Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1881-08-12
THE NEWS IN BRIEF.
SUICIDE OF A MAssAcHusErrs Jupar.

SUICIDE OF MASSACHUSETTS, JUDGE.
Judge James D. Colt, of the Massachu-
sets supreme bench committed suicide at
Pistsfeld on Tuesday by shooting. The
judge had his private Office and study in a
room connected with tho Berkshire savings
bank. He was in this room on Tuesday af-
ternoon engaged in reading and writing, as
usual. At 5:15 when the janitor entered the
judge asked il he wished to dust the room
and made some remarks showing him to be
somewhat excited. About 630 o'clock treas
urer Day returned TO the bank and entered
the judges room, and there made the dread
full discovery. The Judge was lying on the
floor at the end of the table, with his arms
outstretched, and near his right hand lay a
fve-bareled Smith & Wesson revolver, which
belonged to the bank. Mr.. Day gave the
alarm and summoned medical aid, but life
was extinct The pistol had been held against
the right temple. The fatal act was the re-
suit of a mental trouble Of which Judge Colt
began to show symptoms three or four
months ago
Lancaster, N. H., is excited over alleged
poisoning cases. In July, 1880, Hattie Bugbee
daughter of DIR. Frank Bugbee, died sudden.
ly, and soon after her father mother and a
servant girl died. DIR. Bugbee snid at his
death that he felt as though he were poison
ed with arsenic. Nellie Webb, who worked
in the family, and has since married Burt
Mayo conductor, is suspected of poisoning
not only DIR. Bugbee and his family, but also
Barton q. Towne and his wife, with whom
she lived after the death Of the Bugbees Mr..
Towne's body has been exhumed and his
stomach analysed, aud it Is said arsenic was
found in large quantities with trace Of cop
per. The stomaohs of the other bodies will
be analysed. Mrs. Mayo, the suspected wo-
man, has meantime secured counsel and says
she is ready to prove her innocence. She re-
ceived small sum by DR.. Bugbee's will and
| furniture was left her by Mr.. and Mrs.
Towne. Mrs. Mayo tells the sheriff that
whiskey was given Towne out of bottle fill
ed from one of DIR. Bugbee's. After Towne's
death she tasted the whiskey and others drank
out of it, and all were made sick. 1t is in
ferred from what she says that she would not
be surprised il poison was found in the stom-
achs of DIR. Bugbee and Mrs. Towne. Mrs.
Mayo helped DIR. Bugbee's daughter to stuff
birds, and they used arsenic in preparing the
| skins. The case is complete mystery but
will be thoroughly investigated.
-Two.thrds of the wheat fleet, or % ships
and barques arrived in San Francisco harbor
between July 30 and August l, coming from
New York, England Spain, France, Belgium,
| Australia and South America, and coming into
the bay as il by preconcerted signal almost
together. Their arrival added about 30, 900
tons of coal to the San Francisco market and
all will take large cargoes of wheat out Of CAL
ifornia.
Last Saturday lightning out of clear
sky killed four men near Huntsville, s. G.
The party, consisting Of 20 white men who
had been at work on the public highway,
stopped under an oak tree to rest and shelter
themselves from the sun. Clouds were visi-
BILE at distance, aud rain was falling some
miles away, but in that immediate locality
the sun was shining, the sky was clear and
nothing indicated the presence of electricity.
One of their number had stepped off a few
yards for water, when suddenly a terrific
crash startled him, and turning he beheld his
companions, some dead, some completely
paralyzed and others wounded. Beside the
four killed outright II others were more or
less injured.
Three little daughters Of a farmer, living
ten miles from Sherman, Texas, were struck
by lightning on Friday and instantly killed
Nathan Orlando Greenfield, who was hung
at Syracuse, N. Y, last Friday for numbering
his wife at Oswego, Oct. n, 1875, had he'd
three trials, two death sentences and five stays
of proceedings and reprieves,
Gen. Robert Patterson who died at the
age Of 80 at Philadelphia on Sunday, was one
of the few men who served in the war of 1872
the Mexican war and the war of the rebellion
When Gen. Patterson rendered his services
to the government at the breaking out of the
rebellion he was 20 years old
A serious collision occurred on Monday
near Blackburn, England, between two ex
press trains. Five persons were killed and
twenty wounded.
Two large iron mills, owned and operat
ed by the Old Colony Iron Company, at Eas
Taunton, were burned early on Sunday morn
ing. Loss over $15O,0OO.
One hundred and forty-eight person
died in New York between last Saturday nool
and Sunday morning. In about GO case
death was either caused or hastened by tn
heat. The heat had the effect to increase tn
fatality in dphtheria and scarlet fever in
marked manner.
Mrs. Kate Adams, residing in Buffalo
jumped into the rapids above the American
Falls last Saturday night, saying, TOO wick
ed to live" but drifting into an eddy a by
stander jumped in and saved her from goin
over the falls.
Two young children of market gardene
living on the outskirts of Washington wer
brutality murdered last Saturday during tn
temporary absence Of the parents. Two nc
gro women who lived in shanty near tn
farm have been arrested ON suspicion.
, p. l. Adams, a clerk in Houghtaling
Pomeroy's store at Housatouic, Mass, acc
dentally shot and killed Henry G.. Fellow
last Sunday morning. Fellows was about
years old and a weaver in the ed.spread mi
at Housatonic The young men were dis
cussing and examining revolvers, when tn
chamber of one which Adams had in hi
hand slipped and the cartridge exploded, tn
bullet passing through Fellows brain. Adam
is nearly crazy over the sad affair.
| naI h. Gr;s 81
ed the great feat at New York Monday ngl
of covering GOOO quarter miles in 60O0 cor
secutive 10 minutes, and continued on til
track until he had added IA additional quai
= tiers to his remarkable record.
The first party of Chinese students col
nected with the educational commission i
this country left for home last Monday, goin
. via San Francisco. Other parties will 500
! follow.
! John Reagan and Newton Martin weI
/ fighting at Binghamton, n Y, Monday
when son of Reagan, 14-years-old, struc
/ and killed Martin with a baseball club
Reagan and son were both arrested.
D The main centennial exhibition buildin
was sold at the Philadelphia exchange, Tue
day. TO w. @. Bullitt for S97, 900. 1t was n
mored that the real purchaser was the Penn
a sylvania railroad company. The buildin
originally cost 81, 600, 600
/ A train on Staten Island Monday ev,
( ming struck a carriage crossing the track an
a | killed Mrs. Louise Farber of Manchester
: this state, and Mrs. Leone Homan, tossin
them 40 feet high. Mrs. Amasa Higgins WI
1 fatally injured.
. Mrs Jane McGlinty, G3 years old, q
: North Adams, Mass, died Monday nigl
8 from the effects of taking a teaspoonful {
= Paris green Saturday while in fit of anger.
= The boiler of the steam threshing- mi
chine on the farm of Henry Young, neG
: Columbia, ILL.,, exploded Tuesday killing iv
n | persons and seriously iniurinR Ave others