stoddard. The woman , confesses that she killed her paramou Charles Goodrich, and had, since Apri
 last, boarded in the house of Mrs. An , Taylor, a widow, of No. 127 High street I Brooklyn. On obtaining this comics , sion. the police sent officers to the hous, on High street, and on opening he trunk the revolver, watch, pocket book a ring, and two seals, all the property O ] the murdered man. were found. If the police regarded her confession witl doubt, here was corroborative and un
 mistakable evidence. and in moment
 all mystery surrounding the affair hao vanished.
 Kate Stoddard had been in he house
 with Goodrich for some days previous
 to the murder, having returned after g
 temporary absence caused by the re.
 monstrance of MT. W. W. Goodrich with
 his brother. Charles Goodrich seemed
 determined to discard her, or at least to
 get her away from the house and neigh
 borheod. She was equally determined
 not to be cast off, thinking that he de-
 sired her out of the way to make room
 for another. This led to bitter quar-
 rels, especially on Wednesday, March
 19, and the following day, when she
 threatened to shoot him with 8 pistol
 which she had in her possession. On
 Friday morning, or after midnight on
 Thursday, she went down to the base
 ment, and Goodrich following, the
 quarrel was renewed. He spoke con-
 temptuously, and said he would do all
 he could afford for her, but she must
 leave the house. The repetition of this
 determination cost him his life. A pis-
 tol was in her pocket, and in another
 moment she had fired bullet into his
 brain. Two more shots were fired, both
 entering the head, and Goodrich fell | dead. She laid him carefully before the grate, wiped away the blood which oozed from his wounds and placed by his side pistol, four barrels of which had been discharged. She left the house on Fri day morning and went to New York. Her movements for nearly & month thereafter are unknown, but it is con- jectured that she lived in New York. During the third week in April she called at No. 127 High street, Brooklyn, and under the name of Minnie Waltham hired furnished room from Mrs. Ann Taylor, the owner and occupant of the house. The dwelling is plain three story brick, near Jay street. During the first six weeks of her residence she went regularly to New York every morn ing and returned each evening, crossing and recrossing Fulton Ferry, and traversing the most populous streets of New York and Brooklyn, while the police of other cities were receiving re- quests to arrest her. Kate Stoddard, or Minnie Waltham, as she was known in the house, ceased her regular visits to New York in June, and worked at home in making straw hats, always dressing neatly and preserving ladylike de- meanor.
 She frequently associated with the family, who can remember but one singular action on her part. A news paper, with an account of the Walworth murder, was brought home by Mrs. Taylor's son, who commenced reading 1t. She requested him to stop reading, and, on his refusal, hurriedly left the | room. She continued to board with the family until she was arrested. Her disappearance created some anxiety, | but her friends concluded that she had | gone to Trenton. N. J., where she said | her parents resided. A policeman call ed at the house, and, on learning that a | woman answering to the description of the one in custody was missing, he re- quested Mrs. Taylor to accompany him to the Second Precinct Station house in York street. Mrs. Taylor complied, and there recognized the woman as the lodger known to her as Minnie Waltha1n, of Trenton, N. J. An officer and de- tective returned to the house, and en- tering her room on the third floor, forced open her trunk. A 1arge-sized Jurgensen gold watch met their sight, and pistol, with three empty cham bers, was found at the bottom of the ] trunk. Further search disclosed two seals aad ring. One of the seals was old-fashioned, with the letter "G' deeply cut. The ring was of gold, chased, with a blood-stone set in it. The watch was double-cased, of red gold, anchor movement, stem pendant winding, No. 11,232, of the make of Jules Jurgensen, of Copenhagen. The chain was of long and heavy plain gold links. The pocket-book, containing $16, was also found, and large packet of letters addressed to Lizzie M. King, and evidently written by the mother and sister of the woman. They came from Marlborough, Mass, and although the woman denies it, yet it is thought by the police that her real name is Liz zis M. King, and her native place the New England village from which her letters were posted. When shown the watch and other articles she said little, and evidently desired to keep her real name from the possession of the police in order to avert disgrace from her family.
 HISTORY OF THE CASE.
 Kate Stoddard is supposed to have come from her home in Massachusetts over year since, and formed the &C., quaintahce of Goodrich by answering 8 "personal" advertisement in 8 New York newspaper. As might have been expected. an acquaintance so formed soon degenerated to criminal intimacy. Kate was then employed in a bonnet factory at the corner of Broadway and Spring street. After few weeks &C., quaintance with Goodrich she moved to one of the houses in Degraw street, and was his constant companion. She as- serts that he was united to her by mock marriage, but the gentleman whom she charges with the performance of the ceremony indignantly denies all knowledge of it. The murderess being now in custody and the once dark mys- tery cleared up, little remains to be told of the past history of the case. Charles Goodrich was childless widower and man of little moral character He owned about one-third interest in block of seven brown-stone houses in Degraw street, between Fifth and Sixth avenues, bleak and dreary portion of South Brooklyn. He superintended their erection during 1872, and when finished in the fall of that year. he