Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1874-07-03
CRIMES AND CASUALTIES.

| At Oneida, n. Y. on the 18th inst a
| little child of James Doyle, while sitting IN
the road. was run over by wagon driven
| by James Bean, the wheel crushing its
skull and killing it instantly.
At Horseheads, Chemung county. June
| 18th, a young man named William Lee at
tackled Washington Graves. at whose house
he had been boarding, and cut him very
severely in several places with a razor.
| Graves's life is despaired ioi, and the Offices
are in search of Lee. The latter is a very
bad fellow, and has Just ended term IN the
State prison at Auburn. lie has been at
liberty less than two months.
A melancholy suicide occurred in Pitts
burg, recently. Emma Lee, the housekeep-
er for Alcester Kerr, brought a prosecution
against her employer for assault and bat
| terry, and the case on a hearing before an
alderman was decided against her. Imme-
diately upon hearing the result the woman
procured a glass of water and drank it. On
going home she became very i'll, and ply
siclan was sent for, To whom she confessed
that she had taken poison. She died in
short time, leaving letter, in which she
stated that she loved her employer and
could not live without him that he had
given her 500 to leave him after running
and promising TO marry her, and that the
money would bury her decenty. The de-
ceased was twenty-five wears OF age, and
stated Just before her death that her mother
lived in BroOme street, New York.
In quarrel about yacht race, in sa-
loon in Murray street, New York, Morti-
mer Sullivan was shot and instantly killed
by Mark Gill The Two had been quarrel
ing for some time, but finally stopped and
began to throw dice for drinks and friend
ship. Sullivan threw an unusually large
number aid said - Mark, You cannot beat
that upon which Gill drew revolver and
shot Sullivan in the eye. The latter fell,
and instantly expired. Gill ran out of the
door, cooking as revolver. but when he had
run about half the length of the block the
weapon went off. shooting him through the
lett hand. lie was soon afterwards arrested.
Both men were carriers around Washing
ton market. and were about hall drunk.
There does not appear, however, to have
been the slightest proyocatlon Tor the shoot
ing, the evidence showing that Sullivan
tried to avoid quarrel.
Ernest 0rtwein the wholesale murderer of
the Ilammet family. has been convicted of
his crime at Pittsburgh, and will doubtless
suffer the extreme penalty. The evidence
against him was overwhelming, and there
can be no possible ground for clemency.
Gov. Hartranit displayed a great deal of
trmness in the Wade case, which strongly
appealed to his sympaihies, the condemned
mans mother having been maniac from a
period long before his birth, and we shall
hardly expect to see him relent in 0rtwein's :
benali. In the list of cold-bloOded, cruel
and unprovoked butcheries, the transaction
at Homestead outranks any that We have
heard of for years. and the only regret is
that the penalty must be 50 light in COM
parisOn, and 80 obviously necessary, as to
strip it of its due weight of influence
lesson to murderers who are content TO do
business on a smaller scale
The body of Pierre Lacomb was found
recently in a swamp in the rear of the City
park, New Orleans, with bullet hole in
the head and another in the body. Traces
by the police show that be had been mur-
dered in the road and the body thrown into
the swamp.
John Donohue, charged with numbering
james Graham at Little Neck, l.. l., in
February, 1873. has escaped trial on legal
technicality. The point was raised that
two terms had expired and Donahue had
not been called for trial, and that therefore
he was entitled to his liberty. Justice
Armstrong decided in favor of the prisoner,
and Donohue was discharged.
Walter Hicks, of Westheld. Staten Is
land, recently brought from his cellar some |
illuminate Of mercury with which he intend |
ed TO bias: a rock, and placed it in the oven
of the kitchen range to dry. In Il few |
minutes Il terrible explosion occurred which |
blew the stove into minute fragments, tore |
out the two windows OF the room, and /
made hole in the ceiling five feet in dla-
meter. Mr.. Hicks was seriously but not |
dangerously cut in the head. hands and leg /
by the flying fragments OF the stove, and
Mrs. Hicks was terribly mangled, and
thrown into an adjoining room. stranger
was riding by. and was about twenty ieet
from the house at the moment. lie and his
horse were knocked down by the cOncus-
sion. Mrs. Hicks, who is seventy years old,
will die.