Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1917-09-12

Caledonia county court, now in ses-
sion at st. Johnsbury, is the scene of
one of the most heinous murder trials
this part of Vermont has witnessed in
many years.
Mrs. Alvin Kenerson is being tried
for murder in the first degree of five
year-old Alice Bradshaw, the crippled
child of John Bradshaw of Lyndon on
July 5. It will be remembered the
body of the child was not found for
month, when it was found in a hay
field in decompoSed condition by FL
lery Gray. Mrs. Kenerson had con-
fessed the murder but her stories of
the place where the body was to be
found proved untrue and she was kept
in Jail.
Over 40 men were called in order to
get panel of II jurymen and they
are being guarded during the trial.
States Attorney Campbell of st.
Johnsbury and Attorney General Bar
Der are conducting the case for the
state and Porter, Writer'S & Harvey
of st. Johnsbury and N. A. Norton of
Lyndonville are for the defense.
The state is attempting to show
that Mrs. Kenerson had i'll feelings
toward the father of Alice because of
a horse deal and that the woman
asked the assistance of John Kerwin
to hide the body after the deed was
committed The defense attempt to
show that Mrs. Kenerson knew moth
ing of the violence to the child, loved
the little cripple and had no enmity
against her. They also try to show
that the child wandered away and
was lost, and that Mrs. Kenerson
showed concern for the child; that
the woman was quiet, but simple
minded woman; that she was arrested
and jailed without warrant and forced
to make statements because of ter
Eror, and that there was no truth
whatever in her alleged statements.
Many witnesses have been examin-
ed and the case will be before the
jury before many hours. The state
put on IA witnesses.
During his testimony, John Ker-
win, held as an accomplice in the
case, contradicted himself many times
and wept at intervals. He testified
that late on the night of the murder
Mrs. Kenerson woke him up and told
him she had some business fdr him,
that they left the Kenerson home to-
gether and walked to the Ellery Gray
farm, where they found the body of
the child. When he asked Mrs. Ken
erson what this meant, she replied,
"If you open your head / will smash
your brains out" She then gave him
the body and he carried it about
mile to the place in the Ellery Gray
I field, where it was afterwards found.
He dropped it there because he saw
light and was afraid They then both
hastened back home, running some of
the way. He described his trip with
the officers to find the body after its
disappearance and first said he tried
to find it and later said he did not try
to find it and did not want to find it.
Mrs. Kenerson denied that she went
with John Kerwin, to hide the body of
the murdered child She said she
could not walk so far becasue of an
injury to her ankle several weeks be-
fore thealleged murder. Questioned
about her admission of choking the
little girl while Eta May Hicks, in
dicted with her, dubbed the girl, she
said the confession was false and
was wrung from her by a detective
in the employ of the sheriff, who
threatened her with the electric chair.
She vowed that she loved the child,
and could not be shaken in her state
ment.
Probably the most interesting wit
ness was John Bradshaw, father of
the little girl. He first testified that
Alice could walk around the house
fairly well and could get around the
farm with difficulty. Her left side,
he said, was paralyzed, the paralysis
developing when she was a year and
half old. The only way she could
get up stairs was by crawling. He
last saw her alive at 8 o'clock in the
evening of July a. He saw the body
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