Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1924-10-13
In Midnight Fight
(Continued from Pace one)

George w. Plummer. ST. and caretaker
on the Lawrence, estate near the pond
in which the body was discovered, and
the younger son. Lawrence. identified
iron and wire used in weighing down
the body as having come from the es-
tate. IS
The father further said that only q
person familiar with the woods in this
vicinity and the grounds would have
found his way about in the night to
carry out the work of collecting the
iron. weighing the body and getting 1t
into the pond.
1t was only Saturday. after the body
had been buried five days and exhumed,
; that positive identification was estab-
iished by Mrs. Risteen. a sister Of Ris-
teen and others. Mrs. Risteen famed
when she viewed the body. Mrs. Ris-
teen after three-auarters of an hour Of
grilling told her story. Plummer in
turn told his.
Plummer said that he and Risteen
had set out together on Saturday
night. Sept. 20. in search of a poker
| game. Failing to gain admittance at
| one house, they went to the Essex
street woods, where Plummer had
heard that game was in progress.
Both had been drinking. and they
| carried bottle Of beer with them, he
said.
! Unable to locate the game they be-
| Sn to QUARREL when Risteen alleged
| that Piummer was friendly with Mrs,
Risteen. Flummer told the authori-
ties. Then. according 20 the accused
man. Risteen threatened to give him
/ a beating. 1t was In the ensuing
! struggle. he said. that Risteen was
! rendered unconscious. Plummer said
that he did not srike him on the
! head.
! Frightened at what had happened
he said. his first thoughts were of the
police. but fearing the result of tell
/ ing his story. went TO the Risteen
Rome. He was drunk, he said. and
I fell down more than forty times on
the way through the woods
| In her story of the night. Mrs. Ris-
teen said he wanted the automobile
telling her that if she would accom-
! rany him, he would tell her the rea
| son.
! After they had driven some dis
tance and had walked through the
woods. Plumnaer stopped at a c!ump
of bushes and told her that he had
J murdered" her husband. Mrs. Ris-
/ teen told the police. but said that 1,
! had been in fair fight.
! Then. Mrs. Risteen said. she saw
! Flummer reach down and drag a
| body from the bushes.
| Frightened. she did not look at the
body. she said. and followed Plum
mer nearly mile to a shed on the
! Lawrence estate where they obtained
, wire and iron. Plummer carried the
! body to the edge of the pond, she
said. and placed it and the weights in
; n boat. Both entered the boat and
Plummer rowed to the middle of the
pond where the body was tied and
! then dropped overheard. Mrs. Bis
teen said. She saw little of what oc =
| CURED. however. she said, owing to
her fright.
| Upon their return to the Risteen
home at o'clock Sunday morning,
Plummer told her, Mrs. Risteen said
to keep her mouth shut" or she
would be in the same place "as her
! husband"
She retracted an earlier statement
! that she did not recognize clothes
shown her and said that she recog-
nized the clothes as her husbands
and the body as that Of Risteen.
| Plummer declared Mrs. Risteen in =
nocent of any crime. asserted that
! what had occurred was not pre- med
| itated but denied that he had ever
| threatened Mrs. Risteen. The case
! comes up in district court at Salem
! Tuesday.