The times., 1899-06-05
PETER GRAHAM'S
SERIOUS Crime
A Fifteen Year-0ld Boy With
a Mans Will.
Demeanor of The Lad Who Killed
PeddleP Stah!man.
His Flight Into the Woods and Eva
sion of the Detectiyes-In-
dustrious at school.

Bridgeport. Conn, June 4.-Truly, a
compound of kind heartedness and hyster-
icaI deviltry is Peter Graham, a train
wrecker at eleven years old. and who now.
at fifteen. sits in a little cell at police
headquarters, charged with killing ped
Ter near his lonely home in the Trumbull
road, beside the Pequannock River.
: With a peaked chin, thin, freckled
cheeks, and pair of hard, steel blue eyes,
he conceals under his boyish mask the
inflexibility OF a stern old man. The son
OF farmer he has spent his boyhood in
the country, and he was one of the most
industrious pupils at the village school.
Nevertheless he seems to be the victim of
some strange tendency, perhaps hereditary.
There is a neurotic streak in the boy.
which manifests itself in passionate out
bursts and a love for wild excitements.
The country folk along the Pequannock
say the boy has always been eccentric.
They say he once held a companions head
under the water in a swimming pond until
his victim was nearly suffOcated. After
ward he lavished all manner Of gifts upon
him. Once he hit boy with a stone from
a slungshot and then presented the wea-
pom 10 him.
The story of the killing of the old ped
der. Louis Stahlman, is grotesque Peters
father last Wednesday morning was at
work in Bridgeport His mother was driv-
ing through the town, selling milk and
vegetables. Frank and James. his two
younger brothers, were at school, and there
was nobody near the old farmhouse in the
clearing save Peter and the youngest boy
Jimmy, five years old, who were ON the
river bank fishing.
According to the story told by Peters
three little brothers today. Peter heard
one Of their dogs barking. He dropped his
fishing rod and ran to the front of the
house. where he saw the wagon of the
peddler. filed with crockery, which the
old man was in the habit of exchanging for
rags.
Peter. they say. ran into the kitchen,
where he heard some one walking about
the attic overhead Opening the door
back of the kitchen range the boy stole up
stairs. where he saw the peddier in the at
tic picking up old tools and ironware.
How He Killed the PeddIer.
The little boys described the scene which
ensued with great pride in their brothers
prowess. They say Peter called the old
man thief and that the latter seized a
big iron bar and tried TO strike the boy.
Peter lodged behind the old-fashioned
chimney and fed downstairs. He ian to
get his mothers revolver. which was in a
bureau drawer.
As the peddler followed Peter ran to the
door, they say, and shot him. The boy
was excited and fired four more shots into
the mans body after he had fallen head
foremost down stairs. Then. according TO
the boys Peter dragged the body from the
kitchen. He backed the peddlers wagon
against the door and leaned a couple of
boards on the tailboard Of the wagon.
After tying rope about the body, Peter
dragged it up the boards into the wagon.
He covered the motionless form with sew
eral old coats and drove the wagon to a
COW path a quarter OF a mile from the
house
Superintendent of Police Birmingham
would lot say whether he believes the story
told by the little boys. and which was evil
IDENTIFY related to them by Peter. At any
rate. he and Detectives Arnold, Cronan, and
Hunsdorfer. who Investigated the case.
say the boy has made statements about the
finding of the body which are manifestly
false.
Peter was the first to inform the neigh
bors that a man was bleeding to death in
a wagon in the COW path. When the police
arrived he said he had seen the man from
q spot about seyenty-five feet away, and
from which it was impossible to obtain a
view of the body. A goad the boy used
in driving COWS was found, however, only
twenty feet from the wagon.
Thinking that tramps had committed the
murder. men on bicycles secured the coun-
try-side and arrested five tramps, who
were released the next day. The police
after talk with Peters father. were con-
WINGED that the boy had something to dc
with the killing of the peddler. They found
the pistol in his mothers possession
Peter vanished from home and detec-
tiyes. after waiting in the woods all night
caught him as he was stealing 10 the houst
al daybreak. He was locked up in a eel
at police headquarters yesterday He re-
fused to say anything about the killing Of
even TO discuss the finding of the peddier'
body.
When asked what he thought abou
the crime with which he is charged
the boy replied sharply, Il don't fee
sorry, III tell you that"
He begged the superintendent, however
TO place him in a cell near the station
house door. He had spent the night in on
in distant corridor, and as he spoke o
Il his eyes grew large and he whispered
1t was soslonesome there"
Wanted to BE an Engineer.
When questioned about his former esca
psde, in December, 1895. when h
placed ties on the track of the Housatoni
Railroad to wreck a passenger train, h
drew himself up and said:
That hasn't got anything to do with thi
affair. has it? Well. then, don't want I
talk about it
Otherwise the boys manner was pleas
ant enough. He spoke of his days q
school, how he had enjoyed his studies
praised his teacher. Miss Schofeld, an
said IL was his ambition to become an engi
neer.
p,,+ agair the rpafu-a will an unusual 4
a boy. manifested itself when he spoke c
his work at the farm. He was aske
whether his father was strict with him.
My father hasn't any reason to tell m
to do anything" said Peter, knitting hi
broWs. Il do my work without bein
told
When his mother came to see him he ea
tered the station room looking about hi1
with his resolute air. He kissed his mothe
coldly and shook hands gravely with littl
Jimmy. who regarded him with evident ad
miration.
When Peter was taken back to his Gel
Detective Arnold gave him book on tn
Spanish American war to read. "Thatl
do-nicely." said the boy
Mrs. Graham. who is an honest, hard
working woman, said. with tear
in her eyes. thar she and her husban
knew absolutely nothing about the KILN
OF the Peddler- The police authorities, b
the advice OF State Attorney Fessender
refuse 10 reveal all they have learned G
the case. They express surprise that
boy so young as Peter could lift the bod
Of the peddler into the wagon. They hav
discovered. however. that he possesses a
extraordinary amount OF physical strength
notwithstanding his rather frail appear
ance.
1t is evident that plea OF self-defenc
viii be made on the boys behalf Doubt
are expressed that the peddler was shot
the house The injured man bled greatl,