Litchfield enquirer., 1879-05-08
From our Regular Corresp ondent. MURDER and SUICIDE
NEW PRESTON.
MONDAY. May 9th 1879

l ou Qu1ct was lulS nOrnlnS tnfOWn into fever of the widest excitement by the news brought from New Preston Hill that Egbert Cogswell had shot and killed his wife and then murdered himself Alas! this san- guinary news proved to be only too true and | l will give the particulars of the horrible affair | as far as l have been able to ascertain them. | The first alarm was given by Arthur. son of l the murderer and suicide about 12 or 14 years old, who ran to MT. Frank Stoughton's, the picture of fright, saying Come quickly; Faith CT has killed mother and he'll kill himself ,' | They and other neighbors hurried to the house | and there the ghastly scene which met their eyes beggars description. There, against the l door in pool of clotted blood, lay Mrs. Cogs- head resting on her arn,, Cogswel the murder CT and suicide. It was sight which those who beheld will never forget to their dying | day. A ghastly, horrible, blood-curdling spectacle! There they lay, life extinct; she, with her brains oozing from horrible wound just above the ear;, he, with his throat cut l from ear to ear.
 These are the facts of the murder as near as can be obtained. The boy Arthur, says his father and mother had words that morning. but it was nothing unusual, as they did not live happily together, and he thought nothing of it. but, at last, when his father clinched his mother, aDd pressing her into corner of the room, began choking her, he interfered and pulled his father from her. Then the youngest boy, Herbert, aged 8 says | his mother ssid ''you run up to MT. Mtchels and tell Mary to come down here right away" anI he started to do so Arthur says that he went out to the woodshed, building about a rod from the house, and began blaming board, when he heard the report of gun, and heard his mother scream. He started for the house. heard the second report, ran to the door and shouted, "What are yon dong?" The answer came from within, Murder, that's what FGl doing" The boy saw the blood up- OH the floor, and, terribly frightened, ran for the neghbors. Mrs Cogswell was at prayer meeting, last night and Arthur says when he wanted 10 go his father told him not to, h'TJ to go to bed early as he might be called up ih the night. Some infer from this that the act was premeditated. The little boy, Herbert, says when his father was loading the gun that morning he asked him what he was going to do, and he said, May be I shall go hunting by and by," The supposition is that he was loading the gun for the very purpose of enact ing the tragedy.
 nr cavs that ba firot cEot ,uor11 mt have been fatal, as it only tore the scalp and did not break the skull, but in all probability, | it was sufficient to stun her. The second shot appears to have been fired after she had fallen. as it entered slightly back and above the ear at the base of the brain, ard travelled downward towards the chest and lungs. Death must have been instantaneous The position of her body would indicate that she flung up her arms to ward off the first shot, and tried to escape through the door, but to foul and bloody deed, the husband and father carried the weapon back to the bedroom, hung it upon it's accustomed pegs, and took off boots and then it was, perhaps, that viewing his horrible and bloody work, remorse like ten thousand nightmares rolled over his soul, and in the frenzy of despair, he seized butchers knife and cut his throat from ear to ear. It was horrible gash ,.snd seemed to have been done by three strokes. The knife appears to have been drawn twice under the left ear-as there were two gashes, one nearer the ear, and one farther down the neck-and once un- der the right ear. The windpipe and juguar vein were severed, and he fell upon his victim, the knife lying by his side.
 No motive can be ascribed for the crime, and it IS supposed that strong drink is at the bottom of it all for, when Mr. Cogswell acas sober, aud clothed in his right mind, every body knew him to be knd-hearted, good natured neighbor. I have been told that he put fifteen barrels of cider in his cellar, last also been told that he has been more or less under the influence of strong drink for two weeks past if so, perhaps this awful, heart rending tragedy is the beginning and endingof that hellish deliriuna tremaeos which lieth in wait and shadoweth the footsteps of every drunkard. Oh, take warning, you who are not yet in the tolls of the monster These crimes and untimely deaths are fearful tenn peranec lecture. Behold and take heed Many, with tears, will remember when Mir. Egbert Cogswcll, years ago, was promising young man of ability and good character mov- ing in the best society, bidding fair to be man in the best sense of that word-how lt- tie, then, like the Egbert of the past few years, now fallen into murderer's and sui cide's grave! "It stingeth like an adder, and biteth like serpent"
 The murdered woman was about 3S years of age, her husband and murderer, 49. His occupation was farming Dispatches were immediately sent to Mr. Fred H., son of MT. Cogswell, at Naugatuck. informing him of the untimely and unnatural death of his father and mother; also to Mir. John K. Cullen, of Troy, N. Y., containing the same sad news concern ing his only sister They arrived here late Monday night. The funeral will take place on Wednesday.
 As soon as possible after the deed became known a jury was lmpaneled, with I. D. Pat terson as foreman, who rendered the follow ing verdict:
 "rhe undersigned jurors, duly impaneled and sworn to inquired of the cause and manner of the death of Jennie Cogswell and Mr. Ebert Cogswell, whose deaths were sudden and un
 timely, and the cause and manner of which
 was unknown, having viewed the bodies of said deceased persons and considered the evi- dence given to us, do on our oaths say that the said Jennie Cogswell came to death by wounds caused by the discharge of double barreled gun in the hands of her husband, the said Egg bert Cegswell, and we do further say on our oaths that the said Ebert Cogswell came to his death by wounds upon the throat inflicted by himself, with butcher knife. Whereof we subscribe cur names:
 ISAAC D. PArrERosN, WALTER D. SHERRY,
 JULIUS A. GLOVER, BENJAMIN GRIswoLD, JR,
 FRED. s. CoGswELI, SYLVESTER G. HoLT
 HENRY W. BROWN, JAMES A. FERRIss.