The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1913-10-18
MYSTERY As To WEAPON
With which |. 4, foster
shot and KILLED PROUTY

IS calibre weapon; not the one turned |
over by Foster to Constable Worden as
the one with which he had done the |
shooting.
As matter Of fact a steel jacketed
bullet was found within the skull Of
Prouty and one Of IS calibre. The
weapon with which Foster said he had
done tho shooting was a Smith 4
Wesson revolver Of - calibre and load
ed with lead bullet cartridges. Incl
dentallv, when the gun was shown to
Police. Chief George Wilson Thursday
night by Constable Worden, who asked
the chief to remove the cartridges, the
chief declared that the weapon had not
been fired despite Foster : alleged state
meut that he had fired it and reloaded
It, Further investigation developed the
fact that there was a wad of paper in
,he barrel of the revolver
SO far 4 search for the missing weap-
ON with which Foster must have shot
Prouty has not been successful. 1t ap-
pears that it is not certain whether il
was rifle or an automatic revolver,
both of which. with shotgun. Foster
is said TO have had in the house besides
the revolver he turned over to the Of
ticer and which is the one Mrs. Bliss
knew him to have.
Former Housekeeper 5 Story.
Mrs Minerva y Bliss, whose farm
Foster bought on a mortgage in Febru-
ary. 1910, and who was Fosters first
housekecrer in this section. tells
strange story Of his advent in this see
| tion. of his behavior on different occa-
~ions and positively expresses the belief
/ that there is something wrong with
| him mentally She tells Of his transi-
| tion from hard working man on a
! farm to one who hired the work done
and spent his time other than in manual
/ labor. Al
! Most significant is her statement
when asked whether lie had ever shown
| her newspaper clipping or referred to
having been accused Of murder.
- 40. lie never told me that
never saw or heard Of a clipping but
once at midnight, when for the first and
only time during the four years | was
ON the farm with him he entered my
room and for the first and only time
| struck me- he left Immediately
and, walking up and down in the sit
ting room which he used for writing and
rcading he declaimcd in high pitched
voice:
'' When left my mother | promised
her | would take care Of her boy and
by c. I have done it. | know where
one man 5 bones lie on the other side
of the Green mountains.
This exclamation Mrs Bliss said she
had heard him utter on more than one
occasion when apparently excited but
she had never seen him when he was in
such a state of excitement rs on that
night. Keyed up to the highest
pitch = she called it,
Mrs. Bliss, in attempting to deserib,
the changes in the manner and actions
OF Foster. said that he would get up in
the morning and eat breakfast in tn,
best possible mood and sometimes com,
] in from the barn aftcr having tinishe,
the morning chores acting Ike a vii,
! man, cursing and waving his hand:
l wildly about. There was absolutely ~
occasion for these displays Of tempe
so far as Mrs Bliss could determine
She insists that he was strictly a TEN
J pcratc man. not even drinking tea 0
l coffee, and when the suggestion wa
! made that he might have used SOM
l drug She said that She had never see
?, anything IL the way Of medicine in tn
house during the four years she live
{ at the farm after he came
lie was abusive to his little hors
when in these spells aud when She one
Z spoke to him about it. saying: Whe
\ YOU are ugly you go out and abuse tn
I little mare because there is nothing els
II you can 10 to vent your spite, y he rt
= piled that the horse had an ugly habi
of shying and he proposed to break he
Of it or kin her.
But the strangcst part Of the stor
is the manner in which Foster came
y Ilalifax. That was in the late fall {
lie 1907. He was selling books and stoppe
,r at the farm owned by Mrs. Bliss who :
the time had woman friend livin
with her. He said he wished TO max
a that his headquarters, expressing gre;
d delight III the location, but permissio
It to remain was refused. A week or tv
5. later he again drove his little mare Il
$ to the door and upon the advice Of h,
le friend She decided to allow him to sta
1t lie did, and, for a time drove arour
n the country daily, selling Bibles, an
le the Standard American Business Guild
in which he told her he had an interes
n No better man could be found, she q
a clared, than he was then, or for tv
in years afterwards.
it And yet, although he continued to st
at Bibles for some time, it was not lor
he afterward that he declared to her tn
1t he had been in the Methodist minist
at until he had become convinced tn
that there was no God and that t
m Bible was therefore not a reliable boo
er- Such being his decision, he had be