Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1926-01-26
SUPERIOR COURT
Continued from Pace One,

her vile names and accused her Of had
conduct; that he had, when Sharpening
large claspknife, declared How east
ly l could cut your heart out with this
knife, and by God have a mind to do
IT.! that he. had persisted in his atten-
lions to girl named Marie whom he
had gone so far as to hire for his
housekeeper when Mrs. Cookson was
working in Gardiner to get money to
help pay for their house and furniture,
and that finally he had told her to get
out and stay out"
He had refused her the services of a
doctor when she seriously needed one;
he had pushed her while on a scaffold
when she was assisting to build the
house, and had laughed at her when
she nearly fell from It.
She nearly broke down when she
told of her efforts to assist with the
building of home that they might
settle down and not be moving about
all the time, and declared that INC
woman had worked harder or wanted
a home more than she did" After
working in the toothpick factory all
day she had returned home at night and
had worked until dark upon the house
before getting anything to eat She
| had helped her husband dig the post
holes, fill them in, place the stills and
had even stained the shingles and
| nailed them on. herself. She had made
the first and some subsequent pay
| ments upon the land, upon the furni-
| ture and had made some payments
| upon the lumber with her own meager
wages.
Getting down to the events within
a few weeks of the shooting, she said
that he had asked her to go to work at
the Gardiner shoe factory, which she
had done. Later he said that he need
ed housekeeper If she was to remaii
| away, and she had said that he might
have one If he got an aged women,
| but that Marie Letourneau was not to
have the job. After some talk she
supposed it had been settled, but the
next week when he did not come to
Gardiner as was expected she return
! ed home on the late train. Walking to
the house. although it was stormy
night, she found that she could not use
| her key in the door as one had been
| left In the lock on the inside She
knocked and called but did not gain
admission for half hour. Her hus-
band. after letting her in. hurried up
stairs to a bedroom. but she got there
as quickly. as he did and found that
| the bed there had not been slept in.
There were three beds in the house but
the only one that had been slept in at
That time was the one in which Marie
was sleeping. Her husbands clothes
were in Marie's room.
Turning to the piano to quiet her
nerves as she sometimes did, she had
started to play and her husband had
Kicked the stool from under her and
7 had thrown her about the room,
, knocking the furniture over and up
| setting a kerosene light which had
set fire to the floor. She had called
his attention to this fact and he had
said that he didn't care If the house
| burned down and she with it"
| The next morning he had cursed
her and pushed her so hard that she
was unconscious and lay on the floor
| until found by neighbor. at
Bought Gun For Father
She had written to her parents in
Alberta, Canada, about two weeks
| before the shooting and had planned
| to go back to them. She had bought
| a revolver for her father to use
| shooting Jack rabbits" and this she
| had given to woman named Palmer
| in Gardiner to keep for her. On the
| night of the shooting she had gone to
WaterVllle with this woman and had
taken the gun with her at the request
of the other woman. She had not
loaded 1t at the time.
She had been to her house and was
feeling very badly. She was sick and
weary and started to play upon the
piano. Then later she had seen her
husband at the Berube house and she
had gone over and listened at the
widow. Mrs. Cookson testified that
she heard him say that he would
put something over the door which
would fall on her the next time she
came home, and with her out of the
way he could have Marie" When he
! fit the house he kissed Marie good
night" and called her by endearing
terms, and he had then gone to the
Lyon home, where as she listened
she heard them discussing the same
i plan. At this she had loaded the re-