Daily Kennebec journal., 1895-12-31

board aud in the pocketbook, all have bee
taken by the robbers? He claims that tn
appearance Of the house indicated rof b ,ry
but there has been no testimony that tn
house was ransacked.
True, the bed clothes were in some con
fusion, but no more than might have beef
expected from man of Augustus Saw
yers habits, who was his own house
Keeper and did his own work No mudd,
tracks were found by the first visitors t,
the house upon the floor or upon the dus
OF the stairs aud chambers. The govern
ment claimed that he was accustomed t,
carry his wealth in an old bandannl
handkerchief which he Wore about hi
neck. and that the same was found OF
the barn iloor near the scene Of the muir
der.
Not particle of evidence was intro
duccd to show that the old mas was il
the habit OF so carrying his money, ant
the bandanna handkerchief was proved tt
be calico rag found six days after th,
murder in the chaff of the barn, and ever
that has been lost
Why IL the court please, even this ban
danna handkerchief story WAS the creation
Of newspaper mans Imagination, and
my learned brother having read 10 in the
paper, assumed tito be true without In.
vestigation and claimed that he would
/ prove it to the satisfaction of this court.
From the evidence put in by the govern.
1 ment, no living Being with the intelli-
| geDce of a child, would claim that.robbery
as a motive had been established by the
| State
| Mr.. Hcselton next claimed that the
| theory Of the two tramps having com
initted the deed was first projected by Ed
gar Thompson himself. No proof Of this
has been offered. 1t is a matter, your
honor, incapable Of proof. Always, es
| peciaily in farming community, crimes
| of every nature are ascribed to tramps
They are the pest of society and naturally
everybody accuses them of committing all
crimes that take place
What Is the theory of the governments
1t Is simply this, the old man Sawyer was
murdered. They have establis she'd this
beyond doubt. If they had kept on,
however. they would have undoubtedly
proved that he died a natural death
They claim that two men identified as
the Thompson brothers were seen going
toward the sawyer house. late saturday
afternoon, May 10, 1894; that these men
went there, shot the old man while he
was doing his chores, returned by way of
"A rayine back OF the old mans house.
and that the next morning, early, Edgar
Thompson carried his brother to Gar
diner. Even if the Identification OF the
men was complete, what an absurd and
ridiculous proposition for the government
TO advancs-that these two brothers should
walk down the public highway where
they were known to all the neighbors, in
the broad light of day, with murder In
their hearts and robbery in their minds.
Why, they could have gone directly to
the rear of their barn, as the government
witnesses have testified, entered the
ravine, and been absolutely safe from
view, both going to and returning from
Mr.. Sawyers. But the identiffeatifo
which my learned brother said he si1
establish beyond Il doubt is not complete.
The men whom Mrs. PRESCOTT and
Charles Leighton saw that afternoon.
they describe as being one tail and the
other short, The tail man had a SLOUGH
ing gait, his shoulders were six inches
taller than the other; but the THOMPSON
brothers are of the same height they have
almost the same weight, their shoulders5
a slouching gait
My brother laid great stress upon his |
Identification in his opening and claimed |
that the good old lady Prescott, when she |
saw Edgar Thompson few days after the |
murder exclaimed in the language of her |
soul, Thou art the man. All we have |
to say is, that if the old lady did think
this. her prophetic soul must have been
coupled with a dyspeptic Imagination.
The State claims that ON the morning
OF Sunday, May 90, Ed took Albert to
Gardincr very early in the morning, yet
their own witness, Mr.. Leighton. testified |
that they went away between and 10
clock on tnat morning. Outside of Mr..
Young who might easily have been mis-.
taken, the only witness by whom they
can prove this important fact is Sophronia
White, the woman whqshas an almanac
Of her own. ~.
She says that these men came to her
house before 730 in the morning that
she went to the Thonpsons and that
when Edgar returned from Gardiner, she
looked at the clock in Mr. Keene's room,
she remembered 1T distinctly and that
both hands pointed precisely to 12 O'Clock.
Well, your honor, in this particular
POINT she told the absolute truth. Both
hands did point at precisely 10 O'Clock.
That clock had been out of repair for a
week and was subsequently repaired by q /.
eweller. We may not introduce his evil
ience at the hearing, but it is capable of
,roof.
The two other points which the govern
nent relied upon to prove the case were {
he old umbrella found in the hayinow and
he flakes of sand-fiakes, mind YOU. as /
'sr the county attorney found ON Al-i
,ert's stockings. He claimed that they
hould prove this umbrella to be one |;
which Edgar had owned or one resembl- i
ng it remarkably. !
But the umbrella theory flushed out
Mr.. Chamberlain, the oply
witness the State put on to identify the
anne, might as we'll have told you that
G had never seen it before, and the
ounty attorney lost his head and COM
lenced to browbeat his own witness. :
The State claimed that they should put g
q evidence to prove that the sand and
,ud on Albert's clothes was similar TO that
4 Augustus Sawyer's barnyard, which
he county attorney, who is much better +
ersed in law than he is in soil, claimed d
'as OF very peculiar character. Not y
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