The Franklin County Publication Archive Index is constantly updated. By creating an account you can elect to receive notices when new articles are added and when people comment on the articles.
To search for a particular subject term, click on the highlighted link containing that term at the bottom of the article. For example, if you are seeking more articles about animals, click on the highlighted link which says Animals/Reptiles/Amphibians.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, September 20, 1875
News of the week
Mrs. Jones of North Somerville found the other day, a loving letter to Mr. Jones from a New York woman, and the next day discovered another; whereupon she broke a chair and two pitchers over her husband's head and tried to shoot him with a pistol. He succeeded in disarming her, when she took a dose of strychnine, but so large a one as to overdo the business.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, September 20, 1875
News of the week
Moses Hull of Boston and a crowd of other lunatics, profaned the Sabbath and the beautiful Lake Walden at Concord on the 12th by a noisy meeting, advocating free love and Spiritualism, and resolved "that our present system of marriage is slavery, and that, considering that idiocy, insanity, prostitution, adultery, rape, drunkenness and murder are its legitimate fruits, it is the duty of every lover of humanity to protest against it".
Gazette & Courier - Monday, September 13, 1875
A man murdered in Coleraine
A man murdered in Coleraine - He is killed and robbed by two young ruffians - It is now 8 years since Simeon Peck killed Miss Cheney at Griswoldville, and Coleraine is again the scene of a tragedy, which in all its details has never had a parallel in the criminal annals of the County. The victim of this terrible crime is Joseph R. Farnsworth [i.e. Joseph Riley Farnsworth], known among his townsmen as "Riley", a quiet, inoffensive man, who dwelt with his wife and two children on his mother’s farm, on what is known as "Catamount Hill", some 2 miles and a half from Shelburne Falls.
The circumstances of the affair are these: On Tues. last Farnsworth, who served in the late war, went to Greenfield to be examined by a surgeon, as required, before making out an application for pension. He went back to Shelburne Falls on the train, and at the office of H.M. Puffer Esq., had his pension paper made out. When this business was finished, he started for home, getting a chance to ride with Levi Davenport, a neighbor.
They rode together until they came to the fork of two roads which led to the mountain. Farnsworth took the road up the ravine on the easterly side, while Davenport went the other way to his home. It had by this time begun to grow dark, and Farnsworth pushed along alone through a wood and came to a place where the road separates, a path leading up to Jack Woodard’s on the one hand and to his mother’s place on the other.
At this point someone steps suddenly from the cover of bushes by the roadside and, without a word of warning, strikes him a blow upon the forehead with a stick which prostrates him upon the ground. The blow is followed up with others or with kicks, until the man’s head is covered with ghastly wounds. He is then robbed of the few dollars which he had in his pocket book.
Farnsworth was not long wholly unconscious. Within half an hour he must have rallied sufficient strength to get upon his feet, and staggering and frequently falling, he made his way home, some one hundred rods distant, and which he reached by half past 7. He was able to tell his mother and a neighbor present a part of what had happened, and Dr. Canedy of Shelburne Falls was immediately sent for.
He arrived in the evening, but found the man so badly wounded there was little that could be done for him. Farnsworth could not tell who struck him, and becoming unconscious, he lingered until about 10 o’clock Wed. morning, when he died.
The news of the affair had by this time spread over the town, and efforts made to ascertain who were the perpetrators of the crime. Suspicion soon rested upon two young men who live in the vicinity, and who had not been seen since the murder. These were Daniel Dwight, a son of Josiah J. Dwight, and Herbert Davenport, a son of widow Roxana Davenport, and a nephew of the murdered man.
The former is 19 years of age and the latter 18, and both had borne a hard name among the people of the town. Going to the scene of the assault, a heavy print of a shoe was found, where the desperado stood when he gave the murderous blow, and a few feet in front was found the pool of blood which flowed from the wounds of his victim, and a bloody trail was made by Farnsworth as he rested and stumbled home.
Not far from his place a hickory stub was found where the stick, about an inch in diameter, had been cut; and in another direction the stick itself was discovered, which corresponded with the stub, and which had been thrown away after the assault. The stick, which is in the possession of one of the officers, was evidently cut by a left handed person. Dwight is known to be left handed.
