The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1910-11-17
GIRL VICTIM Of
BRUTAL CRIME
Maltreated Body of
Marie Smith Is
Found
SHE FOUGHT TILL DEATH

Then Strangled.-NegrO WOOdchOp.
per Employed BY Her Aunt Charg.
ed With the Horrible Deed.-Nei-
ther Admits Nor Denies Guilt.
Asbury Park, ~ j., Nov. l3.-The
maltreated body of little Marie
Smith, the schoolgirl of 10 who had
been missing since last Wednesday.
was found at dusk today in a clump of
woods not far from her home. Some
instinct seemed to warn her mother
Of the search had ended, for although
an effort was made to shield her
from the truth, she rushed from the
house and took in the full horror of
the fact before she could be with
held.
Half fainting, half in commissions,
she was carried into the house. and
there is grave fear that she will die
and with her the life she was soon
to have brought into the world.
Chance discovered the body rs
chance had hidden it. There seemed
to have been no effort at conceal
ment. The wind had strewn fallen
leaves until their color so matched
the brown of the childs dress and
her brown hair, that, as she lay
face downward, she was nearly in
distinguishable from her shroud.
Searchers had passed again and again
within 20 feet of her in full daylight
during the past three days, and it
was only a random glance that hap
pened to discover her today.
Thomas Williams, known in the
neighborhood as BLACK Diamond" a
negro wood-chopper, employed by the
girls aunt, has been missing since
the day Marie disappeared. A war;
rant was issued for him tonight and
an alarm for his capture sent broad
cast through the county and State.
Near the body was found his axe, and
a felled tree nearby had been SCARED
with an axe nicked like his.
1t did not need an autopsy to es-
tablish criminal assault. The child
was small for her years and not
strong, but she had fought to utter
exhaustion. The broken sticks AMI
frampled ground around her showed
that, as did her injuries. Her gray
k7ting cap and the blue ribbon she
wore in her hair had been tied
tight about her throat, but she had
also been beaten on the forehead with
some blunt instrument, and the
leaves under her face were frozen to-
gether with blood.
In her struggle she had been
grasped by the hand with such force
that a gold ring she wore had been
fiattened into the flesh. Her arms
We're badly scratched and there was
wound in the cartilage of her nose
which must have been caused by hui
man teeth shut down on it to cut off
her breath
Marie Smith was seen last at II
O'Clock Wednesday morning on her
way to school, two blocks from her
home. The spot where her body was
found is off her path and either she
must have been enticed into the
woods or been picked up and carried
bodily.
On the night of her disappearance
the firemen We're called out to fight
a blaze in the woods where she lay,
and there is a possibility that it may
have been been set to conceal the
crime.
Williams was arrested tonight in
the last place where anyone thought
TO find him-his room. The police
went there to search for evidence and
found their man instead. Williams
admitted that he had not left the
room since Thursday, and the APP
nearance of the room bore him out.
His suspenders were stained with
what looked like blood and a towel
was found on which bloody hands
seemed to have been wiped
When placed under arrest, the
negro was in pitiable terror and
would neither admit nor deny the
crime with which he is charged. He
was taken quietly to Jail through sem
timept against him ran high. Tomor-
row morning he will be arraigned.