Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1915-03-26
CONFESSES
TO MURDER

Prescott Pratt of South Paris, Me-,
was found guilty last Friday of the
murder of George w. Davis of Port
land.
Davis disappeared late in Septem-
Der after being seen there in company
with Pratt.
The jury which heard the evidence
in the case reached verdict 40 min
utes after retiring.
The discovery of Davis body hid
den beneath the Pratt barn four
months after his disappearance led to
Pratt's arrest on the charge of hav-
ing shot him. The case had been on
trial three days. Witnesses testified
that Pratt had confessed the crime
to them but Friday he took the
stand and denied their statements
charging the crime to woman ac-
uuaintance of Davis and himself.
There has been great public inter-
est in the case and fully 700 people
were crowded into the court room.
Pratt heard the verdict with no show
of emotion and there was no demon
stration by the spectators.
Prescott Pratt on taking the wit
ness stand charged Mrs. Clara Cut
ting, his housekeeper, and one of the
states principal witnesses, with hav-
ing killed Davis. He admitted, how
ever, that he afterward robbed him
of about 5000 and carried the body
from one of the chambers in his
home to an excavation beneath his
stable.
Pratt gave long, circumstantial
account of events before and after
the shooting and claimed that for
weeks afterward Mrs. Cutting and
he had lived together and had in
tended to be married later.
He said Davis brought Mrs. Cut
ting to his house Soon after he and
Davis had ridden in the latter's
automobile from Berlin, N. H. He
heard them whispering in one of the
chambers, then a shot fired. Mrs.
Cutting appeared and, he testified,
exclaimed: 81 have killed him!"
He found Davis body stretched
across the bed, with blood flowing
from his head.
The next morning, he said, he
dragged the body down stairs and
pushed it through a hole in the barn
floor, covering it with quilt.
Pratt said he told Hiram Cum
mings about the body, but did not
remember telling him he had shot
Davis. Cummings and Mrs. Cutting
testified for the state that Pratt had
| confessed to them that he had killed
a man in an automobile near Bethel
on the road from Berlin, and hidden
the body under the stable.
Pratt did not deny that he had dis
posed of Davis automobile and
watch and money.
On cross-eXamination Pratt admit
ted that he had not told anyone
previous to a week ago of the charge
he now makes against Mrs. Cutting.
Mrs. Cutting was recalled by the
state and denied the truth of Pratt S
assertions. She also denied that she
was at Pratt's house the night Davis
died or was in any way concerned
with his death.
The closing arguments were made
by Alton C. Wheeler for the defend
ant and Attorney General William R.
Pattangall during the afternoon.
Judge A. M. Spear delivered the
charge to the Jury and it retired
shortly before six o'clock.
Attorney Wheeler stated that
facts brought out in Pratt's sensa-
tional story on the stand were news
to his counsel, or, at least, had been
known only day or two. He pointed
out alleged discrepancies in the
testimony of the witnesses for the
prosecution.
Attorney General Pattangall de-
clared his belief that a man who had
nerve enough to rob the body of a
dead stranger, drag it down stairs
and hide it under one of his build
ings, then stand up in court and tell
about it, was not incapable killing
man. He asserted that conceal.
ment is evidence of crime.
| When Pratt was taken into the
supreme court for sentence Saturday,
he made the following statement
Il am guilty myself, and nobody
else. was intoxicated at the time
1t was an accident.
| This statement he made wher
Judge Speay asked if he had any
thing to say before sentence was
pronounced. He was then sentenced
to life Imprisonment at hard labor
in the state prison at Thomaston.
Pratt, who is 80 years old, haC
made complete confession earlier
to Deputy Sheriff Titus at the Jail ii
which he exonerated all others. He
said he and Davis arrived from
Berlin, N. H., considerably under tn,
influence of liquor They had quar-
relied, but the real reason for shoot
, ing him was the 5000 Davis carried
, Pratt said the roll Of bills looked
mighty good" to him.
He said he shot Davis while the.
7 were in the kitchen WraDped hi