St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1888-11-22
EIGHT YEARS IN PRISON.
Thomas Ward Receives Sentence.--A
Review of the Case.

Thomas Ward Receives sentenee.-A
Review of the Case.
Thomas Ward of ST. JOhnsbury was
on Friday sentenced to term of eight
years at hard labor in Windsor state
prison for arson. The sentence was
delivered by Chief Justice Royce, all
the judges concurring, though it is
said that some of them thought the
sentence should have been for a long
er time When asked if he had any
thing to say why sentence should not
be passed Mr.. Ward answered in the
negative, and heard the announcement
with no outward signs of feeling, save
that he paled little under it. He
was taken at once to Windsor where
he is now working out his sentence.
Mr.. Ward is 63 years old and will
consequently be II should he live un-
i til the expiration of his sentence. 1t
has been generally expected among
those who knew him and were familiar
with the case, that he would disappear
| w ItH GIlO Gliilc CttI1c IOI ScllGo1C0 W US
passed and would forfeit his bail I'm
dOubtedly he has taken the wiser
course. His block on Railroad street
was mortgaged for $4,000 to protect his
bOndsmen, b. G. Howe and Sias Ran
dali. In addition to this the property
is attached for $4,000 to protect Har-
vey Fosters suit for damages, which
comes up for trial, by the way, in the
December term of the county court.
Mr.. Ward has some other property,
but by the time these claims were sat-
isfed he would hardly be in good shape
to start in life again, especially as the
laws of the state are such that even af
ter forfeiting his bonds he could be
seized at any time, if found, brought
into court and sentenced. Probably
he calculates that his chances of getting
sick and being pardoned out before the
expiration of his sentence, as has been
the case with so many others, are
worth considering.
1t is SO rarely that man of means
is brought to justice for his misdemean-
ors and this case has attracted so
much interest and attention during the
past three years, that a brief review of
the facts will be of interest -
Thomas Ward was arrested and had
a hearing before Magistrate johnson
in February, 1886, charged with burn
ing Harvey Fosters barn in Walden,
Jan. 26, 1886. Previous to this Ward
had become enamored of one Olivia
Amsden, an adopted daughter of Fos-
ter's, had threatened injury to Foster
in various ways, and, it was believed,
fired the barn out of revenge, because
Foster discouraged the girls marrying
him. 1t appeared in evidence that an
unsuccessful attempt was made just
four weeks previous to the fire to burn
this same barn, and that on that night
and also on the night when the barn
was destroyed, Ward took an all-night
drive and could not or did not salts
factorily account for his absence.
There were other circumstances tend
ing to tasten suspicion on him, that
were not explained away.
At the above hearing Ward was
bound up under $500 bonds. At the
June term of the county court he was
indicted for arson. At the December
term he demurred to the indictment on
the ground of irregularity in empan-
nelling the grand jury. The demurrer
was Over-ruled and the case went to
the supreme court on that question in
Nov. 1887. The supreme court affirm
ed the judgment of the lower court and
sent the case back for trial on its mer-
its. At the December term of the
county court in 1887 jury trial was
held before Judge Veazey continuing
for over two weeks, the longest trial
in the history of the court, resulting in
verdict of guilty, the jury being
out about four hours. The case was
then passed on to the supreme term in
May 1888 and continued to the general
term this month, when all the Judges
sat upon it, the decision of the lower
court was affirmed and the final SEN
tence pronounced. The case was frs
brought by States Attorney Montgom.
cry and was conducted through from
the beginning by ii. c. Ide, who was
assisted at the trial by Lawyer Prouty
of Newport. The defence was con
Quoted by Bates & May, who were as
, sisted at the trial by Judge Thompson
of Irasburg and lawyers Lamson ant
Blodgett. Taken altogether it wa
one of the most interesting and closely
, contested cases in the history of Gale
E donia county court.
A Birthday Party.
Miss Mary Jane Gentry, daughter o
: Henry Gentry, celebrated her I5tl
birthday anniversary Tuesday. In th'
i evening Is of her schoolmates gathered
, at her home, each girl bringing
e present. Besides these she received
t pretty gold watch, the presentation
= speech being made by Miss Clar
4 Wheeler, the music teacher. The Wis
T. ItOrs were served to supper with tn
f customary birthday cake and all had
very merry time.
L Real Estate Transfers.
John Beck has sold his house an
lot in Fairbanks village to Conra