The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1875-06-17
THE BooRN AFFAIR.

( Strange story OF CiEcumstantiaI xvi
Gence.
From the Boston Commercial Bulletin.
, On the morning of the 26th of No
| uember, 1919, I read in the Rutlan,
CVt.) Herald the following no ice:
murder !"
Printers of newspapers throughout
the United States are desired TO pub
lish that Stephen BOorn, of Manohes
ter, IN Vermont, is sentenced TO be ex
ecuted for the murder of Russel Colvin
who has been absent about seven years
Any person who can give information O.
said Colvin may save the life of the in
nocent, by making immediate cummu.
nication. Oolvin is about i've feet five
inches high, light complexion, Hght
hair, blue eyes, and about forty years
old. Manchester, VT, November, %,
1919"
This communication was copied very
generally by newspapers. and created 8
great decl of interest. Before describ-
ing events that followed, let us go back
to the year 1872 and to the little town
OF Manchester, Vermont.
Barney BOorn, an old man, had
two sons, Stephen and Jesse, and a
daughter, Sarah, wife of Russell Col
vim, a half-crazed, half-witted day Ia
borer. They were a bad lot, poor,
ignorant, and in doubtful repute for
honesty. Two miserable novels served
them for shelter, and n few acres of
| pine barrens constituted all their DOS
session. They raised a few potatoes
and garden vegetables, and eked out a
scanty livelihood by days work for the
neiShboring farmers.
| In May, 1912, Colvin was at home.
! In June he was missing. At first this
occasioned no remark. He was always
| a tramp, absent from home sometimes
for weeks together. But this time he
did not come back. AS weeks grew into
! months inquiries began to be made
among the neighbOrs about the missing
man. There are no tongues for gossip
| like those which wag in a Yankee VII
! lage- One spoke to another. Excite
ment grew. Wonder, like contagious
! disease, affected every body.
1t was known that there had long ex-
| listed between the old man and boys a
| grudge against Colvin it was in proof
that the last time the missing man was
seen he was at work with the Boorns
| clearing stones from a field, and that a
| dispute was going on and Lewis Col
win, boy, son of Russell, had stated
! that his father had struck his uncle
Stephen, and that the other returned
| the blow, and that then, he the boy, be-
coming frightened, ran away. Again, a
| MIR. Baldwin had heard Stephen Bcorn,
in answer to the inquiry as to where
Colvin was, say, He's gone to hell, 1
hope"
''Is he dead, stephenP" pursued MIR.
| Baldwin.
"I tell you again." replied the man,
"that Colvin has gone where potatoes
/ won't freeze.
For seven years the wonder grew.
| Colvin's ghost haunted every house in
/ Bennington county. There was no
known proof that the Boorns were guilty,
| and yet everybody believed It. a
/ button and jack knife were found, which
/ Mrs. @. believed to have belonged to
Russell !; dreams, thrice repeated, were
had by old women and kitchen girls
and ten thousand stories were in circu-
| latiOn.
Five years after Colvin was missed,
Stephen Boorn removed to Denmark, N.
! z, while Jesse remained at home. Af-
ter the former had left, some bones
were accidently found in the decaye /
trunk of tree near his house, and,
though all surgeons said to the contra
~, it was universally believed that they
were part of q human skeleton. OF
course, then, they must be Colvin's
bones. Jesse was arrested, Stephen
was brought back from Denmark, and
both we're held for examination. Al
though all the tes timony when sifted
was found to be worthless, yet the two
brothers were remanded back to Jail,
and Jesse was worked upon to make him
turn states evidence. The jailer tor
mented him with suggestions, which his
wife followed mp with womanly adroit-
ness. Neighbors helped. Beset with
preaching and prayers, tracts and SER
mons, religious conversation end piOus
directions-told that there was no doubt
/ in any ones mind but that Stephen COM
mitted the murder-urged to make a
clean breast of it and thus save both his
body and soul, what wonder that the man
confessed, or was alleged to have con-
fessed, that Stephen Boorn did murder
Russell Colvin?
On September 3, 1919, the grand jury
/ found a bill of indictment against
Stephen and Jesse Boorn for the MUIR
| der Of Russell Oolvln. William Farms
worth testified that Stephen confessed
that he did it, and that Jesse helped
him that they hid the body in the
bushes, then buried it, then dug it up
and burned it, and then scraped the few
remains and hid them in a stump. Upon
this unsupported evidence the jury
returned verdict of guilty against both
| prisoners, and they were sentenced to
be hung on January 2S, 1920.
And now the men came to their senses.
! They asserted their innocence. They
said that they had confessed rs their
| last hope. Some compassion began to
to be felt for them. They might, after
/ all, be innocent. A petition for their
pardon was presented TO the Legislature.
/ Bat il availed only to obtain commuta-
tion Of Jesse's sentence to imprisonment
for life. No more Stephen was to be
hanged.
Let the reader now turn to another
chapter OF this strange history.
In April, 1913, there lived ia Dover,
Monmouth county, n. J., Mr.. James
Polhamus. During that month way.
farer, begging food, stopped at bis door.
Being handy, good natured, quiet and
obedient, homeless, and weak OF intel
lect too, he was allowed to stay. de
said his name was Russell ColVin, and
thst he came from Manchester, VT.
Not far from Dover lies the little
town OF ShreV sbury, then quiet ham
let, now invaded by the cottages and
villas OF Long Branch pleasure seekers,
Here lived Taber Chadwick, brother. In
law TO Mr.. P,lhamus. and intimate with
the family. Accidentally reading the
New York Evening Post. he met, not
with tie notice of the Rutland Herald,
but with an account of the trial of the
B0Orns. Convinced that the Russell