The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1876-05-10

yHE coyrEss1oNcY fTpEa- GHT ToRBLIxDzD
CouSsEf ls1sg ron I'D Dob rHEsEcRET
OF HIs cKiRE "A y rspTCfoS rHIr HE rs
TRYING THE INSANITY DODGE.
AZ briefly mentioned b, our telegraps,ie
dispatches yesfHrdsy Thomas nv. FfDer, the
sexton Oh fhef lWafTetE.ASe church sof
Boston, who IS Under sentence Of death for
the murdered the dSe-gear-old child Mabel
Young In the beiiry ot the church, SUNDAY
startled His counsel, Edward p. Brown, who
was i'm consultation with him regarding the
motion for a new trial, bYssa confession OF
the murder, and, furthermore, that he was
the murderer iof Bridget Landregin,
at Dorchester, ON the night of Deeem-
Der %, 1873, OF which crime he Inns been
long under suspicion. Also, that he was
principal In the mysterious and nearly fatal
assault on Mary Tyner III Oxford street,
Boston, two years ago. Piper declares that
he had no motive for these crimes, particu-
larly the murder OF the child, and cannot
understand how he came TO commit them.
II is Gharitably assumed by some that he
was actuated only by o fendish love Of
bloodshed, like the boy Jesse Pomeroy, who
still lies in jail Piper says he has hitherto
lied about the matter to blind his counsel,
knowing that he could not get their aid IL
they for a moment believed in his guilt. BE
has Of late been rapidly breaking down in
strength and health through his great mental
agony, and IL ia thought that il allowed to
escape the galloWs he could not live six
weeks; His execution Is set down for the
18th Of this month. ::
Piper, In his confession of the murder Of
Mabel Young, says "Gao :.zs II
:. / took the bat from the lower room before
OF about the commenc cement OF school to
kill somebody. At that time carried it up
into the auditorium, brt during the session
Of Sunday school took lit, from the audito-
rum and carried It to the beliry. After the
close OF school I came down stairs and
opened the doors; then went up again.
At the time sent away the boys who were
playing in the vestibule. After the boys
had gone out and I was still in the vesti-
bule, when the little girl came up stairs, and
induced her to 20 with me into the belfry.
There / struck her with the club two or
three times, and she fell where the blood
was found. Then / picked her up and car
ried the body to the place where it was dis
covered.
His confession OF the murder Of Bridget
Landregin on December 5, 1873, was equally
explicit. He was under the influence OF
whiskey and opium, and deliberately pre-
pared club to kill some one. lie saw
Bridget on the street and followed close be-
hind her. He says: 81 struck her.. Imme-
diately she fell down, and I struck her
again. While was STOPPING over the body
saw man coming, so I started up and ran
away. Igot over the fence and went along
towards the railroad. While was ut the
railroad somebody called out to me, and /
| then turned back, took a roundabout course,
and got home. On the way home it occur
red to me that had knife in my pocket
which might. be recognized in some manner,
and so threw it away"
The Bridget Landregin case has been
wrapped in the deepest mystery. The girl
was domestic in good repute, and while
returning to her mistress home at about. 0
O'Clock at night, from visit to some friends,
was assaulted and brutally dubbed to death
at part of Dorchester known as Upham's
Corner. Several arrests were made, Piper's
being one OF them, but sufficient evidence
could not be obtained against any OF the prl-
soners, and each was discharged soon after
examination. It was for this murder that
Thomas Cahill, who went soon after the
murder to Ireland, was extradited and
brought to this country by the detectives:
He was former sweetheart OF the girl, but
no case whatever could be made against
him, and he was discharged only to return
to ireland to be murdered himself there.
Mary Tyner was q girl Of the town, and was
found one night in her bed insensible and
horribly mangled. She was taken to the
hospital and managed to live through. A
lover of hers named Colby,was arrested for
this assault, but she refused to tell what she
knew Of the case, and he was discharged.
There arc petitions in circulation for the
communication of sentence Of Piper, and oil
ready they have been signed by many infiu'
entail citizens. Whether he will be aban'
doned to his fate remains to be seen.
The Evening Herald says: "There Is
feeling abroad among lawyers, detectives,
and the public generally that the contra.
dictory statements now put out by Piper are
the result Of cool reasoning on, his part and
Of 81 such ingenuity as he is possessed of in
order to throw doubt upon his sanity in
general, or else to show that he has an I'm.
Comfortable mania for blood, for which he
is not responsible. f." ..-