Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1873-09-26

ONE oF TuE MOST slNCtIAE CASES oN RECORD
Hsir Tro Meq .rere S.niraoed 20 be- Hung
for fi, Nurir of n Nan t-to iras not
D,g5. and Her tiny Finally Escaped.
TIE rEtr STORY or TIE Evors BooRN TRIAL
IS VERMONT. uITY YEARS AGO.
From Pamphlet just published by ez-Lieu.-Goy.
Leonard Sergeant.
In the spring Of 1872. there lived in the
town of Manchester, Vt. near the Batten-
Kill lrifcr. a iamilv named Boom. The fami-
lv consisted Of the father. Barney Boorn. his
wife. two grown-up sons. stephen and jesse
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
oId people were generally considered res
prgtabc. and We're in comfortable circum-
stances, while the other members of the
family were considered rather wild and
reckless The son-in-aw. Colyin, was a
man Of weak intellect, and was at times in
sane. and would sometimes absent himself
for days at time without giving any ac-
count Of himself, and once he was conc
eight or nine months. though it is said that
be corre~ponJed with his family during that
time
On these occasions Colyin generally took
with him his fay0ritc boy. a child two or
three years Old. and would carry it most of
the way on his back. I'm the month Of May
1872, during the absence of Mrs. C0lyin.
who was on visit for a few days TO "a neigh
boring town, Colyin suddenly disappeared
No particular inquiry was made at the time
As the BoornS reported that he had gone on
one of his customary joGrney~. 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 a painful
nature began to spread, and suspicious of
foul play were communicated from one to
another.
To add fuel to the flame it was remember
cd that the young Boorns had spoken
strangely of the disappearance of Colyin.
though no one had taken much notice of it
At the time. One Of them had stated that
he knew Coiyin was dead, and the other.
that they had put him where potatoes would
not freeze. Though these were, probably,
IDLE remarks when made. they served. great
ly, To make the people believe that the
Boorn- were responsible for the disappear
ance of t1lyin. Il was also known that
Colyn and the B1orn> had not been on good
terms, and thai Ihey sometimes quarreled.
In a short time the public came to the con-
clusion that GOWN had been murdered. and
that the Boorn- were the murderers. and a
hundred ewes and ears were on the alert TO
discover evidence of what they already be-
ieyei TO be true
And evidence was not long in forthcoming
some children at play on or near the old
Boorn place, found "a hat in q moudy, Gilapi-
dated condition. and il being recognized as
the hat Col,in wore at the time of his dis
appearance. search at once begun for the
bones of the unfortunate man About this
time. Amos BJon. uncle Of Stephen and
Jesse. and q man of unimpcachahle charac-
ter. dreamed that Russell Coyin came 10 his
bedside and told him that he had been mur-
derrl, and to follow him and he would lead
GO the spot where he was buried. This was
repeated three times. The place of burial,
a> described in the dream, was an Old eel
hr-hoie. about tour feet square. over which
% house had formerly stood. and which was
used. at the time of Colyins disappearance.
l- place for blrying potatoes, as was fire.
ggently done i'm those days, but which had
aiterward been filed up. There was Moth
Ing very singular in the dream when We
consider that Mr. Blom was greatly cxer-
ciscl about the matter, and had probably
caniectured such things in his waking hours.
hut 10 the many -uperStitiou~ people of that
period it wa~ &c confirmation strong as proof
ot holy writ
About this time barn on the B10rn farm
was burned. and ii was supposed by many
that the body might have been concealed
under il. Another circumstance occurred
which excited much attention \ lad with
deg was walking at short distance from
Barney B1orn :. when the dog began 10 dlg
iuriouslv beneath an old stump. soon some
bones were dug out, and on being examined
were pronounced to be human. This was
Too much for the excited inhabitants. Steph-
eu B1orn had recently removed TO the State
of New York, hut jesse Boom was arrested
900 complaint OF Truman Hill. town grand
Juror. and br0u Eht before Joe, Pratt, Justice
of the peace. for examination. This was on
The 9th day of April, 1919. nearly seven
Years after the supposed murder.
The examination commenced Tuesday and
a-ted until saturday, and was attended by a
large c0ncourse of people. The country
was secured for evidence. The old cellar
hole was re-opened. and large kniie. pen
knife and button We're found. The large
knife and button were identified as having
belonged % Colviu. The bones found in the
hollow stump were brought into court, and
Pour physicians were called. who. after an
evouins+;on Pronounced Them to be the