St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1914-10-21
VERMONT NEWS
Two FairIee Boys Victims OF A Sui.
eide Pact.

sue ny sue clOOnl
half a mile from the village. Each
boy had been shot through the heart
and a 3S-caIibre Smith & Weston re-
volver lay 20 inches from the bodies,
with two chambers empty. The the
DRY of a suicide pact between the
boys is most generally credited. One
unusual feature is that the first fired
cartridge had been removed from the
weapon before the trigger was pulled
the second time. The theory of sui
fcide pact is strengthened however, by
the knowledge that the boys had
found fault with their lot and had
threatened to run away from home
as we'll as to shoot themselves; but
the latter threat was held lightly, as
they had no weapon for the purpose.
1t was found that the revolver which
lay near their bodies was taken from
the barn of a neighbor. The boys
went out Thursday evening after the
COWS and when they did not return
searching party was sent after them.
The search that night was OF no avail
but Friday morning another search
was instituted, and that resulted in
the finding of the remains. SherlH
Harris Miller found the bodies, and he
was aided by the barking OF collie
dog which belonged to the family OF
r. H. Dearborn, where the Whitney
boy lived The dog had gone out
with the boys the night before and
had remained with their bodies all
night. There were no evidences of
any struggle and the bodies lay in
natural positions, the Whitney boys
arm resting over the body of his COM
panion. The remains were taken to
the Dearborn house, where the Whit
ney boy had been taken in some years
ago from an orphans home in Massa-
chusetts. One other pathetic feature
of the tragedy is that Mr.. Dearborn
was lying on his death bed and was
not expected to live but a few hours.
No inkling of the tragedy came to
him, however. The town authorities
summoned states attorney Frank S.
Williams of Bradford, and he in turn
called DIR. B. H. Stone of the state
laboratory of hygiene at Burlington
to conduct an autopsy. By means of
the autopsy, by which the di- ectiOns
taken by the bullets could be deter
mined, it was hoped to state with
some degree of accuracy whether each
boy shot himself or whether the dou
BILE act was done by one of the boys
more desperately in earnest than the
other. The bodies were photograph
ed as they lay on the ground when
found. The Bell boy lived with his
father, George S. Bell, who has been
for several years in charge of the Ely
Mining property, which some years
ago was purchased and is now owned
by the Westinghouse company and
which has been shut down many
years. AS far as is known his fam
lily relations have been such that they
can give no reason for the shooting.
Vermont Engineers Meet
The third annual fall convention
of Vermont Society of Engineers was
held at the Brooks House in Brattle-
boo last Wednesday and Thursday.
Wednesday evening there were adj
dresses by the Hon. Clarke G. Fits,
formerly attorney general of Yer
mont, who spoke on the Conservation
of Resources, with particular refer
ence to the development of water
power, and Prof. Robert Fletcher,
Phi D., c. E., director of the Thayer
School of Civil Engineering of Dart
mouth college, whose subject was
1.-THE Civil Engineer and the Public"
The evening meeting followed a
round table supper served in the par
lors of the hotel at $50 o'clock, at
which were seated the members of
the society, their wives and a few
invited guests. The meal was in
formal and those present found OPP
portunity to get better acquainted.
President D. Williams of st. Johns
bury presided, and after E. H. Miller
had sung very acceptably the presi-
dent introduced Mr.. Fits as the first
speaker. Mr.. Fits said that in the
early grants of lands there was no
provision for the reservation of ripar-
ian rights. Land owners whose prop
critics border on rivers have riparian
rights and the only use that may be
made of the river as highway is for
the purpose of floating logs.
In the early days, before the devel-
opment of large industries, the ripar-
ian rights did not amount to much.
The Bellows Falls Canal Co. was first
chartered that boats from Hartford,
Conn, which came up the river might
be floated. There was no mention IN
the charter of water power.
Mr.. Fits told the engineers how
much electrical energy is being devel-
oped at Vernon and that the Deer
field project is capable of developing
more than 10000 electrical horse
neering computations have proved
that the West River is capable of de-
veloping 10000 horse power every
day in the year. He discussed in
some detail the value of these devel-
opments to the industrial work on the
Connecticut and Deerfeld rivers.
Thursday morning the members of
the society made a trip in automo-
biles to the Vernon power plant. !
There were "a in the party, of whom
several were women.
A New State Forest.
The Vermont Forestry Department |
announces that it has just received |
a donation of over 1000 acres of for
est land from Messrs. G. c. Putnam |
and Ralph Putnam. This extensive |
area lies on the mountain range In
the western part of Worcester IN
county. Much of this |
tract had belonged to the Putnam
family for a great many years, and
had been numbered by them. Other
parts we're recently acquired by them