The Rutland daily globe. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1873-1877, 1877-04-16
Il PHAIR CASE.
The Latest Sensation Its Denial from vel
gennes.

gennes.
The latest sensation in the case of John
p. Phair comes to us through a special dis
patch from Vergennes TO the Boston Globe,
and published in that journal. The die
patch merely revives several Of the old ru-
mors that were afloat at the time of the
murder, and were at that time exploded,
with the exception of a few additional pur-
ported particulars which are fully denied
by a letter from Vergennes published here
with. After stating that their revelations
come in the form of new evidence, and re-
iteratlng a few sentences relative to Mrs.
Freeze, the following statement is made:
Aurelia Brooks, of Vergennes, did not
appear, and was not called. although her
name came before the detectives 10 q way
that looked suspicious. This Brooks wo-
man had been at Mrs. Freezes house
during the week preceding the murder.
She had left Vergennes to go there, and was
very poor, 80 much 80 that she had to leave
her clothes and trunk at the house, in de-
fault of the payment of S1S. A washer
woman here, Mrs. Robert Mclaughlin; re-
ceived from Rutland the week after the
murder a package of clothes by express,
delivered by a driver of the United States
and Canada company, named John Gravel,
not receipted for, but paid for afterwards.
The bundle contained the under
clothes of n woman, which Mrs.
Mclaughlin recognized as belonging
TO Aurelia Brooks. They we're
covered with blood-the skirts, stockings,
handkerchiefs, etc. There was no note
with them and nothing TO show whose
they were, but the woman recognized
them, having washed them before. The
package was opened in the presence Of
Edward Hayes and Libby Ayers, who re-
member distinctly the bundle, the clothes
and their appearance, as they were COM
pletely clotted with blood, and were musty,
having lain in the bundle some days, so as
to smell dissgreeably. The clothes were
washed and held for the owner at Rutland.
The first order for their return came from
Whitehall, N. V, about a week afterwards,
in a letter signed by Aurelia Brooks, ask
ing for the particular Qrlicles-skirts,
stockings and underclothing. No money
came, 30 the clothes were not fent. An
other letter came from the same place,
and soon after the girls mother called
and paid the money for the washing and
took away the clothes. About two months
afterwards Aurelia Brooks appeared at
Nergennee, dressed in q rich silk dress,
navy blue, with underclothes, boots, hat,
etc., to match. Edward Hayes saw her
and talked with her, when she said she
was at Rutland at the time of the murder.
She talked about the murder, and showed
at least 800 in money. The facts of the
case were reported to J. @. Thornton, a
Rutland detective, and the letter from
Whitehall was given him, which he took
away, but never called Aurelia Brooks,
and she was never heard of in the trial.
The parties are ready to swear to these
facts. MIR. and Mrs. Mclaughlin, Libby
Ayers and Edward Hayes, also Mrs. Du-
chan, seem to be reliable witnesses and
honest people. Several parties here
will testify TO the main facts of her
poverty till the time Of the murder
and lavish money and dress afterwards.
She had not enough 10 pay her board, and
owed the dressmaker, Mrs. Duchan, for
making a dress. She owed the milliner
and paid all her bills. Why was she not
called at the trialf Take this with the
disappearance of Sargent, the Rutland
photographer, and the new clew appears as
reasonable and more SO than the detectives
theory. The Brooks woman had an
oNHONH "a AhChNJ ebh SiObhSo "Otth DlOUy
which she could not get in two months, ex-
cept in some Legitimate way. The
Mclaughlin woman made these statements
several times, but no notice was taken of
them. Detective Thornton did not follow
up the clew given him. The woman is
now in Saratoga, N. Y, and does not live
in NergenDes. The evidence Is worth con-
sidering and opens up a new feature of the
s"""ih mona than anv vat diAnnrared-
A Denial Of the Statement from Vergennes,
Etc.
Editor Rutland Globe The article in
the Boston Globe, Of this Gate from
Vergennes in regard to new testimony in
the Phair case was evidently written by a
man who claimed TO be a lawyer from
Boston, and who las been here for two
days, az he claimed, looking up evidence
in behalf of Phair.
The bundle of bloody clothes" claimed
by Mrs. Mclaughlin to have come through
the express Office is, doubtless, a fiction, as
the express books at Vergennes and Rut-
land, by careful examination, show that no
such bundle was sent from Rutland or re-
ceived at Vergennes.
Mr.. John Gravel, the person alluded to
as having delivered the bundle TO Mrs.
Mclaughlin, utterly denies the fact, and,
as he is a man of unimpeachable character,
his statement is sufficient in the minds of
those who know him.
The witnesses named in the Boston
Globe may not intend to state what is not
true, but their reputation and standing in
the community is not such as to entitle
their testimony to the weight it might
have were not facts overwhelmingly against
them. This is written in behalf of the ex-
press agent here and Mr.. Gravel, who
made exactly the same statement to the
person who no doubt was the author of
the. communication to the Boston Globe
and while though quite sensational, is, in
the minds of a better class of people here,
extremely thin, and incapable of very
strong proof. g.
Vergennes, April IA. 1877.
Press Comments.
The st. Johnsbury Oaled0nian says -
"Phair's friends are now moving earnestly
in his behalf. He lacks neither friends
nor money now, and the best legal aud de-