Norwich bulletin., 1921-12-22
Famous Trials
BETRsHEgA SP0oNER


 Boston Independent Chronicle, in an article on the murder of Joshua Spoon- CT said: From the long prenedita- ton of this murder, the number of persons concerned and the methods m9de use of to accomplish their de- signs, it is supposed to be the most extraordinary crime ever perpentrated in New England"
 The murder of Joshua Spooner oc- cured on the evening of March ,, ITS at Brookfield, Mass, and was, for a considera bIe period, surrounded by un usual mystery. AIr Spooner had been calling on one of his neighbors and left for home about 9 clock. When near his own door he Was assaulted and knocked down, and after being beaten until he was insensible, he was thrown into his own well.
 Most active measures were at once taken to discover the perpetrator or perpetrators of the crime. It was known to some of the neighbors that two men, who were formerly British soldiers, and were supposed to have deserted from Burgoyne's army, then nt Cambridge, had been at MT. Spoon- CTS house on several occasions short ly before his death, and he had eX- pressed a suspicion that their inten- tions were not entirely honest. One of these men in state of in toxication, having exhibited at WOr- cester some of Spooner's wearing ap- parel, they were both arrested, to- gether with Ezra Ross young man of IS, who had served in the American army. From the statement of these men and the circumstances of the mur- der there was a natural presumption | that the family of MT. Spooner could not be so ignorant of the manner of his death, as they pretended to be, and Mrs. Bethsheba SpoOner was arrested. The matter at once assumed much i importance from the character and ! standing of the parties implicated. ldrs. i Spooner being the daughter of a dis
 tinguished lawyer. who had held some of the most honorable and important offices in the province. That the daugh- ! ter of such a mall-and his favorite 1 child-should be arrested on a charge
 of wiIful murder increased the excite , ment already very great and gave rise ! to exaggerated and foolish reports. 1 The murdered man was a retired 1 trader and the Spooners had been mar ried for F years. The couple lived un- happily together, and Mrs. Spooner is
 said to have nursed young Ross i through a serious illness and became deeply attached to him. Later at the ] trial it was brough out that the sub ject of murder was frequently dis cussed and various projects to accom- pish it were suggested
 Finally Mrs. Spooner ordered a ser
 want to call in any of the British sol diers passing, and about a month be- fore the murder, and while Spooner and Ross were both absent, the two men named above became residents
 o the family for two weeks. There
 can be no doubt that Mrs. Spooner
 made a direct proposal to these entire
 strangers to murder her husband
 which they agreed to do on the first
 favorable opportunity. When SpooneI
 returned he expressed dissatisfaction at the presence of these men, and he 1 ordered them away. They remained
 concealed in the neighborhood, and or
 the night of the murder Ross came
 to the house, either by accident or de- sign, although l2e had never before seen Buchanan and Brooks.
 At the following term of the Su. perior Court of Judicature, held ir
 Worcester on the Fist of April 1778 ! the Grand Jury found a true bil } against all four of those named ant } the trial took place at the same tern
 of the court.
 The judges who presided were Chic 1 Justice William Cushing and Jedediaf :, Foster, Nathaniel Peaslee Sergeant David SewaH and James Sullivan, as
 sociate justices. The eminent Rober
 Treat Paine was the attorney for tn,
 State and the equally eminent Lev Lincoln was the counsel assigned t . the prisoners.
 ] The three men were charged witt
 having committed the murder, al
 though Brooks struck the fatal blow 1 while Mrs. Spooner was charged witt a having invited, moved, abetted coun seied and procured" the murder to b eoTnnitte.
 All of the prisoners pleaded not gull . ty. The trial began on April 24 an,
 6 large number of witnesses were. call 5 ed on behalf of the prosecution. N, testimony appears to have been offere, s in behalf of the prisoners. Hard a l Attorney Lincoln tried to acquit hi : charges, t was impossible, and renaar
 hable as was his speech it did no
 serve to raise any real doubt as t the guilt of all the prisoners, and i = required little effort on the part 0 '. Mir. Paine to e5.pose the fallacy of hi ]. | teefniele points.
 The jury returned a verdict of gull - ty ef murder and sentence Of deat