Connecticut western news., 1896-05-14
PLANT AND HIS MOTIVE.

| the principals and the motives that the NEWS did not deal at length with either of the two. Different newspaper &C., counts of the affair, the motive and those concerned in the tragedy, were considerably inaccurate, many of them plcturing Plant as of the desperate type of beings, and the crime one that would have been expected in his history and an unsuitable thirst for blood the motive for the murder, and desperate resolve never to dle on the scsff,ld the occasion of the suicide.
 After careful inquiry and review of the horrible occurrence, we present the following:
 Edward Plant was a son of s. James Plant of family in good standing in l Toronto, Canada, from where they moved over two years ago. Edward Plant was a we'll educated man. 24 years old, and & graduate oi McGil college. He was an accomplished musician, his greatest proficiency being shown on the piano. He was lame, one leg being shorter than the other, the result of be- ing scalded when an infant. He had learned the trade of moulder in the ter ra cotta business and this was his em- ployment at Clay ton, where his father was superintendent of the works.
 The history of the crime seems to be correctly as follows:
 In April Plant was brought before the court at Great Burlington, Mass. on criminal charge He plead guilty, and settled the case by offering to mar " Ada Sanford, of Canaan, iu whose iu- terest the charge was brought. He was turned over to court officer who elicited the information from Plant that he was will ling to marry the Sanford girl as he was satisfied that he ought to. Accordingly the officer, Plant and minister went to the Sanfords' and there marriage cere- mony was performed. The couple af- terward had several quarrels, and this fact and the idea held by Plant that he had been obliged to marry girl whom he considered far beneath him socially were the grounds for the motive which led to the murder of the wife and babe. Plant was of very sensitive nature and the derisive allusions to his marriage made by his companions and their sighting remarks as to the character of his wife drove him almost to frenzy. It is the opinion of some of the best people iI Clayton and Canaan that Plant had been mentally unbalanced for some days previous to his crime, and the fact of his stationing himself on the river bank in plain sight where capture was inevitable does not look like the action of cold-blooded murderer in sound mind, inasmuch as every oppor- tunity offered for his escape to the woods, and possibly to Canada, where some friend would probably have shel- tered him. The suicide seems to be but the eliminating act of distorted mind. His desire for the life of Harry Lysle and William Sanford, whom he said he wanted to kill, grew from the idea that he had that they were instru- mental in causing his arrest and ulti- mate marriage There is positive proof that Mir Lysle knew nothing of the af- fair until after its occurrence, though. of course, MT Sanford knew of Plants in- tended arrest from his daughters state ments.
 The idea that Plant was out of work, with no money, and that he had been told to leave the place where he was liv- Ing that Monday morning of the trage- dy, drove him to the awful deed, is dis sipated by the fact that on the Friday before Plant had been set to work at the Terra Gotta works with the promise of a steady job; aud that he worked that af- ternoon, but on Saturday went to Win sted where he bought the revolver and dirk with which he committed the bloody crimes. True, he had but one ! he had begun work again at the works, and the Sanfords had agreed to give him and family shelter again for 8 short time; but the distressed brain could not stand the humiliation of his position. nor his sensitive nature the remarks he knew were made of him and his.
 There was no foundation for the ru. nor circulated last week Wednesday regarding s. J. Plant and wife. They arrived safely in Toronto and MT Plant has since returned to Clayton.
 We take this occasion to contradict some newspaper accounts that Ada Plant was a slovenly woman. Those who knew Ada Sanford say that she was 8 neat. tidy person and the report that she had not taken care of the babe in a cleanly manner must be looked at in the following light: Remember that the , babe was only three weeks old as the , time of the tragedy and that the unfort. ) unate mother had changed her abode , twice during that period, and at a time when most women under the same cir t cumstances would have been in bed The mother had scarce strength enougl 3 to care for herself, and no wonder thai r some of the tidying up of the little ba
 by was neglected, though it appear' that the child itself had been kept clean
 though the weak distressed mother hac , not been able to wash up the httle gar ments, so many of which are needed 1T the care of so young an infant.