Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1912-05-18
RlCaESON CRIMES
Continued From Page One.1
BY Associated PreSS.

BY Associated Press.
BOSTON, May 18.-The crime for
which Clarence Virgil Thompson
Richeson, at the time of his arrest
pastor of the Emmanuel Church OF
Cambridge, was sentenced to die an
the electric chair, was the confessed
murder of his former sweetheart,
10 years old Avis Linnell, of Hyannis,
q pupil in the New Eng4ano ~onserV'
atory of Music in Boston.
The girl stood in the way of the
minister's marriage to Miss Violet
Edmonds, society girl and heiress
of Brookline, both through an en-
gagement which still existed between
the two and because of condition
in which Miss Linnell found herself
The girl was deceived into taking
poison given her by Richeson, which
she believed would remedy that con-
dition and died in her rooms at the
Young Women's Christian Associa-
ton, on the evening of October Ia,
1911. On that day invitations had
been issued for the wedding cere-
mony which was to unite Rev. MI.
Richeson and Miss Edmands.
AS pastor of a small church in the
Cape Cod town of Hyannis two years
before, the handsome and eloquent
minister, then 80 years old, had beef
attracted to Avis Linnell who was an
exceptionally pretty girl of II years.
She lived with her parents, her father,
Edgar Linnell, being contractor and
builder. 1t was her amblLon to be-
come a teacher and she was attend
ing the State Normal School at Hy-
annis.
Miss Linnell joiner Richeson's
church, was baptized by him and be-
came a member of the church choir.
In a short time, early in 1909, Miss
Linnell was displaying diamond
ring and confided in her girl friends
that she was to be married to the
minister the following October Aban-
doning her plan of becoming a school
teacher Miss Linnell began prepara-
lions for her wedding. Some of her
trousseau was completed and the two
paid a visit to Rev. Edward s. Cot
ton of Brewster who was asked to
officiate at the ceremony.
Friction developed between Richie
son and his deacons in June, 1910,
over the young minister's impetuous
manner and his violent language.
There was also a question as to the
loss of $50 in money which had been
left by parishioner in the pastors
study. The minister declared he had
been robbed of the money. Shortly
afterward it was learned he had sent
a similar sum by money order from
a nearby town to a woman in Salt
Lake City, Utah. His resignation FOL-
lowed and he accepted call to the
Emmanuel Baptist church of Cam,
bridge.
When Richeson went to Cambridge
Miss Linnell went to the Conserva-
tory of Music In Boston. She was
induced to attend the conservatory
by the minister in the idea that by
the cultivation of her voice, which
had given signs of much promise in
the Hyannis church choir, she would
better fit herself to become his wife.
On the minister's recommendation
the girl took room at the Young
Woman's Christian Association quar-.
tiers on Warrenton street, Boston.
She proved a diligent student and
continued her church work by teach
ing in the Sunday school of fremont
temple, the leading Baptist church
of the city. There were frequent
meetings between Miss Linnell and
Richeson.
The success which the young
preacher attained in his larger sphere
of usefulness made a marked i'm:
preston upon him. Surrounded by
influential friends and associates his
ambitions widened. He began to pay
court to Miss Violet Edmands OF
Brookline, the daughter of Moses
Grant Edmands, prominent Baptist
layman and a trustee of the Newton
Theological Seminary, from which
Richeson had been graduated. Miss
Edmands was prominent socially and
was wealthy in her own right, as well
as entitled to share in the estate Of
some $4,000 left by her grandfath-
er. Entrance to the exclusive home
Of the Edmands had been easy to the
minister as the pastor of the church
the family attended, and in a short
time he was accepted as sutton for
the daughters hand.
At the same time Richeson was
meetine Miss Linnell as formerly.
But one day he borrowed the diamond
ring he had given her, on the pretext
that the stone needed resetting. He
did not return it. Eventually the
newspapers announced the engage.
ment of Rev. Mr.. Richeson and Miss
Violet Edmands. The Linnell family
demanded an explanation. The min.
lister promptly declared the story a
newspaper fake" and was believed.
The invitations to the wedding of
Richeson and Miss Edmands were
sent out the afternoon of Saturday,
October IA. That same afternoon
Richeson dined with Avis Linnell at a
little restaurant in the Back Bay.
While there the girl appeared de.
pressed. At times tears rolled down
her cheeks. When she returned to
her lodging place, however, she seem.
ed cheerful, although quickly excus.
ing herself and hurrying away to her
room.
Groans were heard coming from a
bathroom of the association quarters
shortly after o'clock that evening