Daily Kennebec journal., 1902-04-23
A GREWSOME TALE.
Story of a Murder Committed Over
70 Years Ago.
Maine Man Figured in the Case as Ac-
cessory.

Salem Mass, more than 40 years ago,
in which a man from Maine figured as
an accessory:
ION the morning of the 7th Of April,
1880, Joseph White of Salem, was
found murdered in his bed. Mr..
White was a wealthy Salem merchant
No one slept in the house that night
but his man. servant and maid-servant.
His niece, Mrs. Beckford, who was
usually there, was that night away on
a visit to her daughter at Wenham.
Thirteen Suabs We're found on Mr..
Whites body, done probably by dirk,
and a blow on his left temple, which
fractured his skull. Nothing appeared
to have been taken from the house,
which made the murder all the more
mysterious, as he had no enemy Re-
wards We're offered for the perpe-
traitors by his heirs, the selectmen and
Governor Levi Lincoln; and vigilance
committee was chosen, consisting OF
tWenty-seven members.
Captain Joseph j. Knapp, Salem
merchant and shipmaster, had two sons
Joseph j., Jr., and john Francis
Knapp. They said that while they were
riding in chaise from Salem to Wen
ham, on the night of the 9TH of April,
highway robbery was committed upon
| them near Wenham Pond This rob-
berry was made public next morning,
and one newspaper announced that
| These gentlemen were well known in
town, and their respectability and
| veracity are not questioned by any of
our citizens
| mo clew could be found to the muir
derer until about the last of April,
when a prisoner in the New Bedford
iaii said that he knew something about
it, although he had been a prisoner
there some time before, and was still
one at the time of the commission OF
the murder. His name was Hatch,
and he was brought from New Bedford
by Attorney General Perez Morton be-
fore the grand jury, then sitting at
| Ipswich, to testify. The result was
that Richard and George CroWnin-
shield, Selman and Chase of Lynn,
iwere all arrested on the second day OF
May, and committed to prison.
ION the 18th of May, Joseph j.
Knapp, the father, received letter
from Belfast, Me-, purporting to be
written by Charles Grant, Jr., of Pros
pect, Me. This letter was intended for
Joseph J., Jr but it fell into the hands
of the father; as it was Greek to him
he handed it to his other son, Ma
thaniel Phippen Knapp, a lawyer, who
found it equally unintelligible. The
letter was a threatening one to Joseph
J., Jr., written on the 18th of May, de-
manding money, and threatening dis
IL = II Il
his son. the lawyer, took the letter tC
Wenham. where Joseph and Frank
were living, and showed it to them
Joseph told his father that it was "a
lot of trash and wished him to give
: it to the vigilance committee, which he
did.
The next day, Sunday. May 16 two
pscudonymous letters We're dropped
into the Salem rostoffice, one addressed
:: to Stephen White; the other to Gideon
Barstow. The committee answered the
Grant letter. not by mail from Salem
but by a man who went to Prospect
Me-, deposited this letter addressed tt
. Grant in the postoffice there, and wait
ed to see him come and get it. He
Il did not have to wait long, and when
. Grant called for the letter he was inn
mediately arrested. His name was
Palmer. and although he had no hand
| in it, he disclosed the whole plan OF
the murder. The night of the murder
he spent at the Half Way House in
!. Lynn, on the old turnpike. He said
the purpose of the murder was tc
destroy the will of Joseph White and
that Richard Crowninshield was to be
Inin ha
two young Knapps were arrested on
the 29th of May. The robbery
was simply an invention of Joseph's
and it was he who wrote the two
pseudonymous letters.
'On the Sd of June, Palmer was
brought to Salem and committed tC
Jail. On the 18th of June, Richard
ICrowninshield committed suicide by
hanging himself with his handkerchief
in his cell. An indictment was found
!, against Frank Knapp, as principal, and
. Joseph ]. Knapp, Jr., and George
: Crowinshield, as accessories. The law
then was. that an accessory could not
). be tried till the principal had been con
[ victed. and as Richard Crowinshield
was dead, Frank Knapp was con-
/ verted into a principal. tried first con-
/. Ivicted and hanged, and | was present
+: at the execution. Joseph, tried as an
0 accessory afterward, was also CON
+, Ivicted and hanged. George Crownin-
: shield was acquitted on an alibi Sell
! man and Chase were released by At
torney General Perez Morton, and
Palmer was discharged because of his
, services to the government &
. The counsel for the prisoners were
, Franklin Dexter and William H.
Gardiner. Robert Rantoul also acted
for the defence, to which objection was
: made on account Of his youth, he hav-
ing then but recently been admitted to
the bar. Daniel Webster aided the
! government, and made in this case one
of his greatest arguments
Webster said: 1.-THE deed was
executed with degree of self-posses-
sion and steadiness equal to the wick
edness with which it was planned.
| Deep sleep had fallen on the
destined victim. and on all beneath his
roof. healthful old man, to whom
sleep was sweet, the first sound
slumbers of the night held him in their