Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1876-06-03
The Scanold.

Piper, the belfry murderer, and Frost
who murdered TOwne at Petersham in
July last, were executed on Friday. Piper
made final statement which proves be-
You'd doubt that he was guilty Of all the
crimes he Is said to have confessed. We
quote from the Boston Globe:
lie murdered Bridget Landergin pre-
ciselY rs the authorities have always
claimed he did. The motive o. the afro
city, he has confessed, was to outrage
the body OF the girl after death, as
already stated, but in this purpose he was
fOile1 DO the prompt discovery of the
murder by the colored children living
near the scene, and he was forced to leave
the girl and flee for safety.
As to the Mabel Young murder, Piper
has confessed that lust, and lust of the
most hellish description, utterly unnat-
ural and impossible to be described, was
his motive, and that he attempted to car
ry 1t into execution before he struck the
child. The little victim, becoming alarm
ell ut what he had done, began TO scream,
and threatened to tell her mother, when
Piper, fearing that his deed might get him
into trouble, determined to silence her
amp hide his crime by killing her. lie
then struck her with the bat, repeating
his blows till he deemed the deadly work
complete, when he bore the unconscious
form of his victim to the place where it
was found, as already described again and
again.
Even more important testimony, as
furnishing the missing links relative in
the Mary Tyner assault, which by a
miracle almost just short of being another
murder, has been furnished by the latest
statement of the executed criminal,
which embodies the following details :.
On the night of June 80, 1874, Piper met
the girl on Lagrange street, and took
her to Il saloon, where they had oysters
and something to drink, as has already
been told by the victim, and having made
a bargain with her to stay with her all
night, in consideration of q payment of
So, he went with her to her room on Ok
ford street. Having passed the night
with her, he arosetea"ly in the morning,
while che was still asleep, and the idea
entering his head that he might as well
have his S. back again, he determined to
Kill her, secure the money and escape.
He accordingly struck her on her head
with plumbers hammer, repeating the
blows again and again till he though she
was dead. This hammer was necessarily
covered with blood and was likely to
prove a strong evidence against him
were it found He therefore-after wash
ing himself of the blood, as it is to be
presumed he did--endcavored to remove
the blood from the weapon. He scrubbed
it thoughly, and succeeded in getting the
metallic head free OF the damNing stains,
but there were numerous spots and
splashes of blood upon the handle which
no amount of scrubbing or securing could
obliteratc. Accordingly he used his
knife upon the handle, and cut and goug-
ed out the stained portions of the wood,
after which, no doubt fearing that the
hacked and scared condition of the
handle might be proof against him, he
determined to "make assurance doubly
sure" by burying the weapon, which he
did in the soft earth of the cellar under
the church. These facts Piper disclosed
i'll his most recent statement and when
questioned as to the exact locality, he
told his coDtidant that he coHld not de-
scribe it intclligeRtly, but that he could
draw Il digram Of the cellar, showing the
spot. He accordingly took pencil and
paper and drcWia diagram, locating the
furnaces and other articles in the base
ment. A mark indicated the spot where
the hammer was buried, and search was
accordingly made by digging in this spot.
AT first, noting was found, but 4 Seccoud
excavation, eighteen inches deep, close
by, disclosed the hammer in precisely
the condition. described by Piper. This
was on Wednesday last, and the hammer
was taken to the Office of the Chiefof
Police, and afterwards delivered to DR..
j. Il. Trcadwcllfor micrOscopical examina.
ton, to discover traces Of blood if posi-
| bic. This examination was made by DR.
| TreadWell and II written statement has
been made by him, that according to his
best knowledge and belief, there are
several stains Of blood upon the weapon
| Thus the confession of tbs criminal is
| proved to have been true, and the ncces
sary details arc afforded to complete the
chain of evidence connecting the whole
affair.
Frost denied to the last that he was
guilty of prcmeditated murder, and main
tanned that the time would come, when il
would be acknowledge that he was wrong
| fully convicted, and executed. He WAS
perfectly calm and st0ical to the last
and exhibited no signs Of fear or rcpen
lance for his crime.