Worcester morning daily spy., 1898-01-08


STORY OF THE CRIME.
The crime for which O'Neil paid the
penalty was the murder of Mrs Hattie
Evelyn McCloud, a young widow of
Shelburne Falls, on the night of Jan. s,
1897. The murdered woman lived
about one and one-half miles from the
village, on what is known as the Crit
tenden road, She went to the village in
the afternoon, leaving her little
daughter, nine years of age, alone.
After making a few purchases she set
out for home at about o'clock. With
in quarter of mile of her home she
was attacked by O'Neil and dragged
into the woods, down an embankment,
ravished, and choked to death. Her
purse was then rifled of its contents
and the murderer FASTENED away to
day, O'Neil was flush with money and
spent it with mis- ohums for rum.
When Mrs. McCloud had not re-
turned to her home by 10 o'clock, sis
ter took her daughter home to the
house of Mrs. McCloud's father, George
D. Crittenden who lived close by. 1t
was thought that she mad spent the
night with a married sister in the viii
lage. The next morning search was
made for her and the body was found
at the foot of the embankment, about
20 feet from the road, frozen. AT first
it was thought that she had wandered
there and died, but the autopsy dis
closed the fact that a murder and out
rage had been committed. Suspicion
pointed strongly to O'Nen, because, on
the afternoon of the murder, he was
without money and that night, after
the murder, he was flush. He was ar
rested three days after the murder.
The inquest developed a good deal Of
curcumstantial evidence against him,
and he was indicted by the grand jury,
which reported on March 4.
The trial was begun July 10, Chief
Justice Mason and Associate Justices
Fessenden and Sheldon presiding.
Atty. Gen. Knowlton and Dist. Atty J..
C. Hammond, with the assistance of
Frederick L. Green, conducted the pro-
eecutton, and Beer and Dowlin of
North Adams assisted by G. j. Park
hurst of North Adams as advising
counsel, defended O'Neil. The defence
was every way weak, and almost from
the start it was clear that the jury
would convict the defendant. The
trial lasted nine days. when the jury.
after being out an hour and 10
minutes, reported verdict of guilty.
O'Neil was 2S years of age. He had
been drinking hard for weeks before
the crime. His family are respectable
Irish people, hard working and honest.
All the evidence against ONeil was
circumstantial but the prosecution
had put the bits together in such a
manner that there was little upon
which to base a defense, inasmuch as
it could not be shown where ONeil was
at the time the murder was committed
Except ms had been taken during the
trial by the lawyers for the defense
and these were filed Sent. 6. They
were set aside by the supreme court or
Nov. - Seven days later counsel fol
O'Neil En0Ved for 4 Few vTia,i, and tn,
motion was overruled. The same day
sentence was imposed by Judge FEES
sender After this Beer and DowliI
withdrew from the case, and the famil.
of O'Neil retained Lamb and Lawler t,
try to save the life of the young man
They petitiohed the governor for
communication Of sentence to imprison
ment for life, but the chief eXecutiv,
declined to interfere in the matter
One more effort was made by DR.
Woodbridge, a professor in Williams
College, who, after studying the case
came to the conclusion that a mistake
had been made. He held that 1t had mo-
been proven that murder was commit
ted, or that the victim was criminally
assaulted On Wednesday the governor
gave him hearing, but the decision ar.
ter the hearing was against O'Neil and
SO his last hope WAS gone.
O'NBILtS LAST STATEMENT
Greenfield Jan. 1.-THE following letter
penned by O'Neil this morning, was
given to che press this afternoon as a
statement from him:
Greenfield, Mass. jan, 1898.
To the Editor; [ see by your paper
that O'Connell has been sending pieces
to you for publication I wish YOU tc
do me the same favor that you have
him. In regard to the testimony of Da-
Wis, Curtis and Schenck, they did moi
testify that I said I drank with OCon-
nell at $50 or at any other time that
night.
Now, what I should like to have
O'Connell tell the public is, who did he
buy that pint of whiskey for at 4.3(
that night, and whose money paid fol
1t? | am sure it could not nave been
O'ConnelPs, for he had no money II
O'Connell will tell who paid for that
pint, and who drank it with him, !
think the public would feel differently
towards me. I want to thank Sheriff
Chenery and Mr.. Richardson for Their
kindness towards me, also all the Off
GERS connected with my trial and de-
tention. (SigneD John O'Neil, Jr"
THE BODY REMOVED.
Greenfield, Jan. THE body of O'Neil
remained at the undertaker's room UNI
til $40, when it was taken to Shelburne
Falls. At the station there was a very
large number of the villagers awaiting
the train. The body was taken directly
to the house of the parents, where, this
evening, the casket was opened All
marks Of tine hangman's moose had been
removed in the embalming process, and
O'Neil looked as If he had fallen asleep.
Tomorrow morning mass will be sung
at st. Joseph's Church at Shelburne
Falls, and the body will afterwards be
brought on the train to this town, the
interment occurring in the Catholic
cemetery at IL o'clock.
The absence of Rev. Father Baltha-
card from the jail today is due to the
fact that he was i'll, Rev. Mark E. Pur-
cell of Greenfield, who took his place at
the administration, with Rev Father
Sherry. of the last -ites of the church,
did not feel that his strength would per-
nit him to officsate at the scaffold. H Z
walked with the procession to the guard
room. and then retired. Rev Father
Sherry bore himself admirably under
the trying circumstances, and was
thanked by Sheriff Chenery The
watch of DR.. W. H. Wright, one of the
official physicians, was seven minutes
fast, which accounts for the difference
in the official time of the drop. and that
given out by the press. One of the re-
marks made by O'Neil this morning
just before ne left his cell was: This
is my last day on earth. and shall die
happy" Yet the condemned man could
not forget, O'Connell, and his last writ
ten words were pertaining to him.
WANT EANGINGS IN BOSTON.
Greenfield. Mass, Jan. AT an in