Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1910-04-08
Years Ago


railroad station ticket office in July, 1908.
His connection with the other robberies
in the series two years ago when Brat
tleboro was alarmed by the frequency
and daring Of the breaks is not so GER
tain but it is the belief of a Pinkerton
detective who came to BrattlebOro We'd
nesday to look up the case that Spencer
was responsible for all those which were
not obviously the work of irresponsible
boys.
The way in WHICH Spencer was con-
nected with the Brattleboro burglares
was dramatic but conclusive. When
he was arrested Tuesday morning about
a peck of jewelry was found in his home
in West Springfield When this loot was
taken to the police headquarters in
Springfield for examination cameo ring
was found bearing the inscription,
walter II. Childs, Brattleboro, VT" on
the inside. This information reached
The Phoenix office that afternoon and
review of the robberes in this town two
years ago recalled the fact that such
ring was stolen from the home of DR..
c. S. Pratt July %, 1908. Or, and Mrs.
Pratt were intimate friends of Mr.. Childs
and the day before his death he present
ed the ring to DR.. Pratt as a keepsake.
The ring was valued highly by DIR. Pratt
and he regretted its loss far more than
all the rest of the jewelry. a Daughters
of the American Revolution pin with
Esther Julia Pratt engraved on the back
also was found in the jewelry collection.
The pin also was stolen from the house
that night.
Both DR.. and Mrs. Pratt were in Bos-
ton when the news of the find reached
Brattleboro, but Miss Katie OConnor
the housemaid at the Pratt home, was
positive that such a ring and pin were
stolen. \. j. Norton, a Pinkerton de-
tective from the Boston headquarters,
came to Brattleboro Wednesday, and
Miss O'Connor positively identified the
ring and the pin. Rolin S. Childs, Mrs.
Arthur Childs of Manchester, who was
visiting in town, and George L. Foster
and Harry r. Lawrence, both intimate
friends of Mr. Childs and DR.. Pratt, also
were positive in their identification of
the ring. The detective secured from
Robert c. Bacon, who was states attor-
ney when the burglary was committed,
list of the jewelry which was stolen
from the Pratt home He found the
description of number Of articles which
he was positive were in the collection at
the Springfield police headquarters, and
there is little doubt that practically all
the jewelry will be recovered.
The most interesting find which the
Pinkerton detective made was at the rail-
road station. This was a package which
was checked for safe keeping at the bag
gage room Sept IL, 1908. MIR. Norton
looked into this package and became in
terested at once, as the first thing he
pulled out was a red handkerchief with
holes and a breathing hole cut in it
as though it had been used as a mask.
1t was accompanied by an ingenious elias
tic arrangement for fastening the mask
in place. This was a new one to Mr..
Norton, and he said it was the cleverest
arrangement he ever had seen in his
detective work. The package also con-
tanned a razor in case marked in pencil
IL.
workman's handy kit of tools, consisting
of a number Of blades and prizes, pair
of small pincers and an old revolver
which may be the one stolen from the
home of DR.. George +. Barber several
years ago. This package was one of two
which were checked at the baggage room
by two young men, the appearance of
one of whom correspondent closely with
the description of Spencer. one of the
pa ckages was taken away, but the other
remained awaiting claimant,
Mr.. Norton made a thorough investi-
cation of the circumstances of each of
the burglaries which occurred in Brat
tleboro and he was convinced that Spen-
Ger was responsible for most of them on
account of the similarity to the robberies
in Springfield to which Spencer had con-
fessed. There was a little more positive
evidence in the case of the burglary a
the home of a. d. Wyatt on North Main
with a bangle inscribed with the Lords
prayer in very small writing was stolen.
\ similar chain and bangle is in the loot
in Springfield. Mr.. Norton was inclined
to believe that an old-time watch and
some silver spoons taken from Mr. wy
ats house. were also in the collection,
but the identification was not complete.
In the case of the burglary at the home
of w. II. Bracket the only tangible
evidence was the finding of a greasy
towel in the home the morning after
the break occurred. 1t is thought that
this towel came from the train on which
Spencer was employed as a brakeman.
The ticket office break is laid to Spencer
as it doubtless was done by a railroad
man and he was running into Brattleboro
on freight at that time.
Now that Spencer has been apprehend-
ed it is easy to see how it was possible
for him to have committed all the daring
burglaries in Brattleboro in the past
three years. At the time when the bur-
glarles began Spencer was a Boston &
Maine brakeman with a run between
Springfield and White River Junction.
He had various runs on freight and pas
senger trains until about a year and a
half ago, when he was discharged on
account of trouble between himself and
the engineer, During the time that he
was brakeman he frequently had a few
hours off at Brattleboro and sometimes
he spent the night here, generally sleep
ing in the caboose. 1t was an easy mat
ter for him to slip up into the village
and commit a burglary and return to
his train without causing suspicion to be
directed toward him. 1t is believed that
on the night of the Pratt burglary he
saw DR.. and Mrs. Pratt board a train
for Putney and that little later he saw
Miss O'Connor go into the Nicoet the
atre. When she returned to the house
she found that the door had been locked
on the inside. She did not know until
morning that the house had been ran
sacked.
The arrest of Spencer was brought
about by the discovery of watch
charm bearing his initials, it being found
in yard near where one of the daring
breaks in Springfield had been committed.
The charm contained a picture of Spen-
GERS mother and sister and it was iden-
titled positively as his before the police
made a move to arrest him. He was
arrested Tuesday morning on a charge
of robbery, but Mrs. Sarah j. Dow and
Miss Lucy Dow, in whose home the
murder was committed, Identified. Spen-
Ger as the man who shot Miss Black
stone, and they identified a belt and pin
as the property of Miss Dow. 1t was
not know until then that anything was
taken from the home the night of the
murder The charge against Spencer
was changed to murder. He withstood
fearful ordeal all day Tuesday being
confronted with woman after woman
who identified him as the man who had
entered their houses. The ordeal was
resumed Wednesday and about s o'clock
in the morning Spencer broke down and
confessed to having committed the MUIR
der and long series of burglaries.