The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1877-07-05
sNlisreAanenus.
ELLA HARRINGTON'S DEATH.
ia Crime which IL Exciting the Sober People OF
massachusetts, Betrayed, Murdered by wrIAO-
tltlOner' and Her Body Thrown into the ll'sl'

river, near Lowell, Massachusetts, aDou'
seyen miles below the house in whlcl
she was murdered. brings before the pub
lie mind again case that long bewilder'
ed the detectives of Massachusetts, with
its mass of complication and mystery
but few clues being obtainable, and those
Ofthe most unsatisfactory charcter The
body was found to be tightly bound with
ropes, doubled up into an almost undis'
tinguishable mass, sewed up in sack,
which had weights attached to it, show
ing care and deliberate purpose in dispo'
sing of the remains, that argued equal
care and purpose in the murder. The
INQUIRIES and researches have resulted in
holding j. A. Favor as the principal
and Albert White as accessory, and sew
eral persons, who are supposed to have
known of the murder, have been or will
be arrested. The evidence against Favor
is declared to be very strong. In order
to a clear understanding of the case it is
necessary to give briefly the facts as far
as known:
Mary Ella Harrington, beautiful girl
of eighteen and graduate Of the Boston
Normal School, was the daughter OF a
ship.Carpenter at East Boston. She had
been in the habit Of visiting relatives in
Portland, Me-, and there met a young
lady from Newton, Mass. The acqualnt-
anCe soon ripened into intimate friend
ship, and an invitation to visit her friend
at Newton. Miss Harrington had an
other lady friend, Miss Josephine Fol-
som, with wLom she was walking in Bos
ton one day last summer, when they
met Miss HarlingtoE's friend from New.
ton, and the previous invitation was so
warmly pressed that Mary consented to
accept, and the following Monday, Sept
9Th, was set as the day. Favor appears
to have been her accepted lover at that
time. On the day set for the visit to
Newton. Miss Folsom accompanied her
friend to the Boston and Albany train
Mary assuring her in bidding good-by
that she would return next day. Her
friends never saw her again in life. On
the Wednesday following Miss Folsom
received the following note from her:
MY DEAR PHENIE-I have been out to
ride this afternoon, and am having such
a nice time that I have decided to stay
until Saturday. Please tell my mother
not to be alarmed. MARY HARRINGTON.
Newton, Sept. 7, 1875.
On the following Monday, week hav-
ing elapsed since her disappearance, her
family became alarmed. The friends in
Portland were written to for the address
of the Newton girl, but without avail.
Search in Newton only discovered one
girl of that name and age, but she de-
Clared that she knew no one of the name
of Mary Harrington. Subsequently she
admitted having known Miss Harrington
at the Normal School, but denied that
Miss Harrington had ever visited her.
The girls mother, too said she was not
aware of her daughters friend, and that
she did not know of her being in Port
land. On the Goth of October Mrs. Har-
rington received a letter, purporting to be
from her daughter, but written in a mas
culine and disguised hand, the words
misspelled and the sentences wrongly
punCtuated. 1t was as follows:
Ny DEAR MoTHER-l send you this 80
that you needn't worry for me. have
found friend, and am never coming
home any more, at least for a good long
while. My friend is writing this for me
because have burned my hand. From
your daughter. MARY.
New York, Oct. IA, 1876.
The family Immediately concluded she
had been foully dealt with, for it did not
seem plausible that she would remain
away from home so long without writing,
and then take the opportunity just as she
had injured her hand. From time to
time circumstances corroboratory Of this
gloomy view came to light Her New
ton friend confessed to having gone to
Lowell with Mary to have an abortion
performed Her lover Favor, barber
by trade, earned a mere pittance, and
this was given as reason for the nom
marriage Of the two. Favor's grandfath'
er was alleged to have taken the poor
girl to the abortionist, Mrs. Adelia w.
Avery. This woman has since died, but
her daughter, Mrs. Isadore A. Cook, re-
siding at Chelmsford, Mass, has been ar
rested for completely in the murder, and
to-day made to City Marshal Clemence,
of Lowell, full confession of the crime,
reciting the fact that Favor brought Miss
Harrington to her mothers house, the
details of the various attempts at aboI-
ton reformed upon her, the gradual
sinking of the girl under the operations,
and finally her death, after which the
body was tied up as described, and cast
into the Merrimac river.
New facts are constantly accumulating,
and there is now every prospect that the
truth in all its enormity will soon be
known, and the guilty parties brought
to Justice The body was found by one
of party of lumbermen who were raft
ing logs on the Merrimac, who saw
foot above the water floating down stream
and gave notice to the others, who pulled
out to the place and found human body
tied in cramped position and almost
encased in blanket. They dragged the
corpse to the shore, and found the body
to be that of q woman. 1t was in
q fair state of preservation with the ex.
eeption of the back Of the hands and one
foot. A rope was attached to the body,
and it is thought that weight had been
tied to it, and that the rope had recently
broken, allowing the body TO float. Cor
. Oner ChamDorlaln VloW6u INC DOuy anu
concluded it was that of Mary Ella Har-
rington, the unfortunate East Boston girl
The body was packedin ice, and the Cor
oner took the early train to Boston yes
terday morning. After an interview
with the authorities Of Station he re-
turned to Lowell, accompanied by Off
GERS Adams and Vaney, and Mrs. Hsr-
rington, the girls mother, who fully iden-
tilted the body as that Of her daughter,
in spite of the decomposition Of the body
noting especially peculiar tooth. It is
believed by the officers that the body
must have been thrown into the liver
from the Tyngsboro bridge. The feet
and legs below the knees were bent back
wards upon the hips, and were held in
that position by the lower part Of the
blanket The teeth are in a state Of good