The Sun. — 1851-06-25 (London, England)

HORRIBLE TRAGEDY IN AMERICA. (From the Boston Courier, June 9.) One of the most distressing events that has occurred in this neighbourhood for many years, took place at Roxbury, on Saturday evening. A man named Ephraim L. Daggett, of Hope, Me., had been noticed, as if labouring under some religious hallucination, wandering about the city during Friday, and called at several houses. He represented that he was subject to epileptic fits, and pleaded great poverty, and begged food. Among other places, he called at the house of Dr. Train, but the doctor not being at home, Daggett inquired for the residence of the Rev. Mr. Trafton, and being told where he was, he left and proceeded in that direction, though it does not appear that he called upon the clergyman. On Saturday morning, about eleven o'clock, he called at the house of Dr. A. J. Cummings, who resides in Church-place, Ruggles-street, near the Freewill Baptist Church; he said he was hungry, and that he was willing to chop wood, or do any other jobs about the house for his dinner. He was supplied with food, and after dinner loitered about the house until six o'clock, when he was furnished with tea. The doctor went out about seven o'clock on a professional errand, leaving Daggett, who soon after complained of pain in his heart. He asked leave to sit at the kitchen fire for the purpose of warming his feet, and permission was granted. He subsequently entered the dining-room, still complaining of pain, took a seat, untied his neck handkerchief, opened his shirt bosom, and said he wanted to see Dr. Cummings. His strange manner alarmed Mrs. Cummings, and she asked a Miss Crosby, who was present, to go and call in some of the neighbours. Miss Crosby, who was holding in her lap Dr. Cumming's daughter, a child about four years old, set the little girl down for the purpose of complying with the request. The moment she didso Daggett rose, and after muttering in a low tone for a moment, exclaimed, " It is no use—she must go." He seized the child by the hair of her head, pulled her across his knee, and cut her head almost off with a raz e. which he drew from his pocket. The appalled mother attempted to rescue her sweet innocent from the grasp of the slaughterer, but she was attacked, and sustained a wound in the hand. She finally succeeded in rescuing Cie lifeless body of her child, and with it ran into the street, the infant's head dangling over her shoulder, Daggett still in pursuit, attempting to strike her neck with the raised razor. The appearance of the affrighted mother, as she ran frantic through the streets for help—holding in her arms her almost headless child, bleeding from every severed vein—was a sight too awful to be described. The neighbours soon heard her outcries, and upon their approach Daggett, who had followed Mrs. Cummings some distance, receded to the piazza of the doctor's house, and there cut his throat in such a manner as to produce death in less than ten minutes. The scene of blood was terrible to behold—the sitting-room and hall of the house, the piazza outside, and the street adlipd away,iaceent,we T were stahineedwi with it—but those blemishes can be v neighbours, who were appalled with, what they saw, will forget the sight; but the recollections of this awful tragedy will never pass away from the memory of the moths. Dr. Cummings returned in the midst of the confusion. He found Daggett in his parlour, with his throat cut from ear to ear, and still breathing. He attempted to dress the wound, but death rendered the task unsuccessful. All this time the doctor was unconscious that it was the body of his only child whom he had caressed half an hour before, that lay bleeding upon the table. Daggett is supposed to have been insane. His strange manner the day previous to the murder and suicide would seem to warrant that supposition. He carried in his pocket a small Bible, and several times during the afternoon, and just before the slaughter, he took it out and pretended to read from it. The razor with which he committed the deed he took from a shelf in Dr. Cummings' kitchen, unnoticed. Dr. Cummings allowed Daggett to remain about the house during the afternoon, in the hope that in the mean time he would be able to see some of the city authorities, and obtain for him a permit to the poor •house. He did not regard him as a dangerous person, and though he seemed demented, there was nothing in his manner to excite fear.