The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1913-11-04
FOSTER PLEADED
NOT GUILTY WHEN
ARRA|GNED TODAY

the tragedy, We're as follows: Foster
and Prouty, who live about 20 rods
from each other on Thomas hill i'm
Halifax. about three miles beyond
West Guilford village. had been at log
gerheads several years and had fire.
quentlv quarreled verbally and threat
emed each other On the mornin. Of
Oct. l6 as Proutv drove bv the Foster
farm on his way to ". b. Warren's
mill with q load Of apples the two
men had some sort of an alteration
over Prouty ; dog which Foster claim
ed was vicious and ought to be killed.
On Prouty' return the argument was
continued, and again in the afternoon.
when Prouty was on his way TO War
ren ; mill. there was more trouble. il
being claimed that the dog at that
time bit one Of the children of Eos
ter's housekeeper. Mrs. Mabel Cum
ming.
When Prouty appeared on his wa
gon ~ front Of the Foster house
short time after 9 clock the quarrel
had its fatal elimination. Accord
ing TO Mrs. Cumming. who was the
only eye witness of the shooting, the
alteration began when Foster began
10 call Proutv names and the latter
replied that if Foster didn I shut up
hc would kill him. Prouty then stepped
out Of the wagon and struck Foster
twice in the face with his fist. The men
clinchcd AMI in the brief scuffie that
cnsucd Foster fired his revolver three
tunes, at least one Of the bullets en-
tering the victim ; forehead lust over
the right eye. Prouty fell to the ground
without a sound, and the man who
killed him, after rushing into his
house. jumped upon his horse and rode
five miles to the home of Constable
Green Norden in Marlboro, TO whom
he gave himself up and by whom he
was taken to BrattlebOro and later TO
Newfane Jail.
As soon as Foster had gone Mrs.
| Cumming rushed TO the home of Hosea
Fisher nearby, shouting murder at
the top of her voice. Proutv's team
\ had meanwhile gone home. and his
wife got her first intimation of trou-
/ bic when she went 10 meet her
husband and found lie was not on the
wagon. Suspeeting that something
was wrong. she left her three young
children and rushed up the road toward
the Foster farm. 4 rod or two beyond
her house she was met by Hosea Fish
er and his son. Ora. and was told that
her husband had been fearfully hurt
FL expected it, was her only com
ment.
PrOuty body Law by the roadside
directly in front of the Foster house
from the time of the shooting until
between and 10 p. m, when the Hal
lfaX town authorities gave permission
Tor its removal. The only wound upon
II was an ugly hole in the forehead
which caused instant death.
The autopsy revealed the fact that
the bullet, which entered Proutv :
head above the right eve making the
only wound of that character that his
body bore, came from IS calibre
weapon; not the one turned over bv
Foster to Constable Worden as the one
with which he had done the shooting
\ steel Jacketed bullet was found
within the skull of Proutv and was of
IS calibre. The weapon with which
Foster said he did the shooting was n
Smith & Wesson revolver of 32 calibre
and loaded with lead bullet cartridges.
Foster is about 81 years old and has
lived in Halifax about six years.
He was born in Pawlet. Vt. and pre-
pared for the ministry at Troy Confer
ence academy in Poultney. where he
was at one time in the publishing bust
ness under the firm name of l.. 4.
, Foster & Co. He acted as book
agent for some time and lived in va
rious localities between the time he
left Poultney and went to Halifax He
has mother living in Rutland county,
{ one sister and several brothers, one in
Randolph, VT
His victim, Ossie Elmer Prouty, was
2s years old and had always lived in
Halifax. He was a son of Elmer Elias
and Alice (Smith) Prouty. and his
mother is now wife of Forrest Wood
/ of Newfane. He j. survived by his
wife, who was Mabel Learnard, daugh
> ter of Mr.. and Mrs. Horace Learnard
Z and three young children-Cecil, aged
, three; Elmer, aged two. and Burton
. aged six months. He also left broth
o Ter, Perley X. Prouty, who is a tele
graph operator in New London, Conn