The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1879-02-20
THE DEXTER MYSTERY.
Ths New Portland "Wounded Soldier
Seen in Waldoboro.

As baaring upoa the letter written to the
Lewiston Journal by Mr.. j. L. Hopkins, a
lawyer Of New Portlaud, the f,lewing state
ment of Mr.. W. D. Lbbey, now living in
Chelsea, Mass, bls formerly in Waldobor0 in
this state, may prove of interest: Mr. Libbey
says thai, at the time, and for quite period
previous to the occurrence of the Dexter trag-
edy. he was in the employ of Mr., E. o. CLARK,
q we'll known gentleman, who was connected
with the ship-build ng interest at Waldoboro,
a. hs head of small bay on the southern
coast of Name near r ,ckand, the only city of
considerable size In the vic'nlty. La the latter
part of January. or more likely as he rrcol-
lects, during the frat Week of february, 1878,
the month CASHIER b .rroa Was discovered In
the D4nk vault at ID xt-r, a man appeared at
thu off 70 Of Mr. Clark in WaldObOro. bearing
a letter from the posem 4ster at Newcastle.
small town in the immediate vicinity, on the
line of the railroad to Portland, ID tue post
master at Waldoboro The descriOti q. as re-
LATED bg Mr.. L b ,ey, of this mao, answers al
most txaetlv th at gwen Of the fet'o@ seen at
West New Portland v'llaSe 90 the W-d0esd ~
evening following the If air 10 which 1r Bar
ron lose his uf4. He mad lost the forefinger OF
his right hand, hi. right w'lst also pres. nt,ng
the app -arance refer ed to IN the letter Of Mr..
Hops,n. aud he bad, or pretended to hav.
ben wounded 10 the abdomen by copper bul-
let. He tod tory simi,ar TO tina, related at
West New Portland, with few slight Var'a-
tiops easiy 20 be accounted for. lie SAID That
be was eu bis way home to Li0coin, M; that
he wani4d to see his folks wnom no hadn't
seer tor 80 years; that Be had tun away from
home When a lad; that ne eulisted 10 the reg
ular army, served iu Texas uuder Gen. Logan,
where ne was taken or sou-r By the MexicAns,
aad pit bp tn III eleves gears; that, IN the
h..u dad sta
tnat tne Woua h al never he ,lrd. La proof of
this 81 sremeaG he showed what purported to
b. the WounI, III manor stmildr 60 that de-
scribrd IN the &C .oant of Mr.. Hopkins. % those
assem- oled Iii the ore, some tour or nve 10
pumper. Mr. L,pbey anong them. Enat g-n-
tipman states that he caouot positively assert
thai thrre was a wound 10 the spot iudic .ted
at apy rae t1~re was a Oaaidg- Wbund ABOUT
the On aus body, Which, when ne iooseued II,
revealed wh4t Was S-eniugis mass OF CO
ruptian, and which Mr.. l. bby as we'll as tue
other geo lemed ia he sire we're 81 "A enough
10 ,urh me, II es4- from Tn m further sd
thar after his RELEASE from The VI xlcan prison
he went BY steamer 10 some Soutnofn c'y,
wbeuce ne had worked his way North on foot.
II, would ont, az sA d, sr4vel on the Car, as
i.rr,ug irrit.trd bis wonad, H showed what
purporte5 60 be a lettet from Go. Logan aud
Others, sigued oy fife ent GrAnd Army officers
10 the citles thr ugh whicn b. passed on the
joaruey TO asiur, T. CON nend'ns thAs assist
ance b. txteDd.d slm
He claim d that DIR Gordon of Portland was
the last unssicrsa who mad dressed h,s wound
aud b st he I'd referred n,m 10 pnss,cian 10
Rnckiaad for treatment, when be should ar
gige suzre 10 also produced two ounce
bottle, labelled "Po,soD," ftom Portl and
druggist, and wh Gu was about two hlids fal
of Sum- WhiEe puWder-llke substance reS1m'
bling morpnis. rms, he SAID, ne mad oeen
directed to nss as IA couateracung remedy 10
to- poisonous +ffecvs OF tue copper bullet. de
refused to have nlS woand dressed b. any
phssicia0 in Waldoboro, Though the offer was
IN AIDE 20 him. aud declared that he would wal!
TIL he got to Rocklaod, which is soma eighteen
me. to the east of the former towD, gu the
Peuob- cot river He also Il. cl ned to take
railroad tickets for his destination, saying that
pr.f-rfed to walk, as 1t was oe -r tor hi On.
B-fore laaviog the store snail c1llecuOa wa:
taken up for Ma bsnefit, AID he " IS presented
win par of black pants by Mr.. Liobey,
which be put on ia the stote, leaving hi, old
ones, which were ragged AID dirty, ID toe
store. This change havrog been Effected, he
got no briskly, and, without any sigu OF pain
walked out 90 toe street.
1t was sfterward learned that, instead OF
walking 10 R,ckand, as he had announced hi
in Gu ion If log, n- was driven TO me dspJ
by the u AL Carrier of the town aud TOOK tbt
tram for his des inatlon. He told the mail
mao that he thought he b I'D better rlje, as n
wished o have his Ouud dressed that night
Mr. Il bry says thaJ he had 30 doub, that tilt
maa who visited Waldob0r0 few week
previous TO the death of Mr. Barron, aud th'
man VINO was seen ia the towns in the vl;luit.
Of the place wnere the tragedy was committsd
a few days later, are one and tne same person
He says that every llue of the descr p5iol
gwen By Mr.. Hopkins answers that II th
maa be saw, even to the desperately de
termined exDression TO his eye" which il
referred to- H. further stared that the article
of dress described are the same and that tn
L. tf..F
ing from such a wound as that he claimed T.
have received, aud which statement none O
those who saw him 10 Wa'doooro cared
Verify, for Certain very Obvious reasons.