St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1877-10-26
Pistols and Coffee for Two.

As DIR. A. G. Brush was walking past
the millinery shop of Miss Louisa Coffey
of Fairfax, over in Franklin county,
Miss Coffey fired a revolver at him
three times, as is alleged, though no one
was hit. The scandal is thus humor-
ously summarized by the st. Adams
Messenger:
The substance of the story, as ap-
peared in proof, was that Miss Coffey,
aged sc, and having no near relatives
save sister, occupied house, in which
she kept millinery shop, alongside the
office of DIR. Brush /; that the latter, who
was a widOwer, with adult children, be-
came attentive to her, and under a
promise of marriage Ito which he SAYS
he attached the condition ''if the chill
dren did not Object,") induced her to
love him mot wisely but too WE'LL"
Whether or not he really did intend to
marry her but afterwards abandoned
the intention in Difference to the wishes
of his children did not appear; at all
events he went and married a Younger
woman and she threatened n suit for
breach of promise. Thereupon he made
a settlement with her, the precise terms
of which did not appear, but one of
them was that he was to pay her rent.
This he continued to do, and also con-
timed his visits to her house. The
good understanding thus established
was of short duration, however, for
when other men began to call upon her
the doctor seems to have become earn
estly engaged for her welfare, for he
not only watched her premises at night,
but protested to her verbally, and in
frequent badly written love-lorn mis-
sives, which he tucked under the door,
and which she produced in court. She
did not heed his requests and the breach
widened. Each took frequent occasion
to insult and abuse the other. He pro-
fessed to have become afraid of her
not of her exposing him to his Beauty,
as she calmly and respectfully spoke of
his wife, but of her taking his life, be-
cause on one occasion when she called
at his house to get some medicine he
says he saw or felt Il dirk in her posses
sion. She processes to have become
greatly annoyed by his prying surveil-
lance and his efforts to stigmatize her
house, and having been told that she
had right to protect her premises, she
borrowed a revolver and at once let him
see that she had such weapon of de-
fence in her possession. On the night
of the l tn instant she heard something
strike her house something too heavy
for rain, too light for stones. She made
the unpleasant discovery that it was
eggs; not premium eggs, such as are
seen at fairs t; not mOnstrOus eggs, such
as secure cheap mention in print when
left in solitary grandeur upon the edi-
tOrial table, nor yet fresh and nutritious
eggs, such as the benevolent tenderly
deposit at the doors of the widow and
the fatherless poor; but regular right
down rotten eggs, OUG cdriOsus, fetid,
foul, punctured and putrescent eggs,
which were smashed upon the clap
boards and lay steaming ON the walk.
There was no mystery in this 'sshower
explain it. She knew by intuition that
it was portion of doctors stuff and for
such malpractice she quickly determin-
ed to administer blue pill. Down came
the pistol from the pantry shelf and
open flew the door. She fired three
times, up and down the street and into
the startled air. And DR.. Brush ran.
He admits that he ran. And it was
considered unfortunate that he chap
pened to be passing" so as to need to
run. 1t was also unfortunate that he
had been to store that very evening
and purchased some decayed eggs, and
more unfortunate still that he carried
portion of them home, for, to show that
he hadn't been throwing any eggs, he
took his innocent daughter into court
and proved by her that she found the
stale eggs which he had bought, lying
on their kitchen table. But amid all
this misfortune and unsavory smell and
sound, the Fairfax merchants are for
tunate in having found market for un-
saleable goods, and a peaceable and or
derby community that has long been
scandalized is fortunate in having a
pool of moral rottenness drained and
deodorized by exposure and reproof.
The justice discharged the woman and
public opinion clapped it's hands. But
they want no more pistols in Fairfax
and can easily forego their Coffey.
The Vergennes Murder Case