The Portland daily press., 1891-05-21
PECULIAR FOOT PRINTS IN THE MUD.
Tracing the Path OF the Alleged
sprInsvAie Incendlary.
How the NeIghbors Turned Out to
Fight the Fire.
Yesterdays Proceedings In the su-
preme Court at Alfred.
Especial to the Press.I

| nrSL from WIN. Il. FlllSDury 10 CnarleS
Pray. and then from Charles Pray to George
w. Pray. were introduced. There was no
record of delivery of the last deed, and the
defense objected to its introduction. Mr..
Came said the plaintiffs would prove the de-
livery by witness.
| George p. Chase Of Shapleigh. a civil en-
gineer, was the first witness. Mr.. Came con-
Quoting the examination. He testified that
he visited the Pray property on the 18th day
Of this month and made plan Of the prem
ises which was In the court room. He de-
scribed the premises, giving measurements
| Of the buildings.
George III. Twombly of Shapleigh, who
lived about three-fourth OF mile from the
Prays' On the night Of the fire he was al
Prays. in the room nearest to the fire. He
left for home at 1.55 on the morning of the
fire, Sunday. September Z, going out at the
| door nearestIthe barn. He stood at the door
| for moment or two with Addie Pray, now
Mrs. Henderson. He saw nothing wrong
| about the barn. On his way home, at a turn
in the road, happening to look back he saw
| fire in two windows In the east gable end Of
| the barn. He at once ran back. He found
Addie Pray in the doorway. Told her the
barn was afre and then started in to try and
get the cattle out. He went into the barn
| by small tie house door next the hen house
on the east end. He only got In about five
| or six feet when he was obliged to back out
on account Of the heat and smoke. He with
others then went down underneath and ran
out the wheels and what farming tools there
were in the cellar. He himself secured
wagon, moving machine and a sled. The
fire first broke out through the roof on the
south side about 10 feet from the east end.
The fire burned up freely and the roof fell in
In very short time. Walter Goodale and
George Bragdon came next after him, the
Prays appearing almost instantly upon the
cry of ire. Cross-examined by Mr.. Edgerly
he said he reached the Pray house at about
7.30 on Saturday evening. Mr.. and Mrs.
Charles Pray and Addie were there and
George came soon after. 1t had rained dur
ing the afternoon and was dark and misty.
Charles Pray went out to the barn at about
O'Clock with lantern, staying a few min
utes, just before he went to bed. Could not
remember whether Charles Pray was smok-
Ing Saturday evening or not. Has seen him
smoke pipe In the house, but never else
where. He kept the pipe In a.cupboard by
the chimney. George Pray smoked cigars
occasionally, but not often. Mr.. Edgerly
undertook to find some reason why Twombly
went went home Gle,,na by the road in In
5ftsa 2. ssd tSat @ the az sraas ne
in the fields was too Wei 70 maize travaIiinS
pleasant. 1t cleared away somewhere near
So'eloek and was clear and moonlight as he
went home. When he opened the tie-up
door Of the barn he saw plenty Of smoke but
no fire. A board partition separated the
rest Of the barn from the tie-up, so that had
there been any fire on the hoor he could not
have seen 1t. When the PTays came out they
also tried to enter the tie-up and were driuen
back. There was no fire In the cellar, which
was open on the south side, when they went
In to get out the carts. The upper part of
the barn was full of hay. There was calf
kept on the barn floor, but there was no lit
ter OF straw or fodder on the floor when he
| was last in the barn. 1t took only about an
hour and a half for the barn to burn down
and fall into the cellar. He went home at
tTe, the only one who lived in the direction
OF Springvale being William Trafton.
In regard to rubber boots the witness could
not tell how many. IL any, of those present
Prays wear them previously. He knew
nothing about tracks being found.
Mrs. Addie nj. Henderson, daughter of
Charles Pray, was the next witness. She
corroborated Twombly's testimony as to his
being at the house Saturday night. After
while getting a drink of water, heard loud
swapping In the direction of the barn. She
went to the window and looked out. She
saw light above the big doors of the barn In
row Of small panes of glass. She saw none
In the gable windows. She called the fami-
ly and then went out to alarm the neighbors.
