Windham County reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1901-1906, 1904-01-08
Mrs. Moffat Not Guilty.

fatnefS nome WIFI tne Sh'iuie" ca"
did so.
Mrs. Moffat Not Guilty.
The jury in Bennington county court
in the case of state VS.. Mrs. Alice Moi
fat, charged with attempting to poison
her husband, Philander Moffat, at
Sandgate reported Monday afternoon
a verdict of not guilty. The woman
was promptly released and left with
her husband for her home. The YER
dict was unanimous and was generally
expected. The charge against Mrs.
Moffat rested on the testimony of Jo-
seph Mears, who is serving 15-year
sentence as principal in the crime and
who was brought to Bennington from
the states prison as witness. Mears's
intimacy with Mrs. Moffat and Moffat's
discharge of Mears from his employ on
that account and his statement that
Mears bought the whiskey which Mof-
fat drank and which contained poison,
were among the matters that led to
Mears's conviction. Mears testified
Thursday that after he was discharged,
Mrs. Moffat often came to see him and
asked him "if he would have her If
the old cuss died" He said he would.
He claims he bought poison at her re-
quest that she mixed it with the
materials for making pancakes in the
Moffat home and then sent him there
to stay over Sunday and he cooked for
Moffat's breakfast the cakes that made
him violently i'll. Later Mrs. Moffat
gave him money to buy whiskey and
corrosive sublimate. She poisoned the
whiskey and substituted it for another
bottle of whiskey that Mears had pre-
viously given Moffat. She afterwards
told Mears that she had done so. The
defence impeached portions of this tes-
tfmony. claimed Mears had threatened
to have revenge on Moffat and offered
an alibi for Mrs. Moffat.
In Washington County court at
Montpelier Saturday the jury in the
case of state VS. George w, Freeman
felonious assault, returned verdict of
not guilty and the respondent was dis
charged.
The annual meeting of the Rutland
SoNltly w as iVlu a. AN's
land Wednesday, The treasurer re-
ported about $4,000 on hand. The ex-
penses of the state fair exceeded the
receipts by S947. The Indebtedness at
present is s1,621.5S.
Edward Jemary, a prisoner at the
house of correction at Rutland, was
found to have small pox when brought
from st. Adams Dec. 30. He said a
physician chad treated him for Cuban
itch. He had exposed many persons on
the train. Word was sent to St AL
bans to suspend sending prisoners.
Fifty subpoenas We're served at
Rochester Thursday in the case of Jo-
seph Bean charged with killing Eph-
rain Root Oct. II. The distance COW
cred in serving the subpoenas was GO
miles. One woman subpoenaed was
without shoes and said she could not
attend unless some one could buy them
Tor her
Announcement is made Of the recent
marriage in saltwater, n. Y, of Morris
Knapp, who achieved much notoriety
during the Rogers trial, and young
woman of that place Knapp was the
man Mrs. Rogers intended to marry
after she got rid of her husband. The
marriage has taken place since the
conviction of Mrs. Rogers.
Senator G. f, Sibley, TO- a we'll
known business man of North Mont
pelier died Tuesday morning after A.
weeks illness with cancer of the liver
He was the owner of a wooden manu-
featuring plant and prominent in poll
tics. He was town representative In
the legislature of 1SS61SSS, and in Sep
TENDER, 1902, was elected senator from
Washington county.
E N. Dunbar's grist mill at West
Danvile was burned at one o'clock
Tuesday morning with all its con-
tents The building was half burned
before the fire was discovered. 1nsur-
ance of 1900 on the mill and s1,70n
on the stock. The loss will exceed 81
O00 A brick tenement house at st
Johnsbury owned by Col. 7. c. Fletch-
err caught fire Tuesday morning, when
the mercury was 80 below zero. Lack
of water seriously interfered with put
ting out the fire, but the building and
contents were saved.
The reduction of the $4,000 attach
ment on the Lumiere North American
company, a newly established concern
for the manufacture of Photographic
dry plataS which was placed upOn ii
by the manager, F. j. White, on ac-
count of alleged violation of the con-
tract, will enable the company to COM
mence business at once and give en-
ployment to over 200 hands. The court
Tuesday found that there was no sal
airy due Mr.. White and ordered the at
tachment reduced and granted permits
sion to the company to file a bond of
$1,000.
Ray C. Johnson of Burlington, shot
and killed Mrs Sadie Peters, a wait
ress with whom he is said to have
been in love, at an early hour Tues
day in Boston. Johnson admitted the
killing. and is under arrest. Mrs. Pet
ers had a husband living somewhere in
Nova Scotia. She was a native of
Prince Edward island. The woman
received four bullets from a 3S-calibre
revolver and it is believed that death
was instantaneous. The police claim
that Johnson and the Peters woman
had been living together in Roxbury
for nearly a year and that she told
him Tuesday that she had decided TO