The Portland daily press., 1877-10-24
BY TELEGRAPH.
MAINE.
THE AUBURN MURDER.

Especial Despatch to the Press.l |
LEWISTON, Oct. 2S.-The preliminary exam |
nation of Mr.. and Mrs. Lamb, charged with |
murder in procuring an abortion upon Miss |
Lizzie Maud Holmes, and of John f. Foss as
accessory before the fact, began this morning
before Judge Cornish At o'clock the Mum
cipal Court room was crowded with about an
equal proportion of men and women, and the
doors guarded to prevent further inconvenience
from the crowd. County Attorney W. FL.
White conducts the examination in behalf of
the state. Messrs. Hutchinson & Savage ap-
pear for the respondents. At ten minutes past
9 o'clock Mrs. Lamb was led into the court
room supported on each side, and seated in a
chair bolstered with pillows. She has been
confined to her house by sickness since the in
quest on Thursday last. She appeared very
weak and suffering from nervous prostration.
In few minutes after the appearance of Mrs.
Lamb, her husband and Foss were brought in.
Court was then called and the respondents af-
ter listening to the reading of the writ by
Clerk E. A. Nash, plead not guilty. The gov
eminent witnesses present were then sworn.
Mr.. Lamb does not appear much concerned.
Foss has been very melancholy for few days
past and looked quite pale when he appeared in
court this morning.
After a brief opening by County Attorney
White, Mrs. Elizabeth d. Holmes, mother of
the deceased, was summoned. She testified
that she first heard that her daughter had left
the shop of Dingley, Strout & Co., where she
had been at work, by a postal card from her
room mate, Miss Stockman, Sept. 90. She i'm
mediately started from Mechanic Falls, where
she is now living, for Auburn and proceeded at
once to Lizzie's room. This was the 29th of
September. She then saw John f. Foss and
asked him about Lizzie. He told her she had
gone to Massachusetts and was all right, not to
worry about her; She expressed surprise that
Lizzie should have had money enough to go
such journey. Foss said he had loaned her
$40. After Mrs. Holmes returned home to Me-
chanic Falls she received a letter from her
daughter. She did not think it was in her
daughter handwriting. This letter purported
to have been written in Portland and is post
marked Oct s. ~ m Mrs Holmes said that
her daughter had no friends in Portland, to her
knowledge, where she could stop. In the above
letter Lizzie spoke of new silk dress she had
purchased during her absence, and also of GO
ing out to walk with Mamie, which by the way,
| is the name of a daughter of Mrs Lambs,
She first heard of her daughters trouble the
Saturday night after she came to Auburn from
u1cCudulC l. dis.
After cross-examination conducted by Mr..
Savage, it appeared that Foss had boarded
with Mrs. Holmes for short time two wears
ago. He told Mrs. Holmes he was in Lizzie's
room the Friday evening before she disappear
ed. This is the last any one saw of her. She
did not think the Portland letter was in Lizzies
| handwriting when she first received it. She
| doubted at the time if her daughter was in
| Portland.
Mrs. Nancy nj, Simmons was next called.
| She din the same building and nearly
| opposite the room occupied by Lizzie Holmes
| in kine's Block, Auburn She. knew. Foss and
had seen him frequently at Lizze's room dur
| ing the past summer. Some of the time he
was there every evening and some of the time
not go often. She saw him go into her room
the Friday evening before Lizzie disappeared.
She had never seen other gentlemen call at
Lzzie's room or riding with her.
The cross-examinatiOn ELECTED this further
| testimony. She first noticed Lzzie's condition
| about three months ago and mentioned it to
one person.
Cora E. Clark testified that Lizzie took her
meals at the place where she miss Clark
boarded. She did not appear at the table for
day or two before her disappearance. Miss
CLARK was in Lizzie's room frequently and saw
Foss there often. She was in her room the
Friday night Sept q, when Lizzie was last
SEEM, and while there FOss came in, She new
| or knew of Lizzie's keeping company with any
| other gentleman than Foss. She was well &C.
| quainted with Lizzie's friends, but knew of no
friend OF hers by the name of Mamie AT one
time Foss told her Lizzie was at her home in
Mechanic Falls. At another time she heard
Foss tell Mrs. Holmes that her daughter was
| in Massachusetts.
At this point the court adjourned till o.
| clock in the afternoon.
| AT 220 p. M, the court came in and the ex-
animation in chief ofiMiss Clark was continued
by County Attorney White. The seats in the
court room were filled with women
After few statements concerning the furni-
ture in the room in which Lizzie died, which
was by the way but partially furnished, the
cross-examinatien was taken up Miss Clark
| did not know what Iizzie's condition was be-
fore she went away.
Miss Lizzie M. Clark was the next witness.
| She had been in the habit of visiting Lizzie
| Holmes room often for the past six or seven
weeks. She had often seen Foss there and had
meyer seen Lizzie Holmes with any other gen.
teman. Friday night, Sept. 21st, she told her
| she was going away on the next morning
| train.
| Cross-examined. Lizzie said she was going
| home while Foss was there in the room. She
did not take the light from the table to light us
| down the stairs. She was in Lizzieis room al
most every evening for the past five weeks and
| almost always found Foss there.
Thomas Vosmus, policeman in Auburn, then
| took the stand. He had known Foss six or
eight lmonths, and Lizzie Holmes about eight.
He had seen Foss go in at her door three or
| four times week. Four weeks ago last Fri
day night (Sept. 21st) he saw the team belong
in Af harl -
saw him drive away about half-past II that
night.
Cross-examined. He saw the horse hitched
there at half-past that Friday night. He did
not see him go into the house, but saw him
when he came out. He knew this team well.
He had seen the team on the street about every
night for the past six or eight nights. He did
not think the teams twas disturbed from 7.30 to
IL 30 that night.
VIM. E. Holmes, brother of the deceased,
was then called. He last saw his sister Thurs
day before Eshe was missing Saturday, She
| then told himEshe was going home the next
Saturday. He went to her room Saturday eve
ming and while there his brother and Foss came
into the room. Lizzie was then missing. Foss
said he knew no more about it than he
lHolmes) did. His wife first notified him thai
Lizzie was at Mrs. Lambs. He went there
Monday afternoon about o'clock and she was
dead: Foss had been keeping company with
LIE oiStcr duout tnIe6 years.
Clarence A. Holmes, brother of Lizzie
Holmes, testified that he found Foss at an in
surance office Saturday afternoon, Sept. 22d,
and carried him to Lizze's room. He asked
Foss if he knew where Lizzie was Foss said
he knew nothing about it. He searched for his
sister Saturday night and Sunday, but found no
trace of her. First heard that she was in
Portland the following Friday He knew of
no friend that wentaway with her as the letter
stated and had been able to find nome
Cross-examined: He wrote and telegraphed
to several places to learn of his sister, but the
answers all came baak mo- He also went to
the Grand Trunk depot in Auburn, but gained
no information.
DR.. W. X. Cakes testified that he first saw
Mr.. Lamb one week ago Sunday, when he came
to call him to see girl at his house threatened
with typhoid fever. He went to the house
about o'clock in the evening Mrs. Lamb
told him no other physician had been called.
Mrs. Lamb told him the girls name was Maud
Stanley. She told him the girl was stranger
to her when she came to the house to be nursed
She also said the girl had had an operation per-
formed on her in Portland. He found the girl
unconscious; she opened her eyes but once
while ne was in the ROOM at that time she was