The Portland daily press., 1893-08-30

He Was Convicted Of Murder in the irst
Degree and Now Claims that His Crime
Was MansIaughter-ManyA Auburn and
Lewiston Citizens ASK for Executive
Clemency = The Hearing Befove the
Governor and Council.
Especial to the rress.l
Lewiston, August 29.-The petition for
a pardon forwarded to the Governor and
Council, in behalf of James NJ. Lowell,
who killed his wife nineteen years ago,
is of special interest 80 the citizens of
Lewiston and Auburn, reviving as it
does recollections of the only sensational
murder trial in ALdroscoggin county.
The case was from first to last highly
sensational, aud attracted the attention
of the country more widely than any
other criminal case aver tried in this
state. The murder was committed in
1870, but Lowell was not tried until 1874.
The remains were found in October, 1878,
that is the headless body was, and the
skull was accidentally discovered in 1881.
The case was noteworthy for several
reasons. The murder if not deliberately
planned, was certainly very boldly
carried out. Lowell was not living with
his wife at the time, and had not been for
some time previous. In fact they. mad
never got along well together, and she
had several times left him before the
final separation. On these occasions
Lowell had been in the habit of making
clean work of all their effects, not for
getting to sell whatever clothing Mrs.
Lowell might leave behind her. She Sc
cured work in Lewiston, and was there
when Lowell called and made another
effort to induce her to live with him. It
was claimed by the government at the
time of the trial, that Mrs. Lowell had
lived in constant fear Of her husband,
that he once threatened to shoot her. and
on another occasion had a knife with
him, and Fpricked her with it, Lowell
claimed that the pistol was not loaded,
and that he was only trying to brighten
her.
On the occasion of his final call, Lowell
arranged to take his wife out riding. He
was in a bad mood, and claimed that
Mrs. Lowell had received attentions from
circus fellow. They rode together, and
the next day Lowell claimed that he left
her at the house where she was working,
at about ten o'clock at night. She was
never seen again, and in a short time
L well began to act as if she was dead.
ne took possession of her clothes, and
sold six dresses for watch.
Lowell claimed to have heard from his
wife, and that she had left the place for
good He insisted that he knew a man
who saw her in Lowell, but when pressed
by the mother of Mrs. Lowell could not
tell his name He did not escape from
some suspicious of foul play, and the
sister of Mrs. Lowell openly charged him
o the street with being murderer. He
remained close by the scene of his crime
-. Ia Jnr .a,,6
then left for Lawrence. He had three
years in which to have made his escape,
but did not attempt it.
And all this time the body of his
victim remained unburied. The killing
was done at lonely spot within the city
limits, and the body remained there for
three years. When found on the Switzer-
land road there was only headless
skeleton. OF the garments worn by the
unfortunate woman, there remained only
some portions of her silk dress, some
bits Of the trimming her shoes, and
some buttons. Yet slight as these were
they served to convict Lowell of the
in Lawrence the day after the discovery
of the body He refused to make any
defin lite statement about the matter, and
what he did say was conflicting. For a
time it looked as though the government
could not secure evidence enough to con-
vict, especially as Hon. Eben F Pillsbury,
and Hon. NJ. T. Ludden were assigned by
the court lat Lowell's request as his de-
Tenders Mr.. Pillsbury was then at his
best, and he was resolved to make the
fight of his life The government was
represented by Gen. Harris M. Plaisted,
of Bangor, then attorney general, and
Hon. George G. Wing, then county attor-
ney.
Mr.. Pillsbury had several theories that
hoA 70 hn hC fba oor,f
For example, Mrs. Lowell had been
married before she met Lowell, and had
left her husband. Mr.. Pillsbury tried to
prove that her former husband had been
In Lewiston looking for his former wife,
and he had a theory that Mrs. Lowell
went with him. Then granting that the
body was that of Mrs. Lowell, he had a
second theory that she committed
suicide, .and %sthat in time sthe skull
was carried off by some animal. These
theories the government had to meet at
least indirectly.
Gen. Plaisted first of all showed that
the skeleton was that of Mrs. Lowell.
even the buttons were sworn to as having
belonged to her. Having shown that
Mrs. Lowell was dead the attorney gem
eral demonstrated by evidence circum-
stantia |, all through, but convincing to
the jury that Mrs. Lowell died the night
OF June 18th, 1870. lie then asserted tnaI
Mrs. Lowell was killed by her husband,
that he had ample opportunity to commit
the crime, and that he had motive for
doing it, the desire to marry another
woman. There were ever fifty witnesses
examined, and yet the case was largely
one of argument, and the closing adj
dresses of Mr.. Pillsbury and Gen. Plaisted
were not only listened to with great at
tention, but were. published with the
evidence on both sides as valuable adj
dition to the iiterture of criminal law
Lowell, was convicted of murder in the
first degree, and was sentenced to be exc
cuted. Judge walton, the presiding
justice took occasion to hint that he had
doubts about his meeting death that
way, and he was right. Lowell's sentence
was changed to Imprisonment for life. In
1881, after the finding of the skull, he
made a confession, claiming that the
killing was the result of accident, and
of late years has made several attempts
to secure a pardon. Governor Cleaves is
not the only chief magistrate who has
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