The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-10-09
b col, killed his roth'r Howard with a
shotgun j., his own dooryard in August,

{ herryheld. in the eastern part or the state.
Ever SINCE he was - years old a young man
named Chester Cunningham had been on
terms of guilty intimacy with Ter. or late,
however, she had seemed to tire OF him, and
lad been receiving the attentions OF another
young man named Wiley. Cunningham
was of most Jealous disposition. One
Sunday evening in March he overlook the
Widow Spragre and young Wiley walking
to prayer meeting together. lie was furi-
Gus. He called the woman aside and said:
eff you let Wiley go home with you after
meeting is out, will kill you, swear will
kill your
During the services Cunningham sat
direc ly behind the pair. his face pale with
rage. When the meeting was over. the
widow took Willey's arm and walked out
amid a crowd # young people. Cunning
ham overlook them on the sidewalk few
rods from the church. In his hand he car
ried an open razor. Coming up from behind
he grasped tie woman by the hair, tipped
her head back, and with one slash OF his
razor, nearly severed her head from her
body.
WHOLESALE MURDER.
There have been several murders in
Maine where more han one person has been
the victim of the assassn's fury. On Ocl.
Is, in 1876, in Bucksport, Edwin NJ. Smith
killed Robert Trim, IS years old; Melissa
Thayer, Trims daughter, "a years old, and
her little glrl, Josie. To rob the house was
his motive. He killed Mrs. Thayer as she
was returning from call; then attracted
the old man into the carriage house anu
struck him down; went into the kitchen and
killed the child; robbed the house of $3.50 in
money, and then burned the house down
to conceal the evidence of his guilt.
The bones of all three were found in the
ashes OF the house, and, as the assassin hoped,
it was first supposed they had been suffo-
Gated by. smoke. After while, however,
suspicion was aroused, Smith was arrested,
found guilty and sentenced to Imprison-
ment for life at Thomaston.
Another triple murier, and, curiously, by
another Smith, was committed in the town
of Warren in September, 1881. In that
month Charles Smith. of ROckland, went to
the house of his father-in-law in Warren
and killed his own wife, his mother-in law
and his infant boy, putting the muzzle of
his revolver between the latter's lips as he
slept. The deed was done in tit Of jealous
rage Smiths wife was but 10 years old. He
gave himself up, was found guilty, and is
Thomaston for life.
In the same way, in May 1873, Jason p.
Scribner Drained his three children, aged 5.
3 and 2, before his wife's eyes in an insane
fit.
MYSTERIOUS DISAPPEARANCE.
There has been one murder in this state in
the last ten years in which the assassin,
though seen by one man, vanished so conf
pletely that never has the slightest trace as
to his identity been found This is the muir
der of Tax Collector Elliott of Glelburn
Several alleged discoveries Of the murderer
have been made, but the fact remains that
the whole matter is still shrOuded III InyS-
terry. About o'clock on a clear winter
night in February Of 1879, Night Watch
man Colson, at the Maine Central station, in
Bangor, saw a two-horse sled coming rapid
ly down the street. The ngnt was SO liz
tensely cold that the sled-rJnners screamed
on the snow, yet the horses were steaming
with perspiration and covered with latter
The driver, who had his cap well pulled
down over his eyes, dashed up TO the side
of the platform, and, throwing the reins
over the horses head, leaped off and rather
sharply asked Colson to look out for his
team while he went into the station. The
through train came along i'll a few minutes,
and as the stranger did not reappear, Mr.
Colson thought that he would blanket the
steaming horses. The blanket and two or
three bags of grain lay on the sled. As he
pulled the blanket off there fell from it
bloody AK, and then he was Mortified to see
that not only the blanket but the grain bags
were spattered with blood. There was
human hair on the pole of the ak. He had
hardly notified the police when intelligence
was brought in that the dead body of man
had been found in the snow at the roadside
a little way out of the town. The body was
at once recognized as that of William b.
Elliott of Glenburn, the town constable and
collector of taxes. The head had been split
open, then beaten in by the pole of the ak
and finally mashed fiat by blows struck with
the eide of the same deadly weapon. Two
or three persons were suspected, but there
murderer was seen only by Waterman Col
son. He has never been seen since, and never
probably, until the judgment day will his
awful crime be punished.
THE Staying OF ALVIN WATSON.
SHOT even 1.-THE Murders in the Rue
Morguen or 1.-The Mystery of Marie Roget"
rivalin tragic horror the Staying of Alvin
Watson, in the town of Parkmau. Alvin
Watson was steady farmer who was I'M
married and lived alone. One morning in
June, 1881, he was found dead in his own
dooryard, with gaping knife wounds in all
parts of his body. From the appearance of
his bed it was evident that he had been at
tackled in his sleep. The kitchen adjoining
his bedroom was in the utmost confusion.
There were pools of blood on the floor, and
everywhere signs of most violent strug-
gle. One window was up, and its ledge was
drenched with blood There was trail of
blood from the kitchen to a point in the
dooryard some forty feet away. Here the
body was found, and it had evidently been
dragged there by the heels
Suspicion fell upon young Samuel B.
Chadbourne, the son of neighbor. Chad
bourne was deaf mute, and not knowing
the deaf and dumb alphabet, could commu-
nlcate only by signs. No one pretended to
be able to understand him at all, except his
family. When he was arrested bloodstains
were found on his clothing, a bloody knife,
said to be his, was found i'll the house, and
his vest was found at Watson's. His neck
was scratched and the skin was abraded.
Strange to say, his father, Benjamin
Chadbourue, and his brother, Wallace
Chadbourde, were the first to call attention
to his probable guilt. This they continued
so pertinaciously that some began to think
that perhaps they, too, had hand in it. In
uuiry developed sufficient circumstantial
evidence to warrant their arrest and indict.
ment.
DRAMATIC TESTIMONY.
And now the real drama began. 1t hap-
pened that there was al old farmer in the
Chadbourne neighborhood who was SUI
ficienty acquainted with the deaf mute to
understand somewhat of his signs, and
through him the court learned the story of
that awful night. By his gestures the boy
indicated that his father, his brother and
himself had agreed to kill Watson. In pan
tomine he stole to the bedroom and struck
at Watson then Watson's fingers circled his
throat and threw him. half strangled,
ooo;uat tho uall With xuauaripo rr,e