It seems that the two boys had been to Farnsworth’s house the afternoon that he was away, borrowed fifty cents from his wife, all the money that she had - they agreeing to pay her back before the time of the county fair, when she wanted to spend it. They also took away a cheap watch which belonged to Farnsworth.
Before going to Greenfield Farnsworth had made known his errand to the neighbors, and the boys probably thought that he was going to bring home his pension money and so made their plans to waylay and rob him. But the money Farnsworth had on his person could not have exceeded 2 or 3 dollars. There had been ill feeling between the boys and Farnsworth before. He had not got along happily with his wife, being frequently jealous, it is thought by some, without cause, and the fellows had taken her part.
They have been heard to threaten him on her account. Dwight, who was married and lived with his wife in a house on his father’s farm, took away with him two suits of clothes, but young Davenport is not known to have carried away only such clothes as he happened to have on, and left behind a little money and a bank book.
Wed. aft. upwards of 50 men were out scouring the woods of Coleraine, Whitingham and Heath, under Officers Henry A. Howard of Coleraine and Deputy Sheriff [?] S. Frost of Shelburne Falls, and the search by some of the party was kept up all night, but was fruitless. Dwight and Davenport are both familiar with the woods for miles around, having hunted and roamed over them together.
It was thought that perhaps the fugitives had gone in the direction of North Adams, and an officer was sent there Thurs. morning, while the general search was partly abandoned. Though the young ruffians may evade their pursuers for a while, it is hardly possible to make a successful escape. Their photographs and descriptions will be sent broadcast. The Selectmen have offered a reward of $500 for their recovery, and mean to bring them to justice.
As there is no coroner in the vicinity, S.D. Bardwell Esq. of Shelburne Falls, as a Justice of the Peace, summoned a jury to view the remains. The jury consists of Hezekiah Smith, C.W. Shattuck, A.A. Smith, Thomas D. Purrington, H.C. Millington and Russell J. Smith. They visited the scene of the murder Wed. aft., and will meet again today, when probably a verdict in accordance with the facts we have related will be rendered.
Farnsworth’s funeral took place Thurs. morning and was largely attended by the people of the town. Rev. Mr. Cole, the Methodist clergyman of Coleraine, conducted the services. Farnsworth leaves a boy of 9 and a girl of 7. His age was about 35, and his mother, with whom he lived, is about 75. The family, though poor and ignorant, were considered of average respectability. The mother of the Davenport boy has always opposed his keeping company with Dwight, who is generally supposed to have been the leader in the matter, but the two were together a great deal, and had become hardened and desperate.
A note received by J.B. Clark, one of the Selectmen of the town on Sat., stated that there was no trace then of the murderers, but that the watch supposed to have been stolen by one of the boys, was found, and was in his possession.
Latest - Intelligence from Shelburne Falls yesterday, states that Dwight was caught about half past 10 Sat. eve. Half a dozen men were laying in wait for him around his house, and he came home at that time and fell into their clutches. The whereabouts of Davenport is not known. Dwight was put into the lock-up at Shelburne Falls yesterday morning.
[A followup to this murder can be found on p. 371 of Google Books "Publications of the American Statistical Association", 1892 - 1893. There is also mention of the sentence on p. 5 of Google Books "Public Documents of Massachusetts", 1876].
Gazette & Courier - Monday, September 6, 1875
News of the week
William Pangburn [also seen as William Pangborn] the man who chopped off his wife’s head in July last, has been sentenced at Bangor Me. to 10 years in State Prison. His extreme old age, 83 years, explains the apparent leniency of the sentence.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, August 30, 1875
News about home: Greenfield items
Officer Kimball was called upon Fri. aft. to take into custody Jim Bowers, living near the Cheapside Bridge, who was drunk and abusing his wife. Jim made some noisy demonstrations when called upon by the officer, but was finally jailed. Justice Davis continued his case on the complaint of drunkenness, and put him under bonds of $100 to keep the peace 6 months.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, August 23, 1875
Foreign
A jealous brute of a husband in Manchester, England, under the pretense of putting his arm round his wife's neck as if to kiss her, poured a quantity of vitriol over the poor creature's face. He then pulled her to the ground, knelt on her, and tried to force some more of the burning liquid down her throat, but not succeeding in this, he threw the rest of the vitriol over her face and neck. Strange to say she survived, though of course she is permanently disfigured, while her wretch of a husband has been sentenced to penal servitude for life.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, August 9, 1875
News of the week
A man named Hurst killed his wife at White Cloud, Kan. last week. They had been married only about 6 months and had separated. On Thurs. aft. he went to the house where his wife was staying, called her out to the fence, put his arms about her, kissed her affectionately and then cut her throat with a large pruning knife. He was arrested, and the officers had great difficulty in preventing the populace from lynching him. He is now in jail at Troy, and pretends to be crazy. http://www.legendsof.../OZ-WhiteCloud2.html
Gazette & Courier - Monday, August 2, 1875
Wife abuse
There was another illustration in the court of general sessions recently of the way a woman will lie to save her husband, no matter how badly he abuses her. Thomas Sprott was placed on trial, charged with trying to kill his wife by throwing her out of a third story window on to a pavement; two of the neighbors testified to seeing him pushing her out, and striking her hands when she laid hold of the window sashes till she had to let go, though fortunately an awning broke her fall; and all this within 4 days after she had given birth to a child, and at the hands of a man who had been arrested for beating her only a few days before her confinement.
