Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1915-10-21
ARREST MADE IN
PREECE MURDER
CASE in BOSTON
'Unsolved Murder Case Which
Stirred Oxford County Nearly
Year Ago. Has Sudden De-.
nlopment in Arrest Of P. ].
Harrington,

y harrington
South Paris Me-, Oct 2o.-After the
lapsesof nearly a year since the MUIR
der of Thomas E. .Preece in West Sum.
ner on Nov. :, 1914, an arrest has been
made
County Attorney Albert @Beiliveaa OF
Rurnford applied Monday at Augusta.
after receiving notice from. Boston.
for .extradition papers for. Patrick ].
and with Deputies Ever
EFT Besse and Arthur Landry, left for
Boston Tuesday
, The county authorities were unwiii-
ing to make much talk on the subject
and little could be found out except
that the man detained was the one
whome the officers have long sought.
+. Sheriff rockingham was unable to
take the trip to Boston for his man. as
court is in session at the Oxford county
court house. The county attorney is
expected TO return either Thursday@or
Friday with Harrington. ALA 4,-,......,..
Patrick J. Harrington. who has jus:
been detained in Boston for the OK
ford county officers, is believed to be
the same who registered at. the hotel
in Milo few days preyiAps to the
murder. That man is known To have
met Preeee- in that town and started
off with Preece' in team toward
South Paris 1t is supposed that Har-
rington is the same man who was
seen in company with Preece several
times along the road and who. later,
on the night of the murder. register
ed at the Andrews House in South
Paris as William Dunn of Jay.
Throughout the past year officials of
the county have confidently predicted
an arrest and have kept close watch
on the case. employing Boston detec-
tives. even alta public interest in the
case had dice The present move
comes as ST. G as rumors to the
effect that the - niger who spent the
night Of Nov. at the Andrews House
was found. have been repeatedly de-
MED in South Paris.
great excitement in Oxford county last
fall. Thomas z. Preece, giving his
home as Boston but who had been
making his residence in South Paris
during the year, had left town sew
eral weeks previous to. Nov. 7. to
work in the potato fields in Aroostook.
While in South Paris he had boarded
with Mrs. -Abbie Rawson Of that town
and had become engaged to- her daugh-
ter, Mrs. Annie Frye. He was return
ing from Aroostook to marry, Mrs.
Frye. .--.. .-
Freezes body was discovered in the
bushes by the roadway in the town of
West Sumner near the Paris TORN hne.
There was bullet wound in the back
which could not have been self inflicted.
Some of the neighbors state that they
heard shots the previous evening. I:
Later. about midnight of the night
OF the murder, man arrived at the
Andrews house in South Paris. appar-
entity, thoroughly chilled and ill. and
placed a horse and covered buggy in
the hands of the stable boy He went
into the Office where he registered as
William Dunn of, Jay and left a call
for the early morning train. The ticket
agent at the Grand Trunk recalls sell
ing a ticket to Portland, to strange
man On the morning following. AS far
as the public was informed, this was
the last seen Of the man. for whom the
polite have since been searching.
At the hotel. hidden about his room,
Dunn or Harrington left several post
cards addressed to Preece, postcard
picture of Preece and another man, and
down stairs in the Office he left his
overcoar, containing 44-caiibre car
fridge. The picture of Preece and the
stranger it is understood has played 4
prominent part in locating the man they
believe to be Harrington. A 44-calibre
rifice was found in the woods near the
body Of Preece.
The team which the stranger left at
the hotel stables was Identified az be-
longing to South Paris man and had
been borrowed early in the season by
Louis Rawson, brother Of Mrs Frye,
Preece's bride-to-be. The men had bor-
rowed it to use for their trip to Hopl.
ton.
Preece was expected home the even
ing Nov. Z, as both Mrs. Rawson and
her daughter sat up until past rnidnisht
to wait for hip- His body vas. easily
identified by lAters bearing his name
and written him by Mrs. Frye
The motive of the crime was oon-
sidered to be robbery. a. PrNece II
known to have had with him about
$3.50 which he had earned while n
Aroostook.
"Of course" say the Oxford county
officers. I'VE may not have found the
man we seek But the man last to be
seen with Preece, = the man Ne was&.
He must be able to give ~ tho insor-
nation We seek. II we hays the svro.1
man this time we shall keep on With
Dur search for the right man.
We are making no charges OF any
kind. We are going slowly ana surely
In the matter. But we hrM1ly believe
that soone- or later We shall unravda
the mystery Of Prsecs,s dnzth.-