The Windham County reformer. (Battleboro, Vt.) 1876-1897, 1894-08-10
Sensation ut Lake Pleasant i.

There was decided sensation ut Lake Plea
: ant Saturday morning when State Detectiv
) Munyan and Officer Ward raided the cottage o
, Mr. Putnam and discovered goods which ha
been stolen from Mr. Barnard, who formerl
: ran the Lake Pleasant house. The premises o
Mrs Raymond and Mrs Ronsoyille of Montagu
were also searched and found to contain som
, of the goods The property includes linen, rug
and quilts. All three We're arrested The rail-
Is the outcome of the recent stealing of Goa
! from the Fitchburg railroad
NOrthfcld Conference.
Friday morning some 400 people were presen
ed by an address from Rev DIR Hamlin on tn,
same subject. There was Il short meeting Fri
day afternoon at $3.50 O'Clock in the auditorium
at which L Moody. spoke ON '.The nuggets
ing summer school for oratory here gave q
brief talk on the cart of elocuti0n." Saturday
morning at $50 O'Clock there was song ant
praise service of half an hour In the auditorium
The meeting in the auditorium Friday evening
drew even a larger crowd than the opening ser
vice of the night before. The first half-hour wa,
George g stebbins singing Satisfied with good
effect. At the close Of this hymn Prof w W
White, OF Chicago gave an address on the "Study
of the book of Acts" The auditorium was filled
at the service Sunday morning, fully 2500 attend
ing, the largest number ever present at service
in Northield. The stage of the building was pro
fusely decorated, ferns and pond lilies being
set in a great frame filed with moss and there
were numerous clusters of wild flowers. The
choir numbered over 300 voices and as Il result
of the numerous rehearsals which have been
held every day lately, the singing was except
ionally good The halls and private boarding
houses in East Northfeld and Northfield proper
are filled to overlooking The extra services
were held at the Sunday morning service after
| the usual number of hymns had been sung. l.
Moody spoke on faith. At the close of Mr..
Noody's address, DR. Meyer spoke on the same
question. Rev DR. Meyer of London was the
! speaker at the auditorium Sunday evening. He
took for his text, "Much more shall they that
receive the abundance of grace reign in life
through Jesus Christi
The Mrs. Taylor Case-SuspiciOns About
an Old Murder.
The arrest of Mrs Susan Taylor at Dedham
last week on the charge of incendiarism, and
the revelations which grow out of it, have re-
suited in decided sensation in this county dur
ing the week. Her brother, b w Mcdowell,
got $1,000 from a Greenfield bank and went to
Dedham to bail the woman out. Now the de-
tectves allege that the McDowells and Taylors
have been in league for years in swindling in
surance companies by burning their property
down for the insurance money. There have
been four fires in Conway the past year and
some of the McDowes have been interested in
the insurance in each. Suits have been brought
against the insurance companies who have re-
fused to pay, and interesting developments are
promised If the cases ever come to trial. But
the most sensational phase of this case is the
fact that this Mrs Taylor Is the wife of Eugene
Samuel Taylor, who on May 49, 1886 killed his
three years.old son and is now serving a life
sentence in state prison. 1t is now said that the
detectives are getting ready to spring. sensa
ton in claiming that Eugene was simply the
tool of his wife in the killing of the boy, and it is
possible that strong effort will be made to get
the man out of jail and put the woman in. Tay-
Tor has always claimed that he had no recollect-
ion of what happened for two or three days pre-
ceding the death of the child. On May Is, 1856,
he came up from Deerfeld went to Wells drug
store in Greenfield and said he wanted some
strychnine with which to kill a dog. When
asked how big the dog was, he said, "Oh he Is
an ugly fellow and weighs 125 pounds" He
was given two doses of strychnine which he
coanut candy balls, which he fed to the boy, and
the child died in a few hours. Subsequently
Taylor tried to kill himself with pocket knife,
but beyond scratching his throat somewhat did
himself no HARM He was locked up in jail and
and on August 26 of that year was indicted by
the grand jury on the charge of murder. In
September he pleaded not guilty, but on October
20 he retracted his plea, and pleaded guilty of
murder in the second degree and was sentenced
to life Imprisonment by Justice Allen of the
supreme court. Judge Bond was then district
attorney and he appeared for the attorney gen
eral. lie stated that under the circumstances
the commonwealth deemed it best to accept the
said that the counsel had carefully investigated
the case; that there was no DENYING that the
man mad poisoned his child and that it was only
question as to whetherlit would be best to go
could co Soad ' be Af a CON- sas
me that 1ad trouble with the
McDowelIs, his wife's brskhers, and it was also
given out that the family objected emphatically
to the marriage. Judge Conant is away ON his
vacation and nothing is known as to whether he
will make any attempt at this time to get his
former client out of jail or not. Taylor was
born IN Nardsboro, Vt, about As years ago his
father being Calvin Taylor an old farmer honor
ed by all his friends and neghbors He came to
lt eerhe9 more man ~ years ago, as has been
wrecked his life. He was hard working and in
lustrious, a man whose type betokened him to |
ne ' a hustler, ana he soon became favorite with
The farmers of the Deerlield Valley A friend of !
