Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1903-11-13
IN HEAT OF TEMPER.
Continued from page ~


!erehces nave peen caused by wander
ing STOCK. Alfred Stevens said he saw
bromlley take knife to Mr. Stevens,
last July, during quarrel he had.
Others understood that Bromley had
threatened Stevens several times, but
none OF them heard these threats them
selves.
AS soon as Coroner Smell had finished
with the body he made up a list of wit
nesses that would be needed at the in
quest and made arrangements for Sc
curing jury. The inquest will be held
at the mouse at O'clock, Friday after
noon.
The scene of the tragedy is a humble
little old fashioned farm house, low
eyed and weather beaten. The house
is little above the road and the barn,
which is large and commodious, direct
ly opposite and across the road. The
barn door from which Mr.. Stevens had
just emerged is only about 90 feet from
the spot in the road where it is said
that Mr.. Bromley stood when he fired
the fatal shot.
The room where the people gathered.
APPARENTLY the kitchen, is low posted
room with rough board floor. The
plastering is blackened with smoke and
dropping off in places. A large cook
stove stood at one side and the small
dining table with the dishes of the last
meal still on it, at the other. There was
little to indicate comfort in this and
yet Mr.. Stevens was reckoned by his
associates as a well to do farmer.
Away out on the road cows We're en-
countered, standing stupidity in the way
of passing teams, and had evidently
been forgotten in the excitement. The
affair seemed to astound the neighbor-
hood and the people about the house
seemed fairly daZed at what they saw
and heard.
The people crowded into this room
and gathered about the newspaper men
and the coroner. They seemed willing
nOngh to tell all they knew but We're sc
overcome by the sudden terrbleness OF
the affair that it was difficult to get
connected stor les.
Mrs. Stevens, attended by Mrs. Ella
+. Mosher, remained in the background
reclining on a sofa, and seemed to BIZ
stunned by her husbands terrible
death. She suffered in silence giving
little outward sign of her agony. Al
old man, evidently an inmate of the
house, seemed scarcely to understand
the awfulness of the situation.
Outside it was cold and dark an(
wet The little old cider press stood
| right where it had been operated in tn,
afternoon previous to the shooting will
| the hopper half full of apples and thu
crank in mid air where it had evidentl.
been left by Mr.. Stevens when h,
started after his wandering hogs.
There was the appearance every
where of everything being suddenl!
stopped in mid air. The neighborhoo(
| is but a country side with the houses
scattered at long intervals. Waterville
the principal market, is nearly 20 mile:
away and the majority of the people
are in humble circumstances. Bu
they are peaceful, industrious farmer:
and the tragedy seemed to fall upor
them with crushing force.
When those present saw Mr.. Stevens
| fall it was so horrible to them all tina
| their only thought seemed to be to ge
away from the place and the man will
| the gun. When they had partially re
covered from their terror they returned
and did all that neighborly kindnes:
could suggest. This was little but they
We're so overcome that they could ac
complish scarcely anything.
They called both Mr.. Stevens and Mr.
Bromley good neighbors to them.
feeling of fear and hostility was man
ifcsted for the latter and had he beer
at large in the neighborhood it would
doubtless have been night Of terror
But in the presence of death and sc
great trouble they would not discuss
freely the relations of the two men.
The most pathetic feature of the
whole case was the body of the victim
lying in the cold and wet between the
barn and the little old house that ha6
sheltered him from his boyhood. He
was a small man, withered by age, and
the body looked so pitable as it lay il
the mud that the most callused could
That the old man should fall and weller
in his life's blood hour after hour until
his body grew cold and rigid in the
twilight and his neighbors and friends
stand about and watch powerless to
touch him seemed too hard a death for
him to die.
And that his wife must see him there
and dare not touch him seemed too
great burden f)r woman in the evsn-
ing of life. Under such circumstances
and in the quiet of the country the
tragedy seems to grow more horrible.
From the stories told it would seem
that exasperated until he was desper-
ate Mr.. Stevens neighbor determined
to take vengeance on him by shooting
the hogs that had wandered and Dor
rowed the gun for this purpose. Then
when passing the barn the sight of
Mr.. Stevens and his words seemed to
be the final straw and in a blind pas
sion the fatal shot was fired.
Probably before the wound caused
death all the world would have been
given if it would have been possible
so to purchase the life that had been