Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1910-02-03

TO the police and that all Of them t0ere gentlemen OF
scealih and prominence.
- the morning of September thir:een.h, New
kNY York had been startled and mystied, it was
w positively fascinated when on the morning OF
September fourteenth the papers came out with fu!.
the murdered--a Grand Union gateman a street car
conductor chauffeur. English visitor hotel clerk
theatrical narager policeman an ltal'an. o nd1
Harlem Jew--lneant nothing; but any New Yorker
will understand the thrill produced all over the city
Taylor Murray Fl. Gardiner. Theodore RiGhards0I'
Richard Ogden Dodge Oliyst a LowNIfn a b h. a.
Montague, Edwin Mexican
Why had such rich young men committed murdeff
And why had they so ehcerfully surrendered them
selves to the law! Naturally these were questions
that profoundly agitated the public mind For these
young men only RICH but their mere names
stood for accepted breeding and refinement; and that
such men should have committed such brutal crimes
was a Sensational riddle for which every extra or
fered hourly solutions-1 mean editions.
AT the time there was in office young district-at-
torney of great and varied powers man OF many
gifts and, naturally. man OF many enemies How
ever his enemies even. did not deny him the gifts
Of courage and energy and the people loved him tor
the pertnacious force and irresist'biIity with wMGh
Even the most ignorant push-cart man knew him ior
his friend. No sooner had he heard OF the murders
than he hurried-wh relays of automobiles-to the
various spots which they had been committed lie
made UP his mind at This was evidently con-
spiracy against the People. He had of course been
A. n, and he had devoted all the time possible to
much harried man. VIGOROUSLY enthusiastic to do the
right in examining such evidence as remained;
His immediate decision, after long delibera-
ton, was indict the twelve gentlemen aiore-
d n for r.Seaed nowsdse Of but s
financial intuition by no means unwelcone to resi-
dents Of New York. stateas no one needs to be
is very heavily taxed for the mere trials of criminals
it never invited into its boundaries. Who needs to
who wants to pay for it? Therefore; think Of the
cost of prosecuting not but twelve murderers,
and these murderers twelve men with unlimited bank
accounts wherewith to appeal!
However, these murderers were gentlemen, and
gentlemen do not do murder without some good
It. is easy to imagine the state of mind into which
the public thrown by these conflicting opinions;
also the Of B01dway further eG W. y
really conspiracy of the rich against the poori
Surely, it looked So And yet there were crG ;u1
pointed different, though necessarily enematic
moral Why for example, should twelve rich men
take the trouble to murder, with their own hands
dered. say the end of Fourteenth Street. for
little more than we'll. TWENTY-FIVE dollars apiece
At all events, the trial was scheduled tor NoVem-
Der g. In the interval the public ferment. like ris-
ing tide. almost amounted to suspension OF public
business.
And, curously it was the papers that professed to
least for wealth and artocracy papers that we're
the FRIENDS Of the fsoele that thus waOwed in these
their public; perhaps they even knew their business;
The discerning reader could, however, hardly avoid
in these papers to the victims-thcir town houses.
their wives and families. And, somehow or other. the
public to which they catered did not seem much to
mind that There seemed, indeed very general in
erest in the personalities or possessions OF the muir
dered whereas, that class from which the majority
Of the victims had been selected, stood day after day
in dense hrongs, looking TIP, with wistful curiosity
at the Bridge of Signs. though the trial still far
of. Were there not Twelve American Gentlemen
ineI AZ
Thus the morning of November third dawned
There is no necessity to burden American readers
Tombs. or outside Courtroom No. on the morn
ing of November third Such have been SC
the American newspapers that America knows then
by heart. Multiply one of the most dramatic accounts
Of such by twelve and you will get some idea
The entrance of the prisoners into court. hunbl,
guarded by various officers Of the law created sen
'ation. The prisoners were Enthusiastically, gentlemen
well-groomed Young men with cold eyes and fash
ionabc straight hair, but all curiously uniform al
mpersonaly distinguished in appearance as thougl
they had gone to the same college or the Same tailor
or fought in the regiment
There was no one of the prisoners that was not
e psf Of the
from wealth and position, each, in the slang OF tn
was n hdnwn Nan, HT 1oI,, hnSS
was TO drive four-in-hand from New York +
Riverview, carrying any passengers that oHered a.
schedule timel There was Young Oliver Townsend
the most graceful leader Of cotillon in America
There Chester Montague, perhaps the best anna
teur boxer in the world O. the stories everyon
knew of Chester Montague, with his nimble fists, an
his good heartand looking as if he couldn't say p'
and as though he had never seen pair OF gloves ,
his life! There young OgdenDodge, the Val
full-bacl about whom all the New York girls wer
so crazy that the New Haven road had to put o
twelve special trains to hold them at the asst grea
match between the Blue and Crimson There wa
young Robert Coleman Whitney. who on his way
polo match had had three of his ribs broken
and vet had
things and played and for his side all the sam
Jean de Forest, tall and scholarly looking, had a my
FERROUS reputation for his gallantry and his skill q
the violin There was also whispered legend c
his having fought duel with swords. one famot
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