St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1880-11-19
Abbott the Burglar.

HIS BURGLARIES, HIS ARREST, ESCAPE,
AND RECAPTURE AND COMMITMENT TO
JAIL.
From Cobbs Bradford Opinion
A series of daring burglaries have
been committed in the towns on the
Passumpsic railroad, and across the
river in New Hampshire extending over
period of some six months. For
about four weeks past these burglaries
have been more frequent, and the
railroad depots at South Newbury, Ha-
verhill, n. H., Bradford, Thetford, and
Fairlee have been broken intO-the lat
ter twice-and the store of Mr.. How
ard of Oxford, the residence of S. X.
Berry, DR.. WOrster and A. Jaquith of
Thetford, J. K. Carr of Oxford, N. H.,
and Pearley Mason of Fairlee, have
been broken into. Besides these the
stores of A. F. Pike and II. Merrill &
Son in Haverhill, N. H., and the depot
at Wells River, have been broken late
ly and some months ago several stores
at Post Mills, and the eastern part of
Thetford were burglarized.
One George G. Abbott was suspected
of being the ringleader of the gang
tuOSC 1lC
was brought up from a child in the
family of Mr.. Israel Abbott, an uncle,
at South Fairlee, and when some six
teen or seventeen years old was con-
victed of burglary in the New Hamp-
shire courts, and was sentenced and
served term of four years in the Con-
cord State prison. He is now twenty
four years old. He had been seen once
in blackberry time by some boys, but
not much credit was given to their sto-
ry. No one had been able to trace
any of the perpetrators of these burgla-
ries until last week Wednesday Dept.
Sheriff S. K. Berry organized a posse
to search a tract of wild land, lying
west of Ely station in Thetford and
Fairlee. At about l | o'clock a. M, two
of those who were searching came upon
a shanty built against ledge on a hill
some mile south east of Ely station,
and Abbott was seen in the shanty.
He came out and asked the two men
what they were doing, having a rifle in
his hand, a revolver in his belt. The
men replied that they were out hunt
ing. Another of the party came along
and to get chance to fire the signal
gun agreed upon, proposed to fire at
mark. They did so and tried to have
Abbott shoot but he declined to. Soon
some others of the party came up and
Abbott was ordered to surrender. He
demanded to see their papers, and they
not having any he took a valise and
started off through the woods. He
soon ran into another party coming up
to the spot where the guns were fired,
and they ordered him to halt. He
dropped his valise and rifle and ran
when several shots were fred at him
and he was brought down with more
than twenty buck shot and smaller shot
in his person. He was taken on a lit
ter to the house of Miss H. P. Ware at
South Fairlee, and DR.. c. F. Kingsbury
of Lyme was called. He found one
shot in the neck and three which struck
the back of the head and glanced on
the skull and two that went into the
He also found a shot hole in the hip
which Abbott says he got when j. K.
Carr fired down through the register.
His left leg from the hips down was
literally "peppered" with shot but all
the wounds except that from Carr's re-
volver were fresh wounds.
On Friday hearing was had, and
Abbott waived examination and was
bound up to county court, his bail be-
ing set at two thousand dollars. The
physicians did not think it advisable
to attempt the removal of Abbott to
Chelsea Jail in his then condition and
he was kept under guard at the house
of Miss Ware, Dept. Sheriffs Berry and
E. S. Peaslee of Bradford being on du-
ty alternately. On Monday morning at
about half-past six o'clock, when it was
broad day light, Dept. Sheriff Berry
who was then watching Abbott, went
from the sitting room from where he
could overlook Abbott's room into the
kitchen, washed himself-not being
gone, as he and Miss Ware both say,
over three or four minutes, and on re-
turning to the room at once discovered
that Abbott had darted out the front
door and left with nothing but cotton
shirt on. Berry at once rushed out
doors, discharged his revolver several
times to alarm the neighbors, and a
search was commenced. The news
spread rapidly and in short time the
people of that section turned out en-
nadsse armed with all sorts of fire arms,
and the surrounding country was thor
oughly secured. At about ten o'clock
the tracks of some one barefoot were