The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1883-10-30
a Remarkable Csse.
The Terrible Punishment OF Vermont
Murderer-Llfe which was Worse than
Death

burlington Va.> Corr. Boston Advertiser
Apropos of the current discussion of the
abolition of capital punishment, Vermont
had in the last generation case which may
nave some bearing on the matter, aud which
was In all respects most remarkable one
being, indeed, almost without parallel in
Inc annals OF crime. Eugene Clifford more
than forty years ago murdered his wife and
infant child by browning them in Fairfield
pond. He was deserter from the British
army, and had gone TO Fairfield, a little vii
iage OF Franklin county, where he married
Mrs. Elizabeth Gilmore. a widow. who
owned small farm. After few years of
married life he became infatuated with
another woman, whom he thought he could
marry were his wife out of the way. He
also thought that he would inherit the farm
and the other property if he survived his
wife and child. So led on by the tremen-
dous forces of avarice and lust he laid his
plans to murder them. He invited his wife
one Sunday morning to cross Fairfield pond
with him in log canoe, and she accepted
the invitation, taking her child in her arms.
In an hour or two Clifford returned alone,
and notified the neighbors that his wife.
while adjusting shawl around the child.
mad FALLEN from the boat, and both had been
drowned. The next day the bodies were re-
covered, but the shawls, which it was known
That they had worn, and which were of con-
siderable value, could not be found. This
strengthened the suspicion that Clifford had
murdered his wife and child, and an intense
excitement pervaded the neighborhood.
On a given day the people came together
from miles around, and thorough search
was made OF every foot of the shore of the
pond. but no trace of the missing shawls
could be found. And now comes one of the
extraordinary facts of the case. On the
night OF that day neighbor, one Mrs Mar
vim, dreamed that she crossed field in front
OF her house, climbed fence across which
large hemlock tree had fallen, walked few
yards ON the trunk of the tree, and thence
TO dense growth of underbrush, near the
shore OF the pond, and there, in a shallow
hole in the sand, and partially covered, she
found the shawls In the morning Mrs.
Marvin told her dream to her husband. but
ne thought little OF it, She, however, per-
suaded a neighbor to accompany her, and
though she had never been over the ground,
she found everything precisely as in her
act place she had seen in her vision.
With the evidence thus furnished, and
much other of damaging kind, Clifford,
on trial, was convicted, and he was SEN
fenced to be hanged ON the expiration of
one year from his sentence, April 81, 1S43.
IN the meantime to be kept in solitary con-
hnement in the state prison at Windsor
AS the law then stood, the governors war
rant was prerequisite for the execution of
a condemned prisoner, and the then gov
ernor, from conscientious motive which
appears somewhat strained, refused to issue
his warrant for Clifford's execution. and
the next governor followed his predecessors
example. In the meantime in his solitary
cell, Clifford decayed in body and mind,
and suffered both an intellectual and
physical death. For a few months.
while admitting his guilt, he claimed
that his act was justifiable, and he endeav-
ored to get some influence from abroad
used in his behalf At The end of the time
origins lily set for his execution, he began
to have spasms of insane raving, when
ne was sosnoisy, abusive and violent that it
was found necessary to chain him. Then
be was seized with the notion that he was
unlawfully and unjustly detained, and this
IDEA would lead him into fits of violence and
insane rage. Next succeeded wish to be
hung; and the unhappy man confded to the
prison physician a letter to the governor, in
which he implored him to order his execu-
tion He then attempted to starve himself
70 death, but the attempt was prevented by
the prison officials. Finally his mind gave
way completely, and for many months he
could not be persuaded no utter word, and
at length, after confinement of almost pre-
cisely four years. death came to his relief.
AND an examination of his body showed the
same pathological condition as In wild AMI
mails that die in their cages after a long con
finement.
Such is the theory of this most remarka-
bic Casa story which does not rest upon
mere tradition, but upon authentic docu-
ments in euerv detail