The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1883-05-26

| England IN his "Demonology, written in 1887
| as follows; Elm a secret murther, II the dead
| body be at any time thereafter handled by the
murtherer, it win gnsh out blood, as II the
| blood were crying 70 heaven for reyenge God
having appointed that secret supernatural sign
for trial OF that Secret unnatural crime.p
| The delusion was generally accepted as truth
| by the New England coonsts
Under the date of Jupe S0,1647, the York Re-
| cords show the following proceedings in the
| case of Charles Frost, who was indicted at the
General Court held at Saco: "Whereas, there
was slain Warwick Heard, OF Sturgeon Greek.
| BY Charles Frost, (who) does stand here pre-
| sented and indicted, that he felonously, con-
trary to the peace of our Sovereign Lord the
| King, his crown and dignity. did, the 2Sd of
| March last, with fowling piece, murder the
said Warwick Heard, not having the fear Of
| God before his eyes. You are therefore to in
| quire whether 1t was wilfully done with malice
| prepense, quarrel, by accident or unawares, or
misadventure. The jury find the killing was
| by misadventure, and Charles Frost quit by
| proclamation"
The third capital trial in the province took
| place in 1906 Christopher Collins of Scarbo-
rough, an enterprsing settler, and man Of
| considerable property, having died suddenly,
| suspicious were fastened upon James Robinson
| as his murderer. Robinson was arrested, and
tried at Casco. The verdict of tho jury was
| that the said Collins was slain by misadven-
tnre, and culpable of his own death, and not
/ upon and former malice, and therefore the said
| James Robinson not guilty of murder" He does
1 not appear TO have been held as entirely guilt
less, for the records OF the court show that he
/ recognized TO "sue out his pardon within
| twelyemoth and day
| Upon the subsection of Maine to Massachu-
| sets, in 1877, until 1869, all offences of mag
/ nttnde were tried in Boston, and during nearly
| the whole of the next century, the records of
the Superior and Supreme Courts for the east
| ern counties were kept there. For this reason,
| local historians make little mention of crimes
| and punishments during that period, except
| where Indians were concerned. Under date OF
| 1870, Judge Bournh's History Of Kennebunk
| mentions u. Pottle, the murderer" but gives
no account of his trial, aud the life of Sir VIII
liam Pepperell contains a letter from Govern
| or Shirley, concerning one Deering, "a poor
| condemned prisoner in York jail. ~ am.tav-
ored' the Governor writes Sir William,
with yours per last post inelosing
Bearings petition and have thereupo
| ordered the Secretary to make out a reprieve
for him to September, which hope he viii
improve TO prepare himself for better death,
| than, fear from the heinous, unnatural Of
fence for which he is condemned, his life has
been. However, shall pay SO much further
| regard 10 his petition, since he intimates that
| the court and jury were deceived by the evil
dence produced against him, as to inquire into
| the circumstances OF it from his judges
William bearing OF Scarborough, who, ia
| l749, in a fit OF sudden passion. murdered his
| wife with an axe. No provoeation had been
offered on the part OF Mrs. bearing, who was
| an hu AAuldpi6 WOuedHf anu u worthy Intmuef
| of the church. Southgates History says that
| remorse for his crime rendered the murder in
| sane, and he ended his life by suicide.
In june, 1875, Patience Sampson. otherwise
called Patience Boston, an Indian, was
| brought before the Supreme Court OF Judica-
| ture, at York, charged with the murder of
| Benjam Trot of Falmouth, child of about
| eight years OF age. whom she drowned in a
well July 9th, 1874. She went Immediately
/ aud accused herself "Sefore one OF His Males
l TVS Iuariaas of fha annttnnfpU harc sal
accusation from first to last, even on her trial."
| The sentence of death was pronounced on the
| 24th of June and carried into effect on the fol-
| lowing 31st of July.
| is quaint pamphlet containing her ''confes-
| sion, declaration, dying warning and advice"
| signed by Messrs. Samuel Moody, William AL
| len and Joseph Moody, ministers of York and
vicinity, and others, who attended the prison.
| er in her last hour, and bore testimony to what
| they termed her conversion and the work Of
grace upon her heart.n
Between 1740 and 1867 five indictments for
| capital crimes were found in York county,
viz against George Necho au Indian, in I740;
| Edward Browne, in lT40; John Seymcre, in
| 1746; David Doughty, in l747, and Edmund
Torrey in l156. The proceedings upon them
| are not found in the Clerks office.
