Year: 1859

has been said to show the great amount of
gold that was displayed on that occasion.


A Fearful Trial and Conviction,


The SeSreme Court at Bangor, Me,
have been enSSgcd for the past few days
in the trial of Marshal S. Potter, for the
murder of his mother, two brothers, and
nephew, on the night of April 9th, 1859,
he having killed them while asleep, and
then set the house on fire, consuming
both building and bodies. The charred
remains of four persons were found in the
ruins, hut they were not identified except
from circumstances under which they were
found The accused made two confessions
in regard to one of which, the Judge in
his charge remarked -


"Then the confession to his brother
1T ~ said that his confessions were forced
iron him by fear of violence. at Musquash
stream. | must say that the cou,oo of
those in charge Of the prisoner tn n, was
highly rcprchensiblc, and it war to be
hoped it would never occur again IN this
State. Confessions should be voluntarily
made, to be received with credit. What
ever was drawn from him there, was through
fcar-and what was said there should be
excluded" Z"


Another rather indefinite confession in
jail was admitted by the Court The Jury,
after an absence of an hour, brought in
verdict of guilty, which the prisoner ap-
| pcarcd to receive with stolid indifference.
The presiding Judge then proceeded to
pass sentence in the following terms -


Z" You stand convicted of the murder of
| your own brother, against whom it docs
not appear that you had or ever supposed
you had the least cause of complaint The
/ almost necessary Inference from the evi-
dencc, connected with the verdict, is that
the charge on which you have been tried
involves part only of your real guilt but
the murder of the mother who bore YOU,
and whom you have pronounced good
| woman and kind parent, and of another
brother and a nephew, and the burning of
the dwelling in the night time, seems to
rest upon you.


BY the laws of the State your life is
forfeited, unless you can hope for mercy
from the executive, of which we dare give
YOU no encouragement, or this law fails in
It's fulhllmcnt, you must look upon death
as being near. But whether it comes un-
der the sentence of the law, or in the ordi-
nary course of nature, you must feel that
an atrocious crime weighs upon your soul !;
andthat the only relief from its conscouen-
ces at the tribunal of Heaven must be in
sincere repentance and faith in the effaca-
cy of tho blood of the Savior and submis-
sion to his will.


=" 1t remains for the Court only to pro-
! nounce against you the sentence of the
! law.


The Court having considered the offence
of which you stand convicted, as punish
ment therefor, do order that you be hanged
by the neck till you are dead And in
this beliof yoa arc further sentenced to
solitary confinement and hard labor in the
State prison, situated in Thomaston, in the
County of Lincoln, TIL the punishment
Just ordered be inflicted upon you And
that you stand committed until removed in
execution of the sentence to confinement
as aforesaid, in the State Prison"


i The'only motive shown for the commits
sion of this terrible crime was to obtain
possession of n small amount of money
which lI1a mother and brothers possessed.
There WIS medical testimony thai the Wet
inns were killed before the house was set
on fire. -'F


BY the laws of the State of Maine, a
person convicted of capital offence must
remain in the State Prison for a year pre-
vious to execution. Under this law which
has been in effect fora dozen years or more
the death penalty has never been carried
ont. There is one other point of interest
IN the case. By the laws of fMass;c chusctts,
the body of the person alleged to be muir
dered must be produced and fully identified
before the charge can be sustained In re.
gard to this the Court remarked -


The first question, gentlemen, is Oil
yer dead? He was seen by IIanscosm, al
his house, ON She evening before the burn
ing. Has he been seen since, alive ? il
is notcontended that his body has been
i, identified, bat il has been shown that Ire
J resided with Alexander, making his resi-
dence with his mother; that he was at
home and it is for you to jddge of the
evidence. 1t also appears that the two
/ brothers slept together; that the house
was on fire and burned on the night ale
ged that four bodies were foand in the
I Tujns; that two of them were lying togeth-
er, and you can judge whether or not Oil
ver and Alexander were there Besides,
there is no evidence that any ono has seen
j Oliver since that time"


| In the Parkmau murder case, the most
remarkable feature was the triumphant
identification of the mutlated remains, for
if this had failed, the accused would have
been acquitted. ~