Yet, when put on the stand, Mrs. Sprott swore that her husband never threw her out of the window - she must have fallen out in delirium - and was uniformly kind and loving. The jury, however, found him guilty without leaving their seats, and he was sentenced to 10 years at hard labor in State Prison.
[See the New York Times Online index article entitled "A brutal husband punished" in the July 20,1875 issue].
Gazette & Courier - Monday, July 26, 1875
News of the week
A shocking parricide occurred in thirty Fourth Street, New York, Sun. James Bailey, a wealthy gentleman, was shot dead by his eldest son, who refused to allow his father to see a letter, which the latter demanded. At the inquest Wed., Bailey was excused from all blame by the Coroner’s Jury. It seems from the evidence elicited at the inquest that when the son shot the father, the latter was in the act of trying to throw his (the father’s) wife out of the window. The son remonstrated, when the father turned on him and would have injured him had not the latter fired the pistol in self defense. When the verdict of the jury was announced, the mother, who was present, fainted and was carried from the room. The scene was very affecting.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, July 19, 1875
News of the week
A most inhuman murder, committed in Wake County, N.C. in March last, has just come to light. Scott Partin [actually Albert Winfield "Scott" Partin, Jr.], a white man, cut his wife’s throat, then cut her head off, unjointed her at every joint, then cut the flesh off her bones, and attempted to burn her body up, but did not succeed. Then he murdered his little boy, a child 8 months old, in the same manner, and buried the two bodies in a marsh, where they were found last week by neighbors. Partin was in Raleigh last Sat., but has not been arrested. Circumstances show that Partin’s father and one of his brothers were accessories to the murder. Great excitement prevails in the community, and if caught, Partin’s demise will be quick. No motive for the murder is known, except that Partin was tired of his wife and child.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, July 5, 1875
Horrible case of wife murder at Boston
Richard F. Lyman, a printer, 29 years old, living on Nashua Street, Boston, stabbed his wife in the abdomen during a drunken quarrel Sun. night, causing injuries from which she died soon after. Several of the stabs were so long and deep that her intestines protruded from the wounds, and when found she was actually holding them in her hands. Lyman fought like a tiger before he would permit himself to be arrested, and during the struggle, either accidentally or on purpose, gave his wife who lay upon the floor weltering in blood, a kick which was of itself sufficient to cause death.