In l749 an ARRAY took place near Wiscasset
| between several white men aud some of the
/ Canabas tribe, in which one Indian was killed
| and two severely wounded. Three OF the for
mer, named Obadiah Albee, and Richard aud
Benjamin Holbrook, were taken into custody,
| and being removed TO the Jail IN York, were
| indicted for murder at special term OF court
| held by resolve, during tho last week in Feb
ruary, 1850. Albee was acquitted, bnt the
Court, being dissatisfied with the verdict,
/ ordered a change OF venue to Middlesex county
for trial of the others, the relatives OF the de-
/ ceased, the wounded Indians, and the chiefs Of
| the tribe being invited to attend. No trial,
however, took place, although the prisoners
| were remanded to York for further proceed
/ ings. So strongly seated was the feeling OF re-
1 sentiment against the Indians that no white
| person, even in times Of profound peace, could
/ be eonvSted for killing one of them, 1t being
| found impossible TO impannela jury not con-
| tanning some members who had suffered from
| savage depredations, either in their persons,
families estates.
| The FIRST capitol trial in Cumberland county
/ was in 1172, when one Solomon Goodwin was
/ convicted OF murder. Smiths Journal relates
| that be was charged with throwing man
| overheard from boat. Some doubt Of his
guilt existed, but after several reprieves he was
| executed in November following the commit
| ment of the crime. A great concourse of peo-
/ pie, said to have been the largest ever assem-
bled in Falmouth. collected on the occasion.
| Rev. Mr.. Clark Of Cape Elizabeth, preached a
sermon to the multitude in presence Of the
/ prisoner
| In September Of the same year, William
| Tate of Falmouth was indicted for killing bis
/ wife. He had connected loaded gun for
/ thieves, with the door of his sioFehouse; his
vile attempting to open the door, received the
| contents of the gun, causing heI immediate
DEATH Tate pleaded guilty, but when brought
| up for sentence. produced the Kings pardon,
| and was discharged.
In 1878, an Indictment was found 10 Cum
| berland county against Joseph Weare, for
capital offence. 1t Is not known whether he
| was tried. During the Revelation, two men
| in Maine were tried by court-martial and sen
| fenced to DEATH The first was James McCor-
| mick, of North Yarmouth, soldier in Ar
nold's expedition agains Quebec, in l775. In
quarrel, he shot and killed one Reuben
Bishop, at Fort Western, near Augusta. he
was reprieved by Gen, Arnold and sent to
| Washington, at Cambridge.
The other one. jeremiah Baum, of Damars-
Gotta, was accused, in 1880, OF conducting
maraudiDg British party through the back set
Elements. Martial law then prevailed in that
section, and Gen. Wadsworth, who command
ed the eastern department, had proclaimed
death to any one aiding the enemy. Baum's
trial took place at the Generals headquarters
in Thomaston. He was found guilty and sem
fenced to be hung. Being OF feeble intellect,
and, as many thought, scarcely responsible, his
sentence was generallyiregarded as only feint
to frighten him and prevent repetition Of the
crime. Many patriots interceded for his par
don, bat the crisis demanded decision. An.ex-
ample was deemed necessary, aud Wadsworth
remained iDhexible. On the day following his
trial, tho sentence was carried into effect on
Limestone Hill, in Thomaston. Friends OF
the Revolution regretted the exercise OF such
severity upon 30 manifestly lnoffensive a VIC
tim. At the annuol term OF the Supreme Ju-
dicisl Court for Lincoln county, In lies, John
O'Neil was tried for the murder of Michael
Cleary. Both were Irsbmen, and lived to-
gether at Pemaquid Falls. The crime was
committed for money, which was found in the
possession of O'Neil, and which he pretended
had been given him by the deceased. The
body showed bruises about the head, and one
deep cut, supposed to have been caused by an
axe or an iron bar. O'Neil claimed that the
wounds resulted from fall. At the coroner's
inquest he told several inconsistent and con-
Trajectory stories to account for the facts.
Three judges composed tho court; Hon. Will
liam Cushing, chief justice, and associate JUS
tices Nathaniel p. Sargent and David SewalI
William LithgoD, of Hallowel, and George
Thatcher, of Biddeford, were assigned as
counsel for the accused. Soon after the trial
an account Of it appeared In a newspaper, of
which the following is an extract "This be-
ing the first capital crime In the county, IL
drew together numerous concourse Of specta-
tors. The solemnity of the occasion was still
heightened by the able and spirited defence OF
Gen. Lithgon. The trial took up the most
part OF the day, and when the jury returned
they declared they could not agree. One OF
them, good man, seemed to think he GU ht