The New York herald., 1878-10-21
A TRUTH STRANGER THAN FICTION
Condemned and Reprieved at the
Foot of the Scaffold.
VALUE OF A NEWSPAPER PUBLICATION.
The Innocent Man That Ver-
mont Did Not Hang.

thrilling and from tho gallows than 10
exhibited In tho case Of John p. PhaIr. Writer'S OF
fiction havo wearied their powers Of invention IN
contests with tho improbable ana have succeeded in
producing situations perhaps as dramatic out yet SO
clearly stamped with the marks of fiction that NO one
could be deceived. Hero. however, 10 a vsriiabe
case, every incident Of which is dramatic IN The
highest degree and yet natural and entirely conss-
tent with the truth. man had been convicted OF
murder; his exceptions had been overrued; his mo-
tons for trial denied; he had been SO long un-
der sentence OF death that the statute OF limitations
had worked against him, and even the court
had lost It's Jurisdiction; his last appeal
for Executive clcmsncy had been heard and refused,
the dawning Of the fatal DAY OF execution brought
him not ray OF hope. II did not seom possible
that there could be any nercesson that would save
him The dull and s0mbre thud Of the hammer In
the construction OF the gaows had ceased. Tho very
moment had arrived tor the solemnities OF the last
hour to begin and the condemned man, arrayed for
the grave In shirt and perhaps the best suit
he In hts lie, awaited with set musclss the
approach OF the execntioner. The hangman came,
mraculousiy The vict ueht life instead
Of DEATH AS this is SO soon to engage the at-
tentton OF the LegisatHre OF Vermont-thc State In
which tho execution 10 occur-a brcf review OF
the circumstances Of the MURDER the trial. the re-
prisve and the new evidence which caused the new
lease Of life will be iu)l OF interest.
THE CRIME.
The crime Tor which Phair was sentenced wns the
murder Of MRS. Anna Freese. OF Rutland. VT, .
woman OF questionable standing and repnted to be
the proprictress Of house OF ll.tame. The murder
pr supposed murder tho night OF tee Sth
or morning OF the 9tn Of June, 1874. Her house,
situated the outskirts Of tho village was discov
cred 10 be In fames about hafpast Six O'Clock, on
tho morning Of the 9th, and it was In great part de-
stroyel. In she RUNS Of the dwelling discov-
crod the charrsd remains OF the body OF . woman,
supposed TO be that Of Mrs. Freess, and there
across the throat and the bosom
what appeared to be gashes made by 2
dagger or other sharp instrument The
evidence against Phair was that be left Rutland ~
haipast four O'Clock on the morning OF June Q, and
direct Boston, whore no arrived cary In the
attsrnoon At about i've o'clock on that afternoon
man registered at the Adams House, Boston, under
she name OF "E. Smith, ST. Albans, W." aud alter
his departure The day piccc OF . shawl was
found In the room that he had occupied, and this
shawl was proven to have been the property OF Mrs.
Rrsese. Various articles OF jewelry also found
at three different pawubroker shops in the city, and
these also identified tho propssty Of
Ars Ereesc.
THE ARREST AND TRIAL.
After Phair's arrest he asked TO write for the
prosecution s.E. y. Smith, 81 Albans, VT and. al
though hiscounsc warned him that II hc had written
that namo over before Il could be clearly proved,
he wrote tho desired words without hest
eatIon. Al the trlai several experts testi-
fed that Phar had written the name on the Adams
House register and also ono OF tho pawn tickets
The Jew pawnbrogors identified MIN as tho man
who pawned tho jewsiry OF Mrs Freese. II was also
shown tnat Phsr had been Intimate with Mrs. Freese;
that failed to satisfactorily account Tor his Time
from the night Of The 7h OF June until nalpast three
O'Clock tho morning OF tho murder. and also from
the time he arrived Boston until his departure and
that he told contradictory storins at The time oi mis-
srrost. Phar claimed that he had been Providence
10 gst work IRON tho Coriiss Engine Company, ana
that he had stopped at a lodging house whore there
register. In support Of his storytt was proven
that tor two three weeks prior to the murder he
had expressed IN intention TO 60 to Providence IN
quest OF worK. and two witnesses who knew hm les-
lned that no went with thom IN hack across Bosieu,
and that they saw him get out lne Proviasnce
depot. This was tho most material part Of evl-
d. ncc given 10 the jury, ana alter elaboration OF
about three hours verdicl OF "guty' was rendered
SENTENCE.
