The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1884-08-27
A Terrible Tragedy.

South Main street in this village. Last Satur-
day forenoon Sanders went into Cars store
and shot him three times, inhcting wounds
from which he died almost instantly. 1t APP
pears that Sanders rode down from his home
that morning with one OF his neighbors to
whom he Is reported to have said that he was
coming down TO kill Carr; that he went to DR..
J. M. Temple.on's and procured some med
icine for himself, and that he afterwards
visited E. X SINNERS store. lie then went to
Blanchard Brothers store where, among other
purchases, he got revolver Of twenty-five
calibre, which he loaded with cartridges taken
from his pocket. Mr.. Fred Blanchard, who
waited on him, says that he appeared perfectly
calm and no more excited than as though he
was purchasing pound OF nails He passed
out OF the store and down the street, going at
once to his victims place Of business Mrs.
William Carter Of Montpelier and Mrs Ellen
Applebee, grandmother Of Mrs. Sanders, were
in the store at the time and Mr.. Carr was sit
ting at his desk writing, with his back toward
the spare floor. Sanders came up to him and,
without speaking a word, placed the revolver
within few inches Of the back Of his neck and
fired three shots in quick succession Charles
A. Smith, who works in Cobb's marble shop
next door, on hearing the reports, said to
his companion, II G. Lull, somebody is
getting hurt" and almost Immediately Mrs.
Applebee appeared In the door, with uplifted
hands, saying I" he has shot Mr. Carr" Smith
and Lull hastened out and she pointed to
Clark Sanders as the man who had done the
walking by George d. Buffers store, when he
turned around and said: {" give up" He
said that he shot him; that he hoped he had
killed him; that he knew the consequences and
expected to hang for it. His only anxiety
seemed to be lest he had not made sure work
of it, and he desired to be told as soon as they
learned whether Carr was dead or not He
said he would go quietly with Smith and Lull,
and they came up to the corner of State street,
where they found Deputy Sheriff J. L. Tuttle
who in with Smith tnnk him N iail
In repyto Tutte's inquiries Sanders repeated
substantially what he had said before as to
what he had done He seemed to be perfectly
cool although he was as white as a sheet.
When Sheriff futile took his revolver from
him at the Jail, he found that four cartridges
had been red but Sanders insisted that he
shot Carr only three times, although he failed
to account for the other discharge.
The news of the shooting spread like wild
fire and caused the greatest excitement. In
very few minutes crowd filled the street near
the scene of the crime and hung around very
persistenty although only few were permit
ted to enter the store. Mr.. Henry Cobb, the
proprietor Of the marble works next door,
was the first to reach the murdered man
He sat in his chair with his arms at his side,
his head tipping back and his eyeglasses still
remaining in position. Mr.. Cobb placed his
hand on his forehead and said, "What have
they been doing to you, Mr.. Carp" There
was no reply and no movement of any kind
although one or two gasps were noticed. Mr.
Fred Butterfly was sent to inform Mr. Cars
housekeeper Dit will be remembered that his
wife died very suddenly short time since) and
Mr. Thomas Marvin and DR.. Alfred Clark took
the body from the chair, and it was very soon
removed to the back store The Doctors Chan
der, who happened to be near, were at once
summoned, but they pronounced the man be-
yond help although they thought they could
discover slight beating of the heart The re-
mains were then taken to Mr.. Cars rooms
and Undertaken Z. N. Scovill was summoned
Alonzo Carr OF Lawrence, Mass, brother of
the deceased arrived Sunday morning and ar
rangements were made for the funeral services
which occurred Monday afternoon, Rev. T. p
Frost, of the Methodist church, officiating. The
body was inferred in the cemetery near Middle
sex Center.
Ever since the tragedy the air has been full
of rumors as to the cause, and the most i'm
probable stories have been afioat. No one has
been allowed to interview Sanders to get his
statement for publication, but C H. Heath
Esq, counsel for the defence, kindly gave to
representative OF THE WATCHMAN their version
of the affair, as follows: The circumstances
which led to the crime date back to the spring
OF 1883, when Mrs. Alice Warner, the present
Mrs Sanders applied to Carr who kept an
employment office, for work. Clark Sanders had
already asked Carr to secure him housekeeper
and thus the two we're brought together. Mrs.
Warner had girl eight or nine years of age,
| and formerly lived with her grandmother, Mrs.
Ellen Applebee, at Lawrence, Mass, where
Carr was in business before he came to Mont
pelier. Mrs Appebee says that she knew
Carr there, but that her granddaughter never
saw him until she met him here After Mrs.
Warner had been at work for Sanders two or
three months scandalOus stories were circulated
about her and Carr, which resulted in her
discharge but the matter was soon satisfac-
torily settled and she returned to her place.
Very soon after august 16, 1889 the two were
married by Rev. Z. d. Mason of Montpelier.
They seemed to live happily enough until in
| the winter, when they began to have trouble
| and both made threats Of seeking divorce.
Mrs Sanders claimed that she was abused,
that her husband had struck her, etc., and
| that she could not live with him longer She
and Mrs. Applebee, who was living with Them
| came to Montpelier and remained over night
| at Cars. This is the only time, as Mrs. APP
| pebee claims, that Mrs Sanders was away
| from home single night from her marriage to
| the time of the tragedy reconciliation was
| soon effected between the husband and wife
and he seemed to desire to deed her the prop
| erty that she might be contented to remain at
| home. Lawyer Heath wrote the deed convey
| ing the farm to her, but made such reserva-
| tions as seemed to be best, under the circum-
stances, leaving the practical control of the
| property with Mr.. Sanders. AT this recon-
Citation Mrs. Sanders claimed that she had
never been intimate with Carr and promised to
keep away from him and her husband promised
to use her well, Their mutual good feeling
seemed to be genuine, and it was thought that
their difficulties were over. Nothing more was
heard from them until Friday, August %, when
Mr. Sanders entered Heath's office in an ex-
cited frame of mind and inquired il he Heath
had told his wife that she could sell or
mortgage the farm without his consent
A negative reply seemed to stir him up
more, and he said his wife had lied to
him about it, Last Friday Mr.. Sanders was
ming to town to sell some butter and his
wife wished to come down TO get some money
which her grandmother was expecting from
Massachusetts. Evidently to avoid taking her
with him, Sanders rode down with neighbor.
When she found this out she got neighbor to
harness their horse and she drove down, leav-
ing the team at the Union House stable, with
orders to let no one else have it. After trans
acting her business she went to the stable for
the team and found that Sanders had gone with
it, having secured it without Mr. Wheeler's
knowledge by paying the hostler for keeping
It, Mrs. Sanders then went 10 Mr.. Heath's
office and told the story of her trouble and said
she could not live with her husband any longer.
At Mr.. Heath's suggestion, one OF d. W.
Dudley's teams was procured and she was
driven home. On arriving there she found
that Sanders had turned Mrs. Applebee out of
the house and her infant son, about two months
old, could not be found. She was much
alarmed, made an unsuccessful search for the
child, and passed sleepless night. Sanders
stayed at a neighbours and the next morning
started for Montpelier, where he committed the
crime as above stated. Mrs. Sanders also came
to town that morning and was passing along