St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1879-07-18
Another Phair Case.
THE BUZZELL MURDER.

SONCORL, N. H., Ouiy D.
Joseph B. Buzzell of Brookfield, will
be hanged here tomorrow, in the state
prison. The history of his case is re-
plete with interest. At about o'clock
on the evening of November 2, 1874. a
lovely young lady, Susan A. Hanson,
sat with her mother, an elderly lady,
in the kitchen of their home, in Brock
field Center. The curtains still re-
mained up. The mother and daughter
belonged to much respected family,
and were just then costly chatting and
knitting by the fire-side, when there
came a laundering report, and crashing
through the window Il charge of buck
shot, and the lovely young woman fell
a CHASTITY corpse, without struggle, at
her mothers feet. Search was made
far and Iear public sentiment was at
the fever heat of righteous Indignation /;
detectives were employed and after a
time Buzzell, an intelligent stone-cut-
ter, owning and carrying on a good
farm, was arrested for the cowardly
murder, tried, acquitted and discharged.
He was suspected because he was a
gay deceiver, had courted the victim of
the tragedy, Miss Hanson, and had sud-
denly deserted her and married another
woman. He had made insinuations
against her character, and she had at
tempted to establish her good reputa-
tion by suit at law for breach of
promise to marry, which was to be
heard on the day after the murder, and
Buzzell, the defendant, had expressed
a wish that she were dead. However,
he proved an alibi, and went forth to
continue to live in the same community
free, if not an unsupported man.
Subsequently, young rascal named
Cook, arrested for arson, confessed in
detail that he killed Susan Hanson, and
that Buzzell hired and assisted him to
do it. BuZzell was re-arrested. Then
arose a legal question that greatly
troubled the cOurts,-cOuld one who
has been acquitted as principal in a
felony, be convicted as an accessory in
the same felony. The judges held that
he could, and Buzzell was again tried,
and was convicted chiefly on the testi-
mOny of the man Cook, who was dis
charged from custody for his valuable
evidence. In the course of time Cook
took solemn oath that his statement
that he was the one who held the gun
and took part in the affair was wholly
false, and that his testimony in court to
that effect was also false in every re-
spect, thus parading himself as an un-
mitigated liar and perjurer. His con-
flicting statements threw the public
into Il state of agitation, which was in
no way allayed by the conviction of
Messrs. Conway and COwen, the prin-
cipal detectives in the case, for con-
spiracy in another matter, and their
affidavits that the Buzzell prosecution
was also "put-up job" Buzzell's
counsel demanded new trial, and the
supreme court of the state, six judges
sitting, reviewed the case, satisfying
themselves of the moral certainty of
the prisoners guilt, and decided that
justice had been dealt him. Then the
governor and council were besieged
with petitions for cOmmutation. At a
late hour last evening, the governor
and council decided to let the law take
its course.
Buzzell is fine looking man, little
more than 40 years of age. He has
given up all hope, and has given direc-
tions for his funeral and burial. Levi
Haley of Wolfborough, the sheriff whose
duty it is to hang him, has been newly
appointed to his office, and never saw
such a sentence executed. Moreover,
he is an old schoolmate of Buzzell's.
He went into his cell the other day,
they recognized each other, they clasp
ed hands, and simultaneously burstiinto
tears, and the attendant considerably
left them alone. What meeting
What moral Two schoolmates, two
friends who have not met for years and
in whose hearts are fresh the memories
of olden, youthful days, will meet each
other upon the scaffold, one as execu-
tiOneT, the other as murderer condemned
to die an ignOminious death.
The above is from correspondent
of the Springfield Republican. Buzzell
was hung, and the same paper makes
these editorial comments ::
A MURDERER's CAREER.
Yesterdays execution of Joseph B.
Buzzell at Concord, N. H., terminated
an interesting murder case. The muir
derer and his victim, Susan A. Hanson,
grew up together from childhood, and