The usual efforts were mado 10 procure new trial
but al without avail ana nothing OF special import
occurred In this until the time appointed
Tor execution. IL had become known 10 newspaper
corrssponaents that phar had written iull ssass-
90 prove, which statement he desired 10 DO published
suriy alter his death, and hnaly this document was
procured by Representative of the Boston Gsooe
upon the conaition that It should bo published on the
morning ioilo~ing the execution. As u was ascer-
an abstract OF this statement aud would publish
Friday evening successful effort made 10 obtain
n,ent in ,ne Globe on Friday norniug and The state
paent accordingly published ou that day, ana q
aain Ing bulletin announced " to tho world.
RviDKxCg
This buliciin froxe inc young blood Of very small
boy who walked the streets on that morning and no
PUSHED w 70 the ofce Of his employer, Mr. a. Down
ig No. DO school street. ana iniormSa hui that 'tho
Gioue says Vermont 10 going 70 hang an innocont man
to-day" MI Downing, who was native oil vermont,
copy OF The aud sat down
70 read the statement amid the lev Remnants oil ms
business mat the RAIN aud tue hare times had isft
him hen no came 10 the description Of tue trip 10
providsncs ne sat spoIloound In his chair. Ho
sicariy rsmem bered that aoou. the time mentioned
by Yhair he had been Providence aud on the re-
turn had talked with who said no was from
Rutland aud mad usen 10 Providence 10 GOT work IRON
shs Corl,ss Eurino Company. liz immed,ateiy TO- |
fcrrod to his me mornnaum book aud found that this
was on tho rsry day ON wn,cn Phar SAID ne resuraed
from frovidsnce and also by The same train IL oc-
surred 10 him that u was extremely improbable |
thar there should have been another mau on this |
what should hc dor the TIME for the execution |
was not far on. and he must act promptly |
ofce, and MS story was not At first listened 70 with
much attention, but Hnaly he was shown the man |
one once o Of the % tnisi IL Poles Tor advice picture
ot Phan was shown Mr.. Downing, who Said tnat IL |
pass tweive % o,c'ocs. IL was decided 10 ,soerspn
kovernor Faitbanks, and accordingly tne Two men |
Fushsd pell nell down state street 70 teleer.pn
ptios. After tsiographing - every once In Vermont
the Governor WAS finally iound In the telegraph once
?. 81 Jonnsbury: A telegram was ,mmsdlstey ssns
10 the sheriff at Windsor, and Pnar was turued back
ward from the seanold wnen At ITS very foot
sts. THE RETRIEVE
The first reprsve WAS Tor tour wsexs to enable the
Gevvrnor to investigate the new evidencc This was
copsdsred oil sufcicnt importance TO justify fur-
thtr roprievc Of nearly years. This long reprieve
was necessary because, by very peculiar law the
Court only has jurisdiction over criminal Tor Two
yeass alter hnai Judgment This tmo had already
Sapsed and, therefore, tho Court coud not consider
bhe new evidence. The Legislature would not meet
again until October, 1875 and that branch OF the gov
srnment could aionc give tho Court jursdction The
bearing before the Legislature " to begin tho 22d
Inst, and u 10 Understood that very strong tss
timony will be presented Phars behalf 10 addition
10 the testimony OF Mr. Downing. The oppo-
nsnts of Phair say, "wny not this
now evidence discovered before the trlai2" but
this question s susceptible OF easy answer Phair
vas poor man, anu the State only granted bm $50
10 defend his lite, not large IL cxpendvd
tor the suit OF clothes In wnich he be hanged