The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1888-02-29

dy, having business with Mr.. Barron. had
money deposited there, and went to draw
my interest / went twice to the door
and found it locked The third time went
l found Mr.. Barron inside, and told him
what / wanted. He got his books and
found the bank owed me 1866. He said lie
did not have money enough TO pay me, and
would give me a check. first thought l
would take 1t, but afterwards decided 1
would not"
Cross-examination-" was nothing
unusual about Mr.. Barron's appearance that
morning. l should say that ] was in the
bank the best portion Of an hour"
MYRoN II. MERRYFIELD,
of Medfeld, husband of Cora, daughter of
Stain, testified: John Harvey sat behind
me in the car while we were going home
from the Dexter hearing. Speaking about
the reporters he said to me that they were
first rate fellows, and he never had such a
good time in his life, smoking, drinking,
etc. You are not much of fellow said he,
to tell story. All you've got to do Is to
ask ii they have got couple OF hundred
dollars. and If they have, make them up a
doubted ii there ever was any boring ma
chine that Stain had In his possession. Har-
Iyey said how he had Stain and Cromwell
shut up for at least three months
DAVID L. STAIN
was the next witness called, and his appear
ance created a great sensation. He said ::
81 was born in Mount Vernon, Me-, and
went to Natck, Mass, when II years of age,
shoe making. From Natick | went to Aroos-
took county when "a years of age. l was
never in Bangor except when / returned
home six weeks afterwards. | came down
to Mt Vernon in 1880 and went to Norridge-
wock, which is the farthest East have ever
been since the Aroostook trip. | settled in
Medfield in 1854. My house was burned in
1875, and built new house near the post
office in Medield furnished this house in
1876. had secret place in chamber
floor covered by board built to contain a
trunk with my papers and gold watch and
chain, which was present to Cora from her
mother. put 1t there because Harvey had
said he world get it. The alleged secret
place by the chimney was where there had
formerly been stairway which was re-
moved to the hallway and the vacant place
that it would not show. 1t
never was hiding place. There was no
secret recess at the water closet. don't
know where Charlie was all the time while
was building these houses. In September,
1873, got letter from him and, in response
went and found him in Suffolk market, BoS-
ton, where he kept meat stall. He wanted
to come out home and allowed him to. He
came out in October and, shortly afterwards,
we moved down to cottage house, our fam
lily being myself, daughter, John Harvey and
Charlie, who married Lizzie Ballard, October
Ii, 1876, and came to my house to live.
They separated in about six weeks. She left
and, shortly afterwards, Charlie went, car
rying with him my nice oyercoat and SIG in
money. did not see him again until he
visited me in Dedham Jail, in 1SS3 | once
owned a little chunk of a horse named Flora
and swapped her off.
Il was not away from home in the month of
November, 1877, other than to go to Boston
on short trip. | owned horse named
NorCh Star and snapped him Off | never
shipped any team on the steamer Star of
the East and never hired any team at any
stable. In February, 1878, | was making
and repairing shoes in Medield. Cora alone
my family then. Mr.. Thomas
lived down stairs. l am not sure whether L
belonged to the fire company in February,
1873. | remember very well that j. Herbert
Baker came TO my house on the 18th of Feb
ruary, 1878, with pair of boots and we
talked over fire company matters. returned
the boots mended three days later. l re-
member that Lizzie Ballard called at my
house the 2lst of February, and gave her a
pair of boots as birthday pres
ent which | purchased for Cora.
they being too large for her. On the night
of the 22d of February / was at Mr.. Rhodes's
&
by my note book. In doctoring the horse
l broke the, halter. On the morning of the
22d, Mr.. Thomas went up to do his chores
and when he came back, | remember he
told his wife that Chas. Hamants horse was
stolen. l was at home on that day and have
a memorandum showing that l mended Mr..
Rhodes's halter onsthe 23d. On the oath l
went to Boston and bought stock. Here
Stain produced bills in court which he paid
on that day,] On the.afternoon Of the 22d
tapped pair Of shoes for some one and on
tie 23d pair of boots for Patrick Martin
and remember he brought me book written
by VIM. Paine. | never made any confess
sion to my son about the Barron murder and
never had any shock. While at Dedham Jail
Charlie called on me and | said to MIR.
seen for five years. l was convicted of
four rings, a knit jacket and cap
which were stolen by John Harvey. Harvey
testified he gave me ring, which he never
did, and the other property was mine. al
ways e0lored my m0ustache after was l9
years old. | remember assisting colored
boy in driving sheep across the railroad
rack, but can't fix the date. The only time
was ever arrested was when went to Ded-
ham jail"
Cross examination: 81 never heard there
was savings bank in Dexter until | heard
Df this affair. i read an account of the trag-
edy in the Boston Herald. Cromwell and l
did not take the Herald together that | re-
member of. don't know but what he paid
towards it. From 1861 lived at
Medfield continually until about 1880, except
q short time in Walp0le. 1t was by my di-
rection that the recess in the floor was bGilt
by Carpenter Dodge. The only reason had
it constructed was to hide Cora's watch from
Harvey. | sheathed up the place by the
chimney and there was no place in the attic
where access conld be obtained to it. This
recess was open to clothes closet to which
there was a door,"
Mr.. Baker interrogated the witness sharp
" on the building of the recess in the floor
and to fix the date when it was constructed.
He thought the floor in the room where the
place was built was constructed after the
Thomas family moved in but would not say
that it was made after the 9th or 9th of JAN
nary, 1876, or before Harvey returned. The
witness said: 81 never associated with Har-
vey. Cromwell or Billy Bell on any enter
prises or any gang. never knew OF any ex-
peditions from our house for the pur-
poses of crime and never stole
any bags of grain from the cars.
never knew that any stolen grain was
brought to my house. did not tell Dodge
to build place in the floor where / might
keep Cora's watch, but said / wanted it for
my papers. There was no real intimacy be-
tween Mr.. Cromwell and myself. We had no
associations other than because he hired my
house. He did not come regularly after the
papers, / did not know they had any stolen
door. let them in and they went to bed.
never saw any unusual number of keys
about my house. l always carried a reyol-
yer as when | went to my traps in winter
had to use it sometimes to kill animals in the
traps. When arrested had loaded revol-
yer in my possession which / carried be-
cause of the money l had in my possession
and carried to ana from the house. carried
one dirk knife which was kept open by
spring and which had to skin game with. L
had two other small knives in my possess
sion. A knit jacket was found in
my bureau drawer when L was
arrested five years ago. | don't know what
a jimmy looks like or what it is for, only
what / have read about in the papers. l
never knew anything about Billy Scott, or
any boring machine, until | came to Dexter.
The iron found at my house when | was ar
rested was catch used to retain the tail
board to an express wagon. | had no knowl-
edge where it came from, and never knew of
any false whiskers or moustaehes at my
house, and never saw any, except in win
dows on the streets of Boston. l never was
on Blackstone street, Boston, and no man
ever came out to my place to make false
keys"
Mr.. Baker brought in a dirk knife and
held it up. The prisoner pronounced it his
skinning knife. A big jackknife was intro
xNh ha vUif I, lie