Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1883-10-26
The Punishment OF n Vermont Muir.
dercr.

/. .tL-0 RAtso --T--i 49, ae ~ .a}t
ApropOs of the current discussion oil
the abolition of capital punishment,
Vermont had.in the last generation a
case which may have some hearings on
this matter, and which was in all re-
spccts Il. most remarkable one-beino,
indeed, almost without a parallel in
the annals of crime, Eugene Clifford,
more than forty years ago, murdered
his wife and child by drowning them in
Fairfield Tond. He was desrrter from
the British army, and had gone to Fair
field, little village of franklin County,
where he married Mrs. Elizabeth Gil
more, widow, who owned small
farm. After few years of married
life, he became infatuated with another
woman, whom he thought be could
marry were his wife out of the way.
He also thought that he would inherit
the farm and the other property if ne
survived his wife and child. So, led on
by the tremendous forces of avarice and
lust, he In d his plans TO murder them.
he invited his wife one Sunday morn
ing TO cross Fairfield pond with him in
a log canoe, and she accepted the invita-
zion, taking the child i'm her arms. In
an hour or two Clifford returned alone,
and notified the neighbors that his
vile, while adjusting a shawl around
the child. had fallen from the boat, and
both had been drowned. The next day
the bodies were recovered, but the
shawls. which it was known they had
worn, and which were of considerable
value. could not be found. This
strengthened tbesuspicion that Clifford
had murdered his wife and child, and
nm intense excitement pcrvaded the
neighborhood. On, a given day tho
people came together from miles
around, and 4horohgh search was
made of every foot of the shore of the
pond, but no trace of the missing
shawlS could Le found. Andnow comes
one OF the eStrabrdinary facts of the
case. On the night Of that day q neigh.
Dor. one Mrs. Marvin, dreamed TINT
she started ont TO look for the shawls.
She dreamed that She crossed field in
front of her house, climbed fence
RcrOss which large ,hemlock tree had
fallen, walked a feNc Yards on he trunk
of the. tree, and thence 20 dense
growth OF nnderbrush, near the shore of
the pond, and there. in q shallow hole
in the sand, and partially covered, she
found the shawls. Mrs. Marvin told her
dream TO her husband but he thou yht
little Of It. She, however, persuaded o
nelghbor 10 accompany her, and,
ihoRch she had n6ScEobefore been. over
the grOund she found everything pre-.
cisely rs ia her dream, and discoveries
the shawls in the exact place she had
seen in her vision
With the evidence thus fnrnished,. ard
much other ofa damaging Kind, Jclif.
ford, Onvtrial, was convicted, and he
was sentenced 10 De. hanged-on- the,sex.
piration of one year from his Sentence,
April u, 1913. in the meantime to b.
kept m solitary confinement in the State
Prison at 1Nmdsors As the law then
stood, tho Governor warrant was a
prerequisite for the execution of aeon
demned prisoner, and the then Govern
or, from 4 conscientious motive which
appears somewhat strained, refused to
Issue his warrant for Clifford's execu-
ton; and The next, Governor followed
his predecessors example. In the
meantime, in HE solitary cell, Clifford
decayed in body and mind, and suffered
both an intellectual and physical death.
For few months, while admitting his
guilt, he claimed that his act was iusti-
fable, and be endeavored to get some
influence from abroad used in his behalf.
At the end of the time originate
set for his execution, he began to
have spasms of insane raving, when
hewas so noisy. abusive and violent
that 1t was found necessary TO chain
him, Then he was seized with tho no
ton that he was unlawfully and unjust
" detained. and this idea would lead
him into fits of violence and insane rare.
Next succeeded wish TO be hung: and
the unhappy man confided to the prfsou
| physician.ale letter to the Governor. in
which he implored him TO order his ex.
ecution. He then attempted 10 ssarys
himself to death, bat the attempt wa;
prevented by the prison officials. Final.
~ his mind gave way completely, ana
for many months he could not be per-
suaded to utter a word, and at length,
after ? confinement of almost prec.seiy
four years, death came 20 his relief
And an examination Of his body showec
the same pathological condition as ~
wild animals that die in their cages aft.
er long confinement
Such is the theory of this most IA
markable case-a story which does no,
rest upon mere tradition, but upon am
thentic-. documents in every detail. :
Buraingtos (t1.) Cor. Boston Adrer.is,
II