1t was very calm night.
Cross-examined she said that she and
Twombly walked during the evening toward
Shapleigh corner. away from Sprinvale
(ia0rQA hack from Snriu0vQlo hafnra
they started but witness did not see him put
up the horse. Mrs. Henderson testified fur
ther, corr0borating Twombly's testimony
On the matter Of the moon, she thought it
was some three or four hours high when
Tw0mbly went home.
She knew Sylvester Cummings, as did all
the other members Of the family. He had
been at the house perhaps a dozen times.
The members OF the family. herself included,
frequently went to Cummings house In
Springvale. Cummings came to the house
on the Tuesday after the fire. Cummings
expressed sorrow at the loss the family had
met and offered to do anything he could to
help them. Cummings seemed to De in an
amiabie frame Of mind. he only stayed
about 10 minutes, and when he left went
back toward Springvale. On the night of
the fire the barn doors were open when
George Twombley went out, but when the
On redirect examination. Mrs. Henderson
explained that the visits of herself
and her mother to Mr. Cummings house
were to see Della Gerey. the housekeeper.
Della came up to Pray's house whenever
Cummings came.
VIM. M. Trafton of Shapleigh, VINO lives
in the first house on the Springvale side of
Pray's house, next testified. He went up to
Pray's house at about o'clock Sunday
morning., stayed few minutes and then
back to Pray's and stayed there until about
O'Clock. He went home, then. MIXED his
cows and drove them to pasture, beyond
Twombly's house. While he was driving his
cows, he saw tracks In the road coming from
pair Of bars near his house. There were
three or four Of them, pointing from the bars
| toward the middle of the road. He thought
the tracks were made by rubber boot be-
cause the front OF the heel was square. 1t
was moderately large track. They toed In
| with both feet. Above the brook, nearer
| Pray's, there were more tracks, some six or
| seven in number. There were no wheel
| tracks in the road. The foot prints appear
| ed to be fresh. Witness knew Sylvester
Cummings by sight but was not acquainted
with him. He had often noticed that Cum
mings toed in when he walked He did not
tell George Pray: about the tracks before
| George and others went down the road look
i ing for them. Mr.. Edgerly cr0ss-examined
the witness at considerable length, He ad-
i mitted that he sometimes wore rubber boots
but did not have them on on the morning Of
the fire. He did not come through the bars
on the morning of the fire.
| DIR. Il. A. Bragdon then took the stand.
He testified that he lived about three
quarters of a mile from Pray's. He went
! there at about o'clock Sunday morning and
| stayed about half an hour. He, Perley Alb
| bott George Pray and George BIagdon went
| down below Pray's house to examine some
tracks that had been seen. He saw several
belowIraft0n's house, some pointing toward
| Pray's and some going back toward Spring
| vale. The tracks were a continuous line
down to place called Pine Hill Hollow.
| There were no other tracks OF any kind.
Part way down there was track at right
angle as though the person making them had
| stopped and turned around. The tracks
were apparently made by a rubber boot, size
| about or 10. The heel was square
and the tap tapered toward the
| heel. The tracks were all alike
| and all toed in. They were measured in his
presence. He did not search for tracks in
| any other place. He knew Of nobody who
| came to the fire from the direction Of VIII
| liam Trafton's house. On cross-examinatiou
| DIR. BragdOn said that the track of the sole
showed cross lines, showing 1t to Lave beer
| made By a nearly new rubber boot,
Perley K. Abbott of Shapleigh. a carmen
ter, confirmed the testimony of DR.. Bragdon
de measured the tracks and produced the
figures; length of track Ill inches, width. 8,
inches, heel 3x3, distance between prints 20
ing up feet inches going down, that Is
toward Sprlngyale, feet inches. Twice
tnere were turns marked on the track goinl
Toward Springvale. The tracks were uni