SHOCKING TRAGEDY!

The Cortland Democrat, Friday, July 27, 1888.

SHOCKING TRAGEDY!

BEN DUTTON ATTEMPTS TO KILL J. H. LAMONT, MISS IDA ROTE AND HER BROTHER, NEAR DRYDEN ON TUESDAY.

Full Particulars of the Tragedy—The Would-be-Murderer Commits Suicide.

   In driving from this village to Dryden by the old stage route through South Cortland, persons who are not familiar with the route, are liable to become puzzled as to the direct road when they reach the forks near the Misses Hutchings' farm scarcely six miles from Cortland. The right hand fork leads over the hill to Dryden and the left hand to Geetown, so named because the Gees first settled there. The centre of this road is supposed to be the town line between Virgil and Dryden. Driving down the road about 1 1/4 miles you pass the Geetown school house and ten rods farther on is a road that leads to the right and due west. Turn here and from 80 to 100 rods from this corner and on top of a slight elevation, stands the fine farm buildings of John D. Lamont, Esq., a prosperous farmer and good citizen. The buildings are located on the southeast corner and the farm lays northwest from there and reaches nearly to the stage road to Dryden.

   Ben Dutton, aged about 35 years, has been employed by Lamont as a farm hand the best part of the time for ten years past. In March last he left and went to work on a farm near Etna. Miss Ida Rote, a comely looking young woman of 25 years, has also been employed in the family for several years. Dutton, who had been married and was divorced, became enamored of the girl and desired to marry her. She had counseled with Mr. Lamont and her brother, who was also employed on the premises, in regard to the matter and they had advised her not to encourage him in his attentions, as he possessed an ungovernable temper and would be apt to make her unhappy.

   Dutton knew that the young woman had been so advised. Last Sunday he appeared in the neighborhood and during the day was riding with her, and from subsequent events it is supposed that he had again pressed his suit and had again met with a rebuff. Dutton felt ugly towards Lamont and young Rote for the advice they had given the girl and the two men knew that he was incensed at them.

   Last Tuesday afternoon at about 6:30 o'clock, Mr. Lamont and young Rote started for the meadow, about a half mile distant, for a load of hay, leaving Mrs. Lamont and Miss Rote in the basement of the barn to finish the milking. On the north side of the hay field is a large piece of woods, and as they drove near the woods, Dutton came out of the timber and walked rapidly towards them, evidently with the design of intercepting them. As he came near, Lamont said, "Hello! Ben, have you finished haying? You must have done so to be out such a day as this." "Not by a d—d  sight," replied Dutton, and walking around in front of the horses, he came up to the wagon and leveling a revolver full at Lamont's face discharged the same, the ball striking the end of the latter's nose and penetrating the upper lip, striking the root of one of his upper teeth.

   The horses were frightened, and started on a run towards the barn and just before Dutton fired the second shot, his victim threw a hay fork at him missing the mark, as did Dutton's second bullet. Rote jumped off the opposite side of the wagon when the firing commenced, and Dutton then fired two shots at him without effect. Seeing that Lamont was liable to get away from him, he gave chase and attempted to catch on the rear end of the hay rack but the team ran too fast for him.

   As the team ran into the barn, Lamont jumped off and calling to his wife to come to the house immediately, he ran for his shot gun, which was in a building just back of the house, which he commenced to load at once. Mrs. Lamont came to the house at once and went to call Mr. Scofield's people, who lived just across the way. Miss Rote remained in the stable to finish milking a cow.

   While loading his gun Lamont heard a woman scream, but supposed that it was his wife who was greatly frightened. There is a high, tight board fence that separates the door yard from the barn yard, across which one has to pass to reach the milking stable. Before Lamont had finished loading the gun, Miss Rote came running through the barn yard gate, covered with blood, and Dutton was seen running like a deer up the lane toward the woods. Lamont at once assisted the young woman into the house, and neighbors were sent for Dr. J. J. Montgomery, at Dryden, some 2 1/2 miles away.

   When Dutton chased Lamont to the barn and the latter escaped to the house, he rightly judged that the women folks were in the stable milking, and he went around the end of the barn and entered the stable where Miss Rote was milking. Seeing him enter she accosted him with the question, "Why Ben, what are you here for," to which he responded, "D——n you, I'll show you" and he immediately struck her three blows in the back of the head, whether with his fist or with some weapon, she is unable to say.

   She ran into the yard, but he overtook her and catching her by the arm whirled her around facing him, and fired three shots at her, when he started on a run around the barn and up the lane.

   One bullet struck her on the right side of the nose and is still lodged under her eye. Another struck her on the wrist and was found lodged in the flesh near the elbow and was extracted. The other ball struck her collar bone and was taken out two or three inches from where it entered.

   Although her injuries are quite serious and necessarily painful, the physician thinks she will fully recover. Mr. Lamont has a painful reminder of his engagement, but after the ball, which was badly smashed, had been extracted and the wound dressed, he was looking after his business as usual and assisted yesterday morning in the search for the would-be-murderer.

   Miss Emma Lamont, an adopted daughter was raking hay in the same field where the melee occurred and she made haste to tie the horse to a tree, and after Dutton chased Lamont to the barn, she and young Rote went to the barn by another and less dangerous route.

   Not long after the shooting in the barn yard Mr. Scofield went to the lot after the horse that was hitched to the rake and while there heard several shots fired in the woods.

   Officers in this place and Ithaca had been notified by telephone to be on the lookout for Dutton. 
   Wednesday morning early, