The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1891-09-02
THE ALMY TRAGEDY.
SENSATIONAL CRIME WORTHY
OF COMM EMIT.
New England sentimentaiity Likely to In
terfere with Justice-The Criminal De-
serving of the Sevcrest Penalty - His
Deed 4 hat of Fiend-Sane, but DeviIish.
Revenge of "a Coward.

The Staid old State OF New lamp
shire has added a chapter TO the records
of crime in this country which hard Y
can be surpassed for the grim background
of the murder itself and the extraor-
binary details which have followed its
commission. The crime of which Frank
| G. Amy is guilty was marked by the
most revolving cruelty and barbarity as
well as by rank cowardce. Six weeks
ago the wretch, angered because his
sweetheart, Christie Warden, rejected
his advances, sprang from his place of
concealment on a lonely road, dragged her
| away from her mother and sister into
the woods, and not only shot her down in
| cold blood but even mutilated Ter after
| death, He escaped, bOasting 10 her ter
riled companions that now he had had
revenge. The horror of the crime
aroused the entire county. Large re-
wards, aggregating 81, 900, were offered,
and hundreds Of people as well as police
| and detectives from various cities hunted
for him OF only all over the New Hamp-
| shire hills but thu ghout New Engla
| Other parts Of the country were ran
sacked, but TO no purpose, and at last
the theory was accepted that he had
| gone to Europe, and all hope Of his cap
| ture was 10 {.
1t now appears, however, that he
| never left the farm or the Warden fami-
| ly. With that fascination which some
| times seizes upon criminals to remain
upon the scene Of their crimes he con
cealed himself in the barn. From his
hiding-place he saw the funeral of his
victim. In dark nights he stole up to
the house and watched what was going
| on within. lie saw detectives and re-
| porters within few feet OF him and
| heard them discuss plans and probabili
| ties for his capture He even took food
| from the house in the night and Wis ted
| Christie's grave in the cemetery near by.
| All these weeks it never occurred to the
astute detectives TO search the War
| den premises, and had it not
been for the accidental discovery Of
! some cans taken from the house. which
raised a su picion In the mothers mind
! that he was somewhere on the premises,
he might still have been at liberty. She
| mentioned her suspi ions to the Sheriff,
and that functiOnary with a companion
| kept a nightly vigil about the barn. At
last they were rewarded by sight Of
| the lean and haggard murderer emerg-
| ing from his hiding-place to obtain food.
He was entirely unprepared for resist
ance, but for some mysterious reason
arrest him. Instead of that they raised
a hue and cry and the next day the barn
was besieged by no less than l, 500 peop'e,
who proceev ed to lombard their victim.
When he had been wounded two or three
times and Is became apparent to him
that further attempt was useless he
ayr oil to surrender and even dictated
terms so far as per- onal security was
concerned. When the terms were ac-
copied he added crime TO crime by shoot
Ing one OF his captoYs. That he was not
killed on the spot speaks well Of the
New Eng and sense OF justice The
Sheriff who had been so reluctant to per-
form his duty promptly and energetica,ly
saved him from lyrching by appealing to
the crowd to let the law take its co Irse.
They decided to 90 SO and the brutal
wretch was removed TO jail If the
courts are as fearless and the law is as
perfect as the Sheriff boa ted it will not
be long before Almy will expiate his hor-
rifle crime on the gallows.
1t is not so certain, however, that this
wretch will meet the fate he deserves
Already there is a certain halo Of ro-
nance gathering about him His visits
to his victims grave, his pr, servaton or
letters and souvenirs she had given him,
time, and that he shot her by accident
and then shot her over and over again
because he could not bear to see her
suffer, have had a certain effect upon
the maudlin and morbid classes Of soci-
ETY. who are ready to declare that he was
insane with love. People of this kind
are making a lion Of him, and there is
danger that they may bring sufficiently
strong pressure to bear TO save him from
hanging. With all its conservatism and
love for justice, sentimC ntality is
strong element in the New England
composition. as has been shown even in
the Jesse Pomeroy case and in many
another equally brutal and revolving.
The prosecuting officials, therefore, will
have a hard task before them, though
every circumstance OF the murder can
be easily established. Should any con-
tingcncy, however, save this monster
from the gallows it will be a public
calamity. The practice OF girl killing
has become alarmingly common, and it
Is time that the courts should adopt
heroic measures to suppress it There
is no better ase TO begin with than that
of Amy If all reports are true this is
not the first girl lie has killed. There is
no romance about his crime. There
was no love in his feelings toward
Christie Warden His act was dictated
by revenge, either because Christie
Warden had wounded his pride by her
re lection Of his suit or because of lower
and more revolving motives. In either
case he richly deserves death, and has
barred himself from tine sympathy of
any right-minded person. Crimes like
his are becoming alarmingly frequent,
and IL is time that tn law should step
I'm and protect helpless women from be-
Ing slaughtered merely because they ex-
ercise the right of re Getting the ad-
vances of men who may have conceived
a sudden and revolving passion for til en-