his IN q eenfeld says that Taylor told him 81 |
i0nt remember at all about buying that poison.
they said went to Greenfield. don't remem- /
Der 1t at all. ] recall that was deadly sick |
about the baby being sick-ny little
BOY, how dearly loved him. He was more to
ne than anybody else in the world. | mixed
some peppermint in a tumbler for him. | often
lad done that when he had the stomach ache.
She said he's poisoned thought it was some
hing we ate for supper"
81 remember asking Taylor" said the friend,
whether he gave the child any candy. He re
died, 'No, l don't remember it at ALL l never
,ould have Killed my boy, my little baby. !
hink was responsible. They said l would be
ranged and that ought to plead guilty of it, if
would save my neck said it-just what they
o. me TO say But If was responsible, why
I'D they keep man at my cell door night and
lay while was in the Jail to see that | didn't
larm myself, and afterward withdraw him;
What was that for?
w
ived with her. remember falling on the floor
md being only partly conscious when the doctor
melt over me, but wasn't asked a question,
lidn't testify, nor did they want me to-
The story that this Greenfield friend tells to
he Boston Journal is pathetic one. TAYLOR, it
,ppears, worked at odd times in Conway and
here became enamored of Susan J Mcdowell
They were looking forward to be married and
eugene was thrifty, with a bank account of $500
up in Vermont, his hard earned savings, which
N one unlucky day he loaned to a drover on his
a 10 md
anne to call in the principal, but the borrower
ust then departed, leaving behind him, il is said
many another odd note, and Taylor found his
Wedding dover gone and himself without a
enny
"Man fashion he went to Susan and told her
heir hopes must be deferred. She agreed, and
Eugene went back to work again on the Deer
ED interyale. Pretty soon so the story runs,
Is betrothed began to urge immediate marriage
Npressing readiness to take up the battle with
i'm. Then Eugene said that if she wished to be
larried they might be il she would borrow 500
( her brother and both would go to work TO
ay off.
4 little time later Miss Mcdowell came to him
18th the 800, which she gave to him. Together
ley bought the few little household belongings
eeded and set up their nest in little house
own in Holy after the wedding at the h Jme
( Miss Mcdowell in Moore's Junction, Y.
Taylor was not as well known i'm his new home
lie did not succeed well. The wolf was soon
eeping in at the door. In his strait he suggest
/ q further loan of - from Mrs Taylor's broth
r to enable them to return to Deerfield. This
as obtained, and the pair moved to the old
ONE. Here prosperity again smiled upon them.
ugene hired the Amdon place and raised to-
acco, hay and corn. He had 40 acres at one time
nder cultivation. Mrs TAYLOR worked at dress
aking, and between them they laid up si5. At
lie end of the season the crops Melted s2oo more
nj Eugene paid of the $50 borrowing by
neck on the Packard National bank. That was
\ there was to the $1,000 loan which Mrs Taylor
quoted rs saving she got her brother TO lend 7
n husband Taylor said that he was doing 30
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