The Lake County star. [volume] (Chase, Mich.) 1873-current, 1875-11-25
NUMBER &c. q
The Langmaid Tragedy.
Boston Herald.l.


n There seems to be little doubt that in
Joseph La Page, now in durance in Con-
cord Jail, the New Hampshire authorities
have the perpetratorl of the murder OF
poor Josie Langmaid, who was found in
the weeds, at Pembroke, Mass, her head
severed from her body and terribly lace
rated otherwise. The evidence against
La Page isentirely of circumstantial
and Jinferential character, Suspicion
was first directed towards him in the fol-
lowing described manner: Shortly before
the murder Mr.. Fowler, Chairman of the
Board of Selectmen of Pembroke, had
some men at work for him with thresh-
ing machine. Another whom he had en-
gagged as tender had to disappoint him,
and suggested the employment, in his
stead, Of a Frenchman who was along
with him. Mr.. Fowler accepted the sub
stitute, did not inquire his name, and
kept him through the day. When they
were all in at tea, Mr.. FOwler's daughter,
a mate of Josie Langmaid, came in and
was observed by the Frenchman. After
tea, when hitching up a horse to go to the
village, Mr.. Fowler's son was asked by
the Frenchman who the girl was. Being
answered that she was his sister, he next
inquired where she had come from: the
answer was, from school, and the academy
on a distant elevation was pointed out.
While passing along the road together
toward the village, and when they
reached the new road which branches off
toward the academy, the Frenchman in
quired of young Fowler if his sister went
over that or the old road, and was an
swered, unsuspectingly, that the scholars
from that direction usually took the new
road, through the woods.
The bushes alongside this road are
very thick, and the scholars in passing
had been in the habit of hiding ana jump
ing out to frighten each other. The next
day, or at least soon after young Fowler
had his talk with the Frenchman, as one
of the school boys was going to school,
he caught an indistinct view of what he
supposed to be one of his mates in the
bushes, and shouted to him that he could
not frighten anybody, for that was
"played out" When he arrived at the
academy he was astonished to see there
the very boy whom ne supposed he had
passed in the bushes. The party he saw
is supposed to have been La Page lying
in wait for Miss Fowler. t'a
On the day of the murder, which was
almost Immediately after this, Miss FOw-
Ter, Just before entering the woods, waited
for Josie Langmaid to come along; after
waiting some time, some neighbor came
along with carriage, and concluding
that Josie had preceded her, she got in
and went to school, thus, probably saving
her life. 1t was not ten minutes after
that, probably, that Josie met her MUIR
derer. When the murder was discov-
cred, Mr.. Fowler's boy recalled his con-
versation with the Frenchman. Suspi.
cion began to run against him, and an eff
fort was then made to find him, to dis
cover who he was and where he belonged.
While this was going on at SuncOok,
Mr.. w. N. Abel, with whom Miss Bell
(the lady murdered in st. Albans, in July,
1874 boarded on st. Albans Fast Hill,
read about the Langmaid murder, and
that it was near Suncook. Knowing that
Joseph La Page, who lived in his neigh
borhood at the the time of the Bell muir
der, had removed last spring to SuncoOk,
he thought the fact of sufficient impor-
tance to be communicated to the author
ities Accordingly he told Justice Farms
worth, who Immediately wrote the Select
men of Suncook. Theletter was received
by Mr.. Fowler just as he and the detec-
tives were trying to find the unknown
Frenchman. The latter gave the name
of La Page, and stated that the children
were working in the Suncook factory.
To the factory they went, and the over
seer was able 10 point out La Pages
house. They went there, and Mr.. Fow-
ler instantly recognized La Page as the
man who had worked for him with the
threshers as above described, and he was
at once taken into custody. From that
moment the officers worked on the as
sumption that he was the murderer, and
day by day picked up points of evidence
here and there, all tending to confirm
that theory.