Sturgis advertiser. (Sturgis, Dakota [S.D.]) 1887-1???, 1891-09-03

4 0Sn---A LT& sGWy WINCH AABENltAG 4 80 "
Hampshire Revenge Wns AIMS Only
motive His Crime ! Iarmingly ESre-
gu mt
Revenge of Coward.
The staid old State OF New Hamp-
shire has added chapter to the records
of crime In this country which hard
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
&. Amy is guilty was marked by the
most revolving cruelty and barbarity as
we'll as by rank cowardice Six weeks
ago the wretch, angered because his
swet theart, 1hrisbie w arden, rejected
his advances, sprang from his place OF
toncealment on a lonely road, dragged her
away from her mother and sister into
the woods, and not on v shot her down In
cold blood but even mutiated Ier after
death Hsescaped. boasting to her ter
rifed companions that now he had had
revenge. The horror Of the crime
aroused the entire county. Large re-
wards, aggregating $4, 0Oa, were offered.
and hundreds OF people as well as police
and detectives from various cities hunted
for him lot only all over the New Hamp-
shire hills but tn oughout New England.
Other parts of the country We're ram
sacked, but TO no purpose, and at last
the theory was accepted that he had
gone to Europe, and all hope OF his caps
ture was 10 t.
Tt now appears, however, that he
never left the farm of 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
hding-p 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 probabii-
ties for his capture He even took food
from the house in the night and Wis ted
Christe'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 Tor the accidental discovery of
some cans taken from the house. which
raised su picion in the mothers mind
that he was somewhere on the premises,
he might still have been at liberty She
mentioned her suspicious to the Sheriff,
and that functionary with companion
kept a nightly vigil about the barn. AT
last they were rewarded by a sight of
the lean and haggard murderer emerg-
ing from his hiding place to obtain food
He was entirely unpreparcd for resi- t.
ance, but for some mysterious reason
the two armed men made no attem ut to
arrest him Instead of that they raised
hue and cry and the next day-the barn
was besieged by no less than ], 500 people,
who proceeG ed to lombard their victim
When he had been wounded two or three
times and it became apparent to him
that further attempt was useless he
agreed to surrender and even dictated
terms so far as personal security was
concerned. When the terms were &C
cepted he added crime to crime by Shoot
ing one of his captors. 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 energetically
saved him from lyfching by appealing to
the crowd to let the law take it's coarse.
They decided to do so and the brutal
wretch was removed to jail. If the
court are as fearless and the law is as
perfect as the Sheriff boosted it will not
be long before Amy will expiate his hor-
1t is not so certain, however, that this
wretch will meet the fate he deserves
A ready there is certain halo of ro-
nance gathering about him His visits
to his victims grave. his preservation OF
letters and souvenirs she had given him,
his declaration that he loved her all the
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 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, sentimentality is a.
strong element in the New England
composition, as has been shown even i'm
the Jesse Pomeroy case and in many
another equally brutal and revolving.
The prosecuting officials, therefore, will
have hard task before them, though
every circumstance OF the murder can
be easily established. Should any con-
tingency, however, save this monster
from the gallows it will be public
calamity. The practice of girl killing
has become aiarmingly common, and it
is time that the courts should adopt
heroic measures to suppress it There
is no better case to begin with than that
of Almy. If all reports are true this is
not the first girl he 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
rejection OF his suit or because of lower
and more revolving motives. In either
case he richly deserves death, and has
barred himself from the sympathy of
any right-minded person.. Crimes like
his are becoming alarmingly frequent.
and it is time that the law should step
in and protect helpless women from be-
ing slaughtered merely because they ex-
ercise the right of rejecting the adj
vances of men who may have conceived
a sudden and revolving passion for tn EN-
Three Irvings on ths age
1t has been known for some time past
that Mr.. Irying's elder son, Henry. Is
about to go upon the stage. A similar
resolution has now been taken by his