The Portland daily press., 1894-12-17

| Coburn barn to below the house the
path is sharply descending, and from
| that point to the Lowell house it is even
more sharply up hill. A boy yesterday
made dash from the Coburn house, he
could not be induced to go back to the
barn, to the Lowell house, with the re-
suit that from the road it was plainly
evident that he was breathing noticea-
bly, hard. Lewis was some distance
farther from the Lowell house. and yet
when he got there the second time he
was not cut of breath, was not heated,
or apparently in any way excited. Miss
Lowell said yesterday that when Lewis
returned to their house that night she
wondered at it, but thought he had
come to stay while," and pleasantly
responded to his "good evening"" and off
cred him a chair, which he declined,
took a drink of water, and then slowly
and very deliberately made his some
what strange announcement, 81 think l
must have you all as witnesses that Mr..
Coburn has been murdered"
Little things promise to play an i'm
portant part In this strange case. The
fact thai Lewis, instead of being excited,
was calmer than usual. and that instead
of talking rapidly, and with earnestness,
spoke very slowly aud deliberately.
served even more than his words, to fix
in the minds of those who heard him
exactly what he said.
NO BLOOD STAIN
between the body and the axe, is regard
ed as proof that the murderer either
remainedssfor some time at the barn af-
ter the murder, which is not regarded as
probable, or else that he went back sec
ond time and put the axess back in the
accustomed place, which is regarded by
the officers as the probable theory, and
which goes to show that the murderer
could not have been a stranger to the
place, or ignorant of the ways of the
farm. Like the placing of the bar
against the door. itswas an evidence of
perfect familiarity with the customs Eof
the place.
The arrest of ed" GRAHAM grew
largely out of the fact that Lewis him
self directed the attention of the officers
to one or two points that looked suspic-
ious One of them was the fact that
ed" was out of the Lowell house that
evening. That was true, and there was
a rather sensational meeting between
them just outside of Lowell's, about
Gas, as near as the time can be fixed.
That served to show that SD" was not
at home that evening, and tracks were
found back of the barn, and in the di-
rection of the hill, that were found to
have been made by Graffam. These
tracks were found to be wide apart in
places, showing that ed" was running.
The trail was followed to Gorham, but
an investigation showed that Graffam
was there during all the afternoon, that
he sawed wood for the village barber.
and did not start for home until 615.
The road was uncommonly bad, and
when he reached Lowell's he did not
seem. to have been running. He de-
clined supper, but did not seem excited,
or anything of the sort. He was eating
an apple when Lewis SAID that Cobufn
was murdered. 70 have himself commit
ted the murder Graffam would have
been forced to have made remarkable
time from the vi]lagesto the farm, and
according to the story of Mrs. Kimball,
must have been at the farm by 6.30, or
even little in adavnce of that time. To
show, that sd" committed the murder
would be necessary apparently to
show that he left the villageat. leasts15
minutes earlier than he is said to have
done. Mr.. Lowell thinks that Ethe
meeting between Lewis and Graffam
lust outside his house was accidental,
but that is in doubt. 1t must have
been as far as GRAHAM was concerned.
it need not have been on the part of
Lewis. who.wassin position TO have
known of his approach in time to have
gone outside and have met him, and yet
not to have seemed to leave abruptly.
Joseph A. Coleman is admitted to
have seen Lewis in the front room"
of the Lowell house and if he could
have seen in then Lewis could have seen
out.
4 Sheriff Chute showed yesterday that the
evidence Of Mr.. Lowell and his family
will not show with any degree of exact
ness what time Lewis reached their
house the first time, or when he left
for Coburn's. There is but one clock i'll
the house, and that was knocked off the
shelf by the youngest boy last summer,
and is commonly from 30 minutes to
three hours out of the way" Even that
was not consulted that evening.
Sheriff Parker yesterday recalled the
INTERESTING FACT
that during the interview Lewis had
with the reporters the night of the muir
der, although frequently interrupted by