The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-10-09
RIVAL P0E'S ROMANCES.
WHERE MURDERS ARE MARK I'd
BY STRANG 5 FEATURES.

Names Records of Unparalleled
Crimes that Would Not Be Believed
Possible if sketched in Fic' ion
Strange Motives and Unusual
Methods Surrounding Many TRACE
dies-Partomime Evidence.
From the Ne,c York World.
THoMAsToN PR;soN, Me-. Oct 1.-The
refusal of Chief Justice John A. Peters to
grant new trial to Stain and Cromwell,
the murderers of Cashier Barron, of the
Dexter bank. ten years ago. will soon add
two more to the thirty murderers now serv-
ing life sentences in this prison. For a
small state-the pioneer of prohibition and
one where the strict old Puritanical int1u-
ences are still apparent on all sides-Mane
has record of unique, cold-blooded and as
tonishing murders that is said to be unpa-
ralleIed Human life has been taken again
and again here under circumstances and
with such accompanying details as would
be stamped as prepoSterous if recorded in a
novel. Murders have been committed that
surpass in actual fact the fantastic iInagi-
nations Of Poe or De Quircey's famous es-
say on Murder as a Fine Art" The story
of capital crime in Maine is peculiar from
the fact that out Of the scores of tragedies
scarcely one has been the result of drink,
aud nearly all are marked by some striking
and novel feature unusual in the motive and
manner of crime.
The famous Isles of Shoals murder was
perhaps, the most striking crime in the his
tory Of the state. Fragments of the details
of this tragedy have frequently been
adopted into fiction and the whole story of
the murder on Snutty Nose Island has been
immortalized by the pen Of Celia Thaxter.
Wagner, the murderer, was hung on the
same scaffold with Gordon, the Thorndike
assassin, and Clifton Harris who killed two
old women in Auburn. The crime of the
latter was a most wanton and cold-blooded
affair. More than twenty years ago two
old ladies lived alone in a little house in the
outskirts of Auburn. 1t was a wild and
stormy night in the dead of the winter when
the crime was committed. Late the next
day neighbor, thinking the absence of all
signs of life about the little dwelling to be
something unusual, entered the house. The
sight was most horrible. There in the little
bedroom lay the dead bodies of the two old
ladies. One of them had been strangled to
death and assaulted while dying. The COM
munity was wild with excitement. Men,
women and children thirsted for the life of
the assassin. In less than a week half
witted tramp was arrested some twenty
at farm-houses every night, and his where
abouts could be accounted for on every night
save that of the murder. His boots we're
badly run over at the heel and
at the corner of the little
house, where the snow had blown almost
clear, was the print of a heel into which one
boot fitted. Only the strength of Auburn
Jail prevented his being lynched. But there
came forth another farmer who swore that
the prisoner had stopped all night
with him on the fatal night, and the
poor tramp was released. Then came the
arrest of Clifton Harris, the negro: He
confessed. and in his confession implicated
one Verrill as his accomplice. On the trial
Verrill was acquitted, but the negro was
fosnd guilty and sentenced and after wards
hanged.
In 1872 Gov. Perham pardoned out of
Thomaston a murderer who had been there
nearly thirty years. This was Thomas
Thorn. Fifty years ago Thorn, then sea-
man, became epamored with a young girl
named Lois Alexander, living in Harpswen.
When he returned from long voyage he
found her the wife of a middle-aged farmer
named Wilson. Thorn went to live with
the couple. Perhaps the old love revived !;
at least close intimacy sDrang up, which,
report says, was criminal. On Sunday
morning, Feb. 5, 1S43, Wilson was found
dead in his bed with his skull crushed in
Investigation disclosed bloody pair of
tongs. Circumstances pointed strongly to
Thorn as the murderer and to Mrs. Wilson
as an accompice. The two were indicted
and were tried at Portland. Thorn was
found guilty of murder in the first degree,
and was sentenced to be hanged. This
sentence was afterwards c0mmuted to life
Imprisonment. The woman was acquitted.
THE LEONARD SWIFT MURDER.
There have been many murders in this
state in which the culprit was never
brought to justice. One of the most pecu-
liar of these was the murder of Leonard
SWEET, of Portland whose dead body was
found in the gutter opposite the custom
house on Sept. 10, 1871, little after 8
o'clock in the evening. For this crime
Simon Loveitt was indicted and tried
Loveitt admitted that he and SWEET had
been gambling in Commercial street den
early in the evening; that he had an alterca-
ton with SWEET on the street opposite the
custom house at S:45 o'clock, and that he
had knocked SWEET down and left him lying
there. The accused swore that he struck
SWEET only with his fist. But, when Swett's
body was picked up, the back of the skull
was found to be broken in. The govern
ment commended that this happened when
his head struck the stones of the gutter.
Never was circumstantial evidence stronger.
But Loveitt rad as counsel one of the
best lawyers in Maine. And that lawyers
ability and the testimony of little Irish
girl saved Lovett's life.
Then came the murder Of Mrs. George
Knight in Lewiston. She was found dead
in Der bed. and the bloody axe that had
been the weapon used was lying on the
floor. There was no motive for the crime
and no clue Her husband had been on I'M
friendly terms with her and suspicion rested
on him. But al inquiry into his wherea-
bouts showed that few hours after the
murder he was in a neighboring town with
q yoke of oxen that he had driven from
home. The moment of the murder was
fixed by a circumstance, and an estimate
of the speed of travel of oxen showed at
first sight that Knight must have been off
on the road when the tragedy took place.
But the ambitious county attorney of
Androscoggin county became convinced
that Knight was guilty. Although not a
farmer, the young lawyer secured the same
team of oxen, hitched them to Knights cart,
and one evening, with several citizens for
witnesses, he drove the animals over the
same road that night Knight had travelled
and arrived at his destination within the
time that might elapse and still permit the
husband to have used the fatal axe upon
his wife. Knight was placed on trial for the
murder, but wholly unaware that the pros
ecuting officer had accomplished this feat,
made his defense the utter i'm
possibility of his having been at the farm
house when the crime was committed.
Then to the astOnishment of the prisoners