Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1904-01-18
A CONFESSION
Said to Have Been Made by
J. Wi|fred BIondin
AS to Where, When and How He
Murdered His Wife.
Aie9ed That He Has Told All the
Horrible Details.

said' y confession made by ]. WilfreG
b."ndlh, who was convicted of tho
i'luruer OF mis- wife. Margaret. and SEN
tehcei TO life imprisonment in tho
suite PRISON at Charlestowp b,s
reached the State police.
| Bl0hdinS confession is at Variance
Win the claim set up at the trial IN,
the authorities of Suffolk county. thai
MIS-. Blondln was murdered in tba
mouse on Green street where the counIc
lived
In hls statement, Blondn says that
he killed his wife in Chelmsford. with
i'll Z short distance of the place where
her body was found decapitatcd some
days after the murder He says that
he ch"lled her to death by the roadside.
and carried her body into the woods
ard cut off the head with his knife. He
threw the head into nearby stream.
where it was later found.
| The confession shows how difficult il
is for the police to prove all the details
Of q murder at the trial. When the
body OF the woman was found on June
Is? 1901, and identified within Il CAV or
two as that of Mrs. Blondin, IL contro-
Versy at once arose as to the place
where the murder WAS committed. 1t
made considerable difference to the
police at work on the case, for as Eos-
ton, where the Blondin woman was
last seen alive, is i'll suffolk county,
While Chelmsford is in MiddleseX coun-
| ~ two separate Jurisdictions, so far as
| the criminal law is concerned We're in
| volved
| The expense of the search for and
the trial of BlOndin. who was at once
suspected of the murder. were expect
cd to be enormous Neither of the
ccTntics wanted TO claim the case ana
it was not until the attorney general
was appealed to that it was decided
| that Suffolk county should prosecute
| the man. Dist. Atty. Stevens had
! ElCndin indicted in this county after
the IiGGleseX county grand jury had
found a true bill against him on the
suppDsition that the murder was COM
mitted i'll that county.
| The district attorney of Suffolk
county," 1;londin is said to have
! stated, was away off in his idea of
where the crime was committed. 1t
was not done at AZ Green street. The
idea that there WAS a trunk used to
carry the body of Mrs. Bondin to
Chelmsford is silly. Nothing of the
sort was done. There was no trunk in
| the case at all
| SThe state detectives had a good
! Ions search for nothing while they
were searching for any trunk that
might have been used to transport the
DOLBY. There wasn't any such trunk.
| Il left Boston or the afternon OF
April g. to go to Lowell. Mrs. Blondin
| WAS with lnc. I had II chance to so to
work on q steamer as engineer. Mrs.
| Blondin did not want to go to Canada.
| But she said she had some money in
the bank ut Lowell and I proposed that
We go to Lowell and draw it out. II
iwouId lie needed fer expenses.
so we left the house at 43 Green
street, Boston, about o'clock. l do
not know whether anyone saw US leave
| the house or not. But we went out
together and boarded the electric cars
| to Lowell. 1t was on Saturday after
noon and we knew that we could get
to Lowell before the banks closed. On
| Saturdays the banks are open in the
evening, as they are in most mill towns.
Mrs. Blondin had her bank book
| with her. When we got to the bank
F, she went in. and | waited on the oppo-
| site side of the street for her to GraW
! her money and come out. l watched
| her through the window. and 1t seemed
/ to me as if she was not trying to get
| the money Indeed. | grew suspicious.
| thought she was trying to deceive
| me.
! When she came Que | met her and
| ,h,tt
| to Canada, where l could get Il job on
the steamboat. She refused, as she
| had done before. Then / told her what
| 1 had frequently said to her before,
| that had :; rich uncle over in Cheims
| ford. and proposed that we go over to
see him. She had worked in the mills
| at Chelmsford before I married her.
| She consented to go. On the way over
| We talked our plans over some more.
F, We went in the eleotrics from Lowell
| 10 Chelmsford.
1T was agreed that I should 20 to
| Montreal and take the position on the
! steamer for while. She was to 60 to
\ my uncle's house and stay there. She
| was to get her old position as n weaver
| in the mills and wait until it was de-
| cided what we should do My wife had
| agreed to al this. She did not know
| that lied to her about my rich uncle.
| She apparently believed what l had to
say.
When we got to the end of the cleo
| trir car lire we got off. told my wife
we would have to walk some way. SO
we started out. The electric line ends
| near the house of MIR. Osterhaut, for
! whom ] had once worked as a farm
hand. We passed by this house and
! then went on . the Schultz house.
! which is perhaps .,alf a mile further on
! the road to North Billerica.
There is barn belonging to Mr..
Schultz on the opposite side of the
road from the house and just beyond
it. Then a little further on we came to
a pair of bars. 1 knew the place well,
for l had worked there. These bars
/. led up into the wood road on which
my wifes body was afterward found.
| ION the way up I asked my wife
! a',oHt the money she had drawn from
~