Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1912-09-19
Clinton Assault Case.

l. Clinton Assault Case.
The first trial case of the criminal
docket of the September term of the
snnerior court was started immediate
" after the opening of The court
Wednesday forenoon, and it vas the
case of state VS. Bert Goodrich of Gin
ton, charging him with assault upon
Iottie Dixon of the same town. Il. n.
Merrill appeared as attorney for the
defense, and County Attorney VIII
hanson conducted the case for the
State.
Lostie Dixon, the first witness, tesu-
fed that on July 81. f912 she left her
home in Clinton at A. NJ, intending
To 60 and visit neighbor, Mrs.
Wright, for the purpose of getting her
to go raspberring with her. Sine said
that she did not find anybody at home
and started to return to her house, bat
when she had gone about half the
distance a man came out of the bushes
beside the road
She stated that the man said that he
wanted revenge on her father, and
then struck her in the stomach with
such force that it made her uncan
seious. At this point. Goodrich, the
respondent, was identified by the wit
ness as the nan who assaulted her.
Witness stated that she was con-
fined to her bed for week after the
alleged assault and that since that
time she had been very nervous. She
testified in direct examination that she
had never seen Goodrich before tile
day. of the alleged assault, but i'll
eross-examnation it was brought out
that she had attended several social
functions in Clinton, in which Good
rich had taken an active part.
Witness said that the spot, where
the assault took place was in plain
sight of her house. She was. asked by
Atty. Merrill If her parents had ever
objected to a young man by the name
of Pennel visiting her, and she said
that they had not objected 10 hei
keeping his company, any more than
any parents generally would.
George e. Dixon. the father of Lot
tie Dixon, testified that he went to a
funeral on the afternoon of July 81. re-
turning to his home at about 4.50 P. VI
and not finding his daughter at home
he went in search of her. He found
her lying face downward in an I'M
conscious condition in field near the
road. He said that he thought she
was dead when he first saw her, but
upon moving her he found she was
alive.
1t was necessary, he said, to assist
her home, for she was unable to walk
alone, on account of the injuries she
had received. He vas asked by Atty.
Merrill If his wife told him when they
arrived home from the funeral that
size feared that Lottie had committed
suicide. He answered, Yes"
He claimed that the reason he went
directly from the holfse TO the spot
where he found his daughter was be-
eatlse fe had had q dream few years
previous, in which he imagined he
found dead man in the locality of the
place Swhere he found his injured
daughter.
Mrs. Nellie Dixon, the mother of
Lottie Dixon, corrpborated the testi-
mony of her husbdnd. On cross-exan-
ination. she denied having any trouble
with her daughter on the morning of
the alleged assault. She testified that
she found some bruises on her daugh-
ters stomach, Which looked to her as
if they had been inflicted by a man s
fist.
John A. Mooers of Skowhegan. sher-
lif OF Somerset county, testified that
after he heard of the assault on Lot
tie Dixon he ordered every deputy
sheriff in his county to he on the look
out for man answering to the de-
serirtion OF the alleged assailant. He
said that in the early part of August
he met Goodrich in Skowhegan and
talked the matter of the assault over
with him by did not have him arrest
ed at that time. In conversation with
the respondent he said that he asked
Tim Where he was, July 81, and the re-
spnodent said he was. working on
Clark Dixon's farm in Clinton.
DIR. A. A Shaw of Clinton, who at
tended Lottie Dixon, stated that when
he first saw her, after the assault, he
found her to be in a very nervous
condition. He said that there were no
bruises on the girls stomach. but from
appearances he thought that she had
been struck there.
George A. Bingham, mail carrier at
Clinton, testified that he had seen
Goodrich about every day. and that
he never saw MN with run heafd.
Goodrich's Defence n
sDavid f. Goodwin of Clinton, who
lives about half-nile from Clark
Dixon's farm. testified that the first
time he heard about the assault was
about $50 p NJ, July 81, and that it
was Bert Goodrich who told him about
it. He said that Goodrich was DIT his
iner until
about $50 He stated that he thought
it was fully mile and half from
the field. where 1t is claimed that
Goodrich was working when the crime
was committed, to the spot where Lot
tie Dixon said the assault occurred.
Miss Ella Dixon, sister of Lottie
Dixon, said that she was at her home
all day, July 81. and that she knew