The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1884-01-26
Confession of One of the Maybee
Murderers.


HUNTERS PoINT, L. l., Jan. 1S.-The fol-
lowing is the confession of Edmund Tappan,
giving the horrible details of the manner in
which his brother John murdered Mrs. May
bee and daughter:
/ knew who took the lives of Lydia and
Annie Maybee on the evening of November
18th. 1t was John B. Tappan, my brother
He was in the barn when Mrs. Maybee came
in. | was not in the barn. ! saw John go
into the barn. He went in the double doors.
| was at the front side of my house when he
wentin, feeding the pigs. Whcn.Iohn chokcd
the old lady to death | was out in front of the
barn; | saw him; he choked her to death on
the barn floor. He caught her by the wrist
with one hand, and took her by the throat
with the other. ! saw him do it; was look
ing in the door. 1t was light enough for me
to see in the stable. When John had her
by the throat she was on the ground. When
she came in for the leaves John was standing
in the stable where the leaves were. 1t took
from ten to fifteen minutes to choke her to
death. After she was dead John picked her
up and laid her in the back of the stable.
saw him throw some leaves over her. | was
standing on the barn floor, very near the
opening in the door that goes down in the
stable. | saw the whole thing myself After
she was dead John said, 81 am going to wait
for Annie; | am going to choke her, too; if l
choke her too no one will know about it; then
| can go to the house and get the money"
Annie opened the barn door about two feet
wide. When she stepped in the door John
grabbed her by the right arm and threw her
down. ! was on the floor about three feet
from where he grabbed her. He threw her
down on the floor, held her by the right wrist,
put his knee upon her left arm, and with his
right hand took her by the throat. She tried
r. L. L i
by the arm. She grabbed at his face; she
reached his face; saw her hand close over
his nose and mouth. She said, ''Let me co.
That was all she said. Then he held her by
the throat until she was dead. She died in
about ten or fifteen minutes. He carried her
into the stable, near her mother, and covered
her all up with leaves, and said: "Now am
going to the house" We both went, and
went in the kitchen door. Old Mr.. Maybee
said, "Who is there?' John said, ats me-"
Then he went upstairs in Mrs. Maybee's
room, when Mr.. Maybee knocked on the
floor. stood by the door.
| saw him do it. Then John came down
stairs and went in front of Mr.. Maybee, very
close to the hall, ran his hand up and down
Mr. Maybee's breast and said 81 want that
gold watch you had two years ago." Mr..
Maybee said 81 amt got it. | am blind and
can't see to get it, 81 know that said
John. John then said II must kill you, them
He snatched the cane out of Mr.. Maybee's
hand and struck him with it twice on the
head. John went up stairs again, and came
back. | said 81 have all want" We came
out, and he went to the cedars by the spring
and went home, | suppose. He gave me ten
dollars in bills. have it now, but not with
me. | will bring it to you. l will bring it
to-day if can. John showed me the pin and
watch by the door, outside. Icould see them.
He got them up stairs, he said. He did not
tell me how much money he got. He did not
tell me what he was going to do with the watch
and pin. do not know what he did with
them. have not since seer my brother alone
to this day and this hour. | saw him stand
by the wagon house, at the Maybee auction,
when l was going up the hill west of my
house, after dinner, on my way to work at
Henry Rushmere's S. That was the only time
| have seen him since the night the Maybee
murders were committed. After J ohm showed
me the watch and pin | went home by the old
bridge. This was about a quarter to six. l
know it was not six clock. / am sure of it.
NV wife asked me where | had been, and |
told her ''down the road" My wife does not
know that had hand in the Maybee muir
der.
Sworn to by Edmund S. Tappan to Halsted
and Frost, unsolicited by them, believing it
to be my duty to make complete confession
in regard to the part | took in the Maybee
murder