Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1924-05-28
ATROCIOUS MURDER
AMHERST SCHOOL TEACHER
VICTIM OF \ DEGENERATE.
Louise Il. Gerrish of Winter Harbor
Shot Down by Fifteen-Year-Old
School Boy.

murder at Amherst, which at first
appeared one of the most cold
blooded crimes in the annals of the
State, and with the details unfolded
later by the self-confessed murderer
| the horror of it is magnified.
Louise b. Gerrish of Winter Har-
/ Dor, nineteen-year-o school teacher
at Amherst, was shot down in day
| ght on an unfrequented road near
! her boarding place, by Roland A.
/ Mcdonald, aged fifteen, one of her
pupils The shot was fired from am
bush, from a shotgun loaded with
buckshot Nine buckshot entered the
/ victims body, two of them piercing
( her heart and the others being
grouped in a circle of about eight
/ inches. Death must have been in
] Simultaneous.
The confession of the murderer,
who. with brother two years young
er was under suspicion from the first
discovery of the crime, came Mon
day afternoon, under a severe grill
ing by the county officials and two de.
tectiyes sent by Attorney General
Shaw to assist the local officers.
Miss Gerrish, who is a daughter of
Woodbury. Gerrish of Winter Harbor,
was graduated from the high school
in her home town last June and
went to Amherst last fall for a years
teaching experience, planning to en-
ter Castine normal in the fall. She
was attractive in person and in
personality, and popular with all. At
Amherst she taught the Pershing
school, about a mile west of the viii
lage center on the Bangor road. She
boarded with Mrs. George Williams
on the so-called Hussey road, short
and but little travelled road leading
south from the highway to the
Williams or former Hussey farm
Last Wednesday evening about
o'clock, as was her custom, she left
The house to walk to the postoffice in
the village, and to meet former
schOolmate Miss Frances Smallidge
of Winter Harbor When she did not
return before dark, Mrs. Williams
supposed she had decided to remain
with Miss Smallidge over night as
she sometimes did. The fact that
she was missing, therefore, was not
known until near noon Thursday,
when children from the school came
to the Williams farm and reported
that the teacher had not appeared.
Then it was learned that she had
not reached the postofrice the night
before, and search led by eX-Sheriff
Forrest 0. Silsby and Deputy Sheriff
Edwin Silsby was Immediately
started. Within a very short time,
they came upon a well-defined trail
leading from the Hussey road, about
forty rods from the Bangor road, and
into a pasture, where the body OF
the girl was located in a shallow
grave.
Without uncOvering the body, .eX-
Sheriff Silsby telephoned to Sheriff
Wescott and within an hour the
sheriff County Attorney Whiting
and Medical Examiner Knowlton
were at the grave and disinterred the
body. The body was brought to
Ellsworth, where autopsy was per-
formed at II. C. Austin & Cos
morgue Friday. The body was taken
to the home of the parents at Winter
Harbor Saturday.
The officials then turned attention
to locating the murderer. Theories of
accident Of murder by tramps or
yeggs travelling in an automobile,
were quickly disposed of, and the Of
iicers worked from the first in the be-
lief that the murderer was someone
living in the neighborhood The Nc
Donald boys We're at once under
suspicion, and the county officials had
woven a net about them when the
State detectives came into the case
Monday, and the confession of Ro-
land Mcdonald followed.
After making his confession, the
boy went to the scene of the murde"
with the officials, and described and
enacted for them, without any APP
parent emotion, Just how the crime
was committed. He showed where
he stood when he fired the fatal shot,
told how he had dragged the body
over fence and left it under a low
growing scrub pine only few feet
from the road He told how, the
next day, he went to the spot,
dragged the body farther into the
pasture, and buried it. This was
but two or three hours before the
grave was found. After burying the
body, he mingled with the searchers,
and was with them when they found
the grave.
The only apparent motive for the
crime was robbery or bestial assault.
The rings worn by the girl, and a
purse containing a few dollars, were
stolen.
The details as told by the boy
are too horrible for print. And all
this was told without the least show
of feeling by a boy no different in
general appearance from hundreds
of other boys of average intelligence,
but moral pervert and degenerate.
The boy was brought to Ellsworth
Monday night and lodged in the
county Jail. Yesterday his confes
sion was repeated before a
stenographer. and will be formally
written out.
In the afternoon he was arraigned
before Judge Crabtree in the Ellis