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Subject: [GM-L] Maria L. Crue Murder 1880 - Verdict, Guilty - Wendell Phillips steps in.....
Date: Wed, 13 Mar 2002 19:19:25 EST


Subject: Maria L. Crue Murder, Groton, 1880
Part 11
Stearns Kendall Abbot testimony continued...

"On the way I came to a house and knocked on the door. A woman came to the
door in answer
to the knock, and directed me to keep down the road. I went to a house where
I thought I
could find a good natured farmer who would invite me to dinner. A woman came
to the door,
and I went in and sat down. I have some pride and some sensibility, and dont
like to be
thought of as a tramp, so I commenced to talk about what the farm was worth,
but I dont
think I made any statement calculated to make her think I intended to
purchase the farm.
I dont recollect all the conversation but the most of it was just to pass
away the time to
sit there and get rested."

"I asked for nothing but a drink of water. If a man had been there, I would
have asked for
a bite to eat. I am a little sensitive about asking ladies. I then kept
over the railroad
to Littleton. I ran and got there just in time to catch the 1 o'clock train.
I got to
Boston at 3:30 o'clock and went up Causeway street to the junction of
Causeway and Merrimac
streets. There I met a man named Barrows, and then went to 33 Norman Street
to see a friend
of mine. Then went to a pawn shop and sold a heavy gold ring for $1. From
there I went to
Miller's restaurant on Court street; then went to a saloon and remained two
hours. Slept at
a chea; lodging house, No. 48 Howard Street. The next day (Sunday) I went to
East Boston to
the Cunard Wharf and also to Long Wharf and other places; in fact, I spent
the whole day
wandering about the wharves, and in the evening went to the same lodging
house on Howard
Street, after attending a meeting. During the evening, under the
circumstances I thought it
was better for me to go back to Ela Brothers to get work. The following
morning I was
awakened by the noise of carts about 4 o'clock. I arose and dressed myself
and went to my
old boarding house at Cambridgeport. Nobody was stirring and I went and sat
on the steps,
until I became chilled."

"I am subject to the fever and ague and felt unwell. I ate a light breakfast
and loafed
around the house all day. I did not want to go back to Ela's and ask them to
take me back.
I had a temptation in the afternoon, but dont like to own it. (At this stage
of the narra-
tive, the prisoner burst into tears, but was finally induced to continue the
story.)

"In the afternoon I went into a young man's room who was better situated than
I am, and
stole a valise full of clothing. I then took the horse car at about 5
o'clock and went
into Boston. I went to the National House and found I could get a boarding
place with
Mrs. Abbott on Shawmut Avenue. I went there and obtained a room. Then went
to work at
wood turning. One evening one of the boarders was reading the Herald at the
supper table
and said: "They have got the Groton murderer." This was the first time I had
ever heard
of the murder."

"I went to a saloon near the corner of Washington and Essex Streets, and
while there three
times started with the intention of giving myself up. Finally I determined I
would go away,
and when the right man was caught I would go and surrender myself upon the
charge of larceny
against me. From there I went to the Boston and Maine depot and took the
7:45 train to
Lowell, from which place I started for Nashua, but on the way fell down and
injured myself.
I slept in a barn one day and a night and then went to East Weare, New
Hampshire, where I
was arrested. I was asked if I was in Groton on the 17th of January, but
replied in answer
to the question: "I am under arrest and shall say nothing." I think I also
said at the
time that the officer took me into custody that the murderer must have had
some motive."
I had a revolver which I bought at a pawnbroker's for 75 cents, but after I
had it three
weeks I sold it to Moses Page, who keeps a shop at the corner of Endicott and
Salem Streets.
I was shaved in Lowell before I went to Nashua the first time. I never knew
a man nor did
I know a woman by the name of Crue. I never saw the pistol whichas been
produced here be-
fore. I had a pistol of the same make and size. I dont remember that I told
Mr. Hopkins
I was shaved in Lowell that Saturday night, and that there were two other
people in the
shop. If I told him anything, I told him I was shaved in Boston. The first
time I ever
saw Mr. Richardson was in Newport, N.H. He was in jail and I was also in
jail as a prisoner.
I was in that jail in 1857 and in the State prison in 1858 on a six year
sentence. I re-
mained in that prison nearly the whole of the six years, and was pardoned out
on the condi-
tion that I would enlist in the Army. I did enlist and got out on a three
days' furlough.
Then went to Claremont, N.H. and did not go back to the army, but went to
Hartford, Conn.,
from which place I was sentenced to five years in the state prison under the
name of Alfred
S. Barton. From there I was discharged October 1868, and in the same month
was sentenced
to the Mass. State Prison for three years, and left there the last of
November, 1879. I was
also in the Massachusetts State Prison prior to 1858, under a sentence of two
years."

In addition to the statements above quoted, Abbott admitted on the stand that
the testimony
of allthe government witnesses was true, save what was testified to by Henry
Hawkins and
Jennie Carr, in the face of the fact that he had previously denied, over and
over again,
ever having been in Groton. When he made his statement, which is given above
very fully,
to his counsel, Mr. George Stevens, he created a very strong impression in
that gentleman's
mind that he was a deeply injured man and that the real murderer had not been
arrested.

Acting upon this belief, Mr. Stevens made every effort to procure the witness
Abbott de-
scribed as having been met by him after the murder and conversed with. Abbot
state, it will
be remembered, with great minuteness that after his arrival in Boston at 3:30
o'clock
Saturday, he met a man named Barrows with whom he conversed, and also that he
afterward sold
a gold ring and with the proceeds purchased refreshments. It will also be
remembered that
he made mention of calling upon a lady friend, Fannie Baker, at No. 33 Norman
Street, and
then spent the night at a cheap lodging house on Howard Street and that the
following day,
(Sunday), he went to East Boston and wandered around the Cunard Wharf and
also several
wharves in the city, conversing with several people different times. Not a
word of this
statement could be corroborated by a single witness, although the Baker woman
was to prove
him innocent by showing that he was at her house on the afternoon of the
murder, was in
attendance and ready to testify, she was not placed on the stand by the
defense, which was,
to say the least, an extraordinary circumstance.

The people who kept the Howard Street lodging house had no recollection of
every having seen
Abbott before, and, taken altogether, the defence was of the weakest possible
character.
At the conclusion of Abbott's statement, several witnesses of undoubted
standing in the
community were introduced by the government in rebuttal of the previous
testimony offered by
the defense, reflecting upon the dead woman's character. The arguments were
then made by
the respective counsel, and although Mr. Stevens did all that any man could
do to save his
client's neck, the masterly summing up of General Marston left not the
slightest doubt in
the minds of his hearers as to the guilt of the accused, even problematical.

The jury retired and in a remarkably short space of time rendered a verdict
of guilty of
murder in the first degree. On the first ballot, the jury stood eleven for
verdict of
murder in the first degree and one for manslaughter. On the 2nd ballot the
jury stood for
a verdict of murder in the first degree and in the usual course of events he
was sentenced
to be hanged on the 22nd of April 1881.
Transcribed by Janice Farnsworth

To be continued, Part 12 - Efforts for Commutation - Wendell Phillips
Champions Abbott's
Cause. <A HREF="http://dav4is.8m.com/Celebrity/PHIL361.html">PHILLIPS,
Wendell [1811-1884]</A> Biography.

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