Before her death Mrs. Lyman said that her husband probably struck her with a razor, as he had "had one in his hand" a short time before. But whatever the weapon was it had been carefully concealed, a thorough search of the premises failing to reveal any razor or knife with blood upon it. Mrs. Lyman was 25 years old and leaves two children, one of whom was adopted.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, July 5, 1875
News of the week
A brutal affair occurred at Washington Sat. eve., John Cherry quarreled with his wife, and threw a lighted coal oil lamp at her head. It made an ugly wound, fracturing her skull, and to add to the horror, exploded, covering her person with the burning oil. The flames were speedily extinguished by neighbors who had been attracted by her cries, but not till her head and the upper part of her body had been terribly burned. There is little hope of her recovery. The husband is under arrest.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, June 7, 1875
News about home: Greenfield items
Among the offenders of the law last week was Daniel Harrigan, who assaulted David Kerrigan, and upon whom Justice Davis imposed a fine of $2 and costs. Patrick Manning of Conway, for the pleasure of beating his wife Mary and daughter Bridget, ad to pay for each offense $5 and costs, and was put under $100 bonds not to do so again for a year. Dennis Galvin, porter of the American House, for assault on Fred W. Ward, porter of the Mansion House, during a little contest over a passenger at the depot, was fined $2 and costs.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, June 7, 1875
Romance in real life
Story of a shoe salesman named John Mowatt, who had a store on Maiden Lane in New York in 1796. In that store also worked his foreman, John Peluse. One day a corpse was found in the dock at the foot of the street. Mowatt and Peluse were called by the coroner to witness the drowned man. Peluse turned pale at sight of the corpse, ran away, and was not seen since. A month or so later, a lady in mourning came into the store, inquiring for Peluse. Turns out that SHE is John Peluse, who took on the guise of a man, after she had married a drunken man who beat her. She ran away from him and learned the shoe trade. The corpse was that of her abandoned husband. Mr. Mowatt offered her job back, so all ended well.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, May 31, 1875
News of the week
Amos Forbes of Rochester, N.Y., known as "Chicken Forbes", a notorious character, in running from his house to escape arrest for beating his wife Sun. morning, fell dead from the bursting of a blood vessel before he had gone 15 yards. He gave his wife a parting blow as he rushed out of the door.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, May 24, 1875
News of the week
Alonzo Jackson and Albert Smith, with their wives and 2 children each, went sailing on the river at Zanesville, Ohio Sun. aft. The men were drunk and couldn't manage the boat, consequently it was swept over a dam, and the two women, with a Jackson and a Smith child, were drowned.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, May 10, 1875
A negro near Memphis recently tried to murder his wife
A negro near Memphis recently tried to murder his wife. His two little children witnessed the affair, and to screen himself from justice he murdered or procured an accomplice to murder his little ones, 6 and 3 years of age. The villain is at large.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, May 10, 1875
News of the week
Senator Dawes has been retained to defend the Fairchilds of Savoy if they should be indicted by the grand jury in July for the murder of the younger one's wife.
Willis H. Fairfield and John H. Fairfield of Savoy were brought before the North Adams District Court Fri. for the murder of their relative, Mary Jane Fairfield. As the prosecution only expected to hold the defendants for manslaughter, the counsel for the defense consented to waive the preliminary examination, and a record was made that there was probably cause of manslaughter, and the Elder Fairfield was held in $2000 bonds, the younger getting off on $1000 bonds.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, April 5, 1875
A Savoy tragedy
The little village of Savoy and the neighboring town of South Adams have seldom been more stirred by any event than by the circumstances connected with the death of Mrs. Mary Jane Fairchild, which occurred on Mon. It seems that Willis W. Fairchild, the husband of the deceased, left her some time ago, and the Savoy Selectmen hired John H. Fairfield to board her. Sat. the elder Fairfield went for Dr. Bowen, the village physician, saying that Mrs. Fairchild had a fit. The doctor found her lying in the woodshed in a terrible state; she could hardly speak, but managed to tell him to look at her back, which was found to be one mass of bruises.
/ The town authorities were summoned and the matter was speedily noised around the town. After the woman's death on Mon. the case was brought up in town meeting and after a full discussion it was unanimously voted that the matter should be fully investigated before the body could be buried. In accordance with this vote, Coroner Pierson of Pittsfield was summoned and held an inquest Tues. and Wed., going very thoroughly into the details of the disagreeable business. The verdict reached was that "the deceased came to her death from exposure". Ill treatment and injudicious and criminal administration of narcotics at the hands of John H. Fairchild and Willie W. Fairchild".
/ Dr. Bowen testified that in his opinion the immediate cause of death was the fact of her taking the narcotics. He left 9 powders Sun. night, containing each 1/6 of a grain of morphine, to be taken once in 3 hours. Monday morning he found that they had all been given to her in 12 hours. Dr. Bowen received some of the virus in a cut finger while handling the corpse Tues., and his hand commenced swelling, so soon and so fast that he was much alarmed for his own life for many hours, but Wed. morning he considered the danger nearly over.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, March 29, 1875
Inhuman treatment of a child
A case of cruelty to a girl 5 years old by her step-father, John Trent, of Danville, Ill., so atrocious as to be almost incredible, is now under investigation. The child's head was found to be almost bald, its hair having been plucked out by Trent in his rage; its body was covered with black and blue spots caused by blows from the hand of this monster; the bottoms of its feet were almost of solid blisters, caused by being bent back and slapped with a flat board.
/ Its eyes were red and inflamed from tobacco juice having been squirted into them; and the skin on its wrists was torn be being jerked and swung from side to side and around in a circle. Trent would keep the girl dancing up and down for hours at a time for his own amusement, and if the child would cease, he would apply the strap; and this kind of cruelty would continue till the child could dance no longer and would sink down overcome by exhaustion.
/ Frequently during the coldest weather of this winter, she has been locked in a cold room, with scarce enough clothing to cover its nakedness, and forced to remain thus for half a day at a time. The child's mother, who is a feeble, weakly woman in her examination before the justice showed great fear of her husband at times, her whole body being in a tremor.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, March 29, 1875
The Beecher trial
(A few interesting tidbits from the long article) - Direct testimony and cross-examination of Bessie Turner, who re-affirmed her testimony about Tilton's attempt to seduce her. She said: The second visit of Tilton to my room was in 1869, and the first in 1858...My impression is that Mrs. Tilton was absent from home; I was sleeping alone in the second story front bedroom...Tilton came in to bid me good night, and he stroked my hair and remarked how soft it was; he put his hand on my neck. I removed it and he said "Why Bessie darling, how modest you are". He said that people in the best classes of society generally gave such caresses; that even ministers gave them; I told him I did not care what people in the best society did; he talked to me about marriage and affinities, and asked to allow him to love and caress me; I thought this conversation on his part was very strange; I was then about 17 years of age. I was not shocked; I studied over his language, as I did not know what he meant.
/ I was angry when he put his hand on my neck; I had, up to this time, been very much attached to Mrs. Tilton, but do not think I told her then of that occurrence"...She describes a making up between Tilton and his wife after a separation...Mr. Tilton claimed Paul was not his child. He claimed none of them except Florence. He said he had seen Mrs. Tilton and Mr. Beecher time and again having sexual intercourse on the red sofa. He also named two other gentlemen with whom she had improper relations...(Sometimes Mr. Tilton locked Mrs. Tilton in her bedroom)..."I told Mr. Tilton he should treat his wife kindly as she was always crying, and he said she was weeping for her sins with Mr. Beecher".
/ Bessie Turner was on the witness stand several days...On Thursday some of Mrs. Woodhull's colored servants were put upon the stand to prove Tilton's connection with that woman and the conspiracy to blackmail Beecher. James B. Woodley testified: "I have often seen Mr. Tilton and Mrs. Woodhull sitting talking together with their arms around each other; this was very natural I thought. It occurred almost as often as Mr. Tilton was at the house or the office...A colored woman named Lucy Ann Giles was called and testified: "I have lived in Brooklyn 9 years and worked as cook for the family of Victoria Woodhull. I was employed there in 1870 for about a year and a month. I saw Mr. Tilton there on the 3rd of July 1871 for the first time. He was writing and stayed there all night. He did not sleep on the sofa lounge that night...I saw him in Mrs. Woodhull's bedroom 3 or 4 times...When I went in on the 4th of July night, Mrs. Woodhull was in her bed gown and Mr. Tilton had off his coat and vest and was in his stocking feet". (There was also testimony about a plot to embarrass Beecher and Plymouth church to obtain money - $100,000 - to hush up the scandal. This was a conversation between Woodhull, Tilton, a Col. Blood and Miss Claflin).
Gazette & Courier - Monday, March 22, 1875
The Beecher trial
The case was continued Mon. by the examination of 5 witnesses as to Bowen's charges against Beecher, Mrs. Tilton's confession, Tilton's charges against his wife in which he had always maintained that she was a pure woman; Tilton's newspaper enterprises; his threats to blow off the roof of Plymouth church, his friendship for Woodhull and other points.
/ On Tues. several witnesses were examined, showing Moulton had always denied any wrong between Beecher and Mrs. Tilton, and Tilton's connection with Mrs. Woodhull, which was not very creditable to him. The remainder of the week was consumed in hearing witnesses as to Tilton's character and his treatment of his wife. Bessie Turner testified to his cruel treatment of his wife and attempts to violate her (Bessie's) person.
- Mon, Jan 18, 2010
