The Portland daily press., 1894-12-17
THE coDuRN MURDER.
The Mystery Still Remains Un-
solved.
NO SATISFACTORY MOTIVE AS
SIGNED.

officials Had Long Talk with Arrested
Ones Last Evening, and the Net Seems
to Tighten Around One at Least.
The body of the murdered Byron D..
| Coburn was carried from Gorham vii
lage to his late home Saturday afternoon
The inquest by the coroner's jury will
begin this morning at Gorham, at y
O'Clock. The funeral will occur at 2
O'Clock this afternoon.
All day Sunday, crowds of people
came in teams, prompted by curiosity,
| to view the scene of the tragedy.
| Two men are now under arrest and
confined in Jail here: Ed GRAHAM and
| James Lewis.
| Sunday evening, S herlff Cram and
Deputy Sheriff Chute had a long con-
| ly with Lewis. Both men will be taken
out to the inquest today. The officers
| were very reticent about the conversa-
tion held Sunday evening, but did ad-
nit that they things looked little
worse for one of. the men under arrest.
but declined to say which oEe. The
| greatest obstacle in. the wayTrof the ofic-
ers is to find motive forthe crime. The
| only pecuniaryssmotivs that seems possi-
| BILE would direct the investigation to
persons upon whom the action of the
| officers has SO far thrown no suspicion.
Although the PRESS published at the
| first of the investigation statement as
to the situation of the LCoburn property,
| several erroneous statements have since
| been put forth. The fee Of the farm was
| left to Byron d. Coburn, but the farm
| was encum bered by mortgage of about
| $4,000. This mortgage, held by Ira P.
Farringtonsof this@@city. hadanbeen reduced
$4,000. A legacy left by relative for
Mr.. Coburn, and put into the hands of
| ex-Mayor Valentine of Westbrook, was
enough to pay off the mortgage, and was
to be used for that purpose. Then the
| idea was to give about $1,000 to Mr.. Co
| burns daughter, who is married and
| lives in Gorham village, and then to
divide the farm between Coburn and
Mrs. Ktmball. Mrs. kimball expected,
| undoubtedly, in uhes. future, sshouId Mr..
Coburn live until the matter could be
| put in shape, to havespart of the farm.
| His premature death of course skaters
| that hope and will throw the entire
property into the hands of the married
| daughter, living in. Gorham, Mrs.
Drown.
James Lewis has been a wanderer on
| the face of the earth. He pretends that
he doesssnot know where he was born,
but thinks it was somewhere in the
Provinces. His mother died while he
was quite young. For time he lived
with a sister in Boston. He came here
from Paraguay. For five or six years he
worked in Paraguay. Uruguay and the
Argentine Republic. at telegraphing,
sheep herding, mechanical pursuits. and
anything that he could get to do. He is
yet young man.
EdaGraffamxis young man also, and
is we'll spoken of. He had been to Cor
ham village, and had returned near
enough the time of the murder to leave
some time not entirely accounted for up
on the knowledge of the case at present
esta blished. This is probably the reason
for his arrest.
A man who lives in Westbrook, and
who had known the late Byron Coburn
personally and familiarly for thirty
years, says that he did not know. that he
had an enemy in the world. He was q
very cordial, genial aud talkative man,
and unlikely to arouse enmity or hatred
in anyone.
andswho knew Coburn well for years,
says that when he was sick here at the
house of the Kimballs, he did not lie
down in bed for full year, but stood up
in frame. bullion purpose to support
him. His legs were swollen with sort
of dropsical rheumatism, or rheumatic
dropsy, that rendered them nearly a
foot in diameter. The flesh was hard,
but if pushed in by the finger. the de-
preston remained, as il the flesh were
putty. To all practical purposes the
legs were dead.
About ten years ago or little more,
at least previous to Coburn's illness he
had a valuable colt. Some miscreant,
who evidently bore Coburn grudge. so
cut and mangled the colt with a knife
that it was ruined. Our informant felt
sure that the fellow was never discoveed.
FACTS AND THEORIES.
There was a constantly changing
crowd at the Coburn house yesterday,
but when Sheriffs Cute and Parker ar
rived, way was made for them at once,
and they were admitted to the house while
admittance was dened to reporters, who
were told that Mrs. Kimball would make
no more statements for publication. The
officers reported that she was much
calner than the previous day, and that
she had testified very fully and freely to
them. They did not feel at liberty to
state what was said.
The hard work of the sheriffs yester-