Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1899-08-16
TRIAL OF BALL.
HANCOCK COUNTY'S FIRST MUIR
DER TRIAL AT CASTINE.
MERDERER HUNG IN OLD FORT
GEORGE, OCT. 81, 1s11-sroRY OF
THE TRIAL.


aWayfarer" tn Bangor Comucrcial
Washington and Hancock counties
- q anciently part of Lincoln county,
ami were erected June -, 1859. They
were allowed one term year of the Court
If Common Pleas. In 1oOi, both counties
we're allowed one term OF the supreme
judicial court, for each year. to be held at
Castine.
At this time the law required three
judges OF the supreme judicial court to
preside at murder trials | think 1t is The
lax in Massachusetts, now. a judge there
once asked me al murder trials were
tried In Maine before Il justice OF the
peace?p assured him that 1t WAS not So
but that it came very near 1t, The wisdom
Of Maine legislature WAS not quite equal
TO that.
In 1911 Samuel Jones, of Robbinstou,
was engaged in running some lines for
Gov. Robbins, the proprietor. One day
he discovered two men encamped near
the margin OF the little lake which lies
about one mile from the st. Croix, pretty
sheet OF water, atterward known as
Money Makers lake. These two men
were making counterfeit money, suppose
of silver. They offered Jones $500 If he
would not dIvulge the secret. Jones,
prompted by fear, proba bly,, accepted and
a written contract was made. 1t seems
that Jones, as soon as he could, informed
on the counterfeiters, who after one or
more attempts were arrested. At the
time, Jones was severely criticised, but he
was a reputable citizen and had the con-
fidence of those who knew him.
The arrest, and murder, II murder, took
place, Jan. %, 1911.
Among he men who went to assist in
the arrest was John Tileston Downes, a
brother of the late Hon. George Downes,
and an uncle to the late Hon. Lemuel G..
Downes. The party found one OF the
counterfeiters, Ebenezer Ball, OF Deer
Island, n. b., or OF Robbinston. In at
tempting to evade the arrest, Ball shot
Downes dead. good many people at the
time thought that Ball meant to shoot
Jones, but accidentally killed the other
man.
The funeral of Downes was attended by
all the citizens Of Calais and many from
surrounding towns. Ball was imprisoned
in Castine Jail, and indicted by the grand
jury, tried and found guilty Of murder in
the supreme court.
may say that at the time public opin-
ion was not wholly agreed as to the ver-
dict Some Of the best men thought it
was manslaughter. | have heard that
laSa
changed his mind from that view.
A large concourse Of citizens followed
the criminal, when escorted from the jail
TO Fort George, where he was executed,
prominent among whom was Parson
Jonathan Fisher. OF Bluehill, who dis
tributed to the crowd copies OF a very
pathetic ballad written by himself for the
occasion: give two verses:
The day is come the solemn hour draws near,
When, on poor Ball. you quickly must appear
Before your God and Judge"
Take warning then, o my dear friends,
Let me advise you ali,
Fray shun all vice. and do not die
Like Ebenezer Ball"
My friend, Joseph Williamson, Esquire,
OF Belfast, sent me some years since re-
port OF the case which here print;
TRIAL OF EBENEZER BALL.
1.-The twenty-second day OF June, 1911,
witnessed an unusual hustle and activity
IN the little village Of Castine. 1t was
The time of the ANNUAL session of the
supreme court for Hancock and Wash
lngton counties, an occasion which al
ways attracted a crowd of visitors to the
legal and commercial centre of eastern
Maine, But this year the attendance was
uncommon. A homicide had been COM
mitted, and its peculiar and interesting
circumstances were to receive judicial in
Vestigation.
The trial took place in the meeting
mouse which, with its old-fas hioned
galleries, afforded more space than the
present modernized structure. A majority
OF the judges, comprising Samuel Sewall,
OF Marblehead, upon whom the mantle OF
the illustrious Parsons WAS soon to fall;
Isaac Parker, of Boston, whose career be-
gan as the earliest lawyer on the Penob-
scot, and George Thatcher, OF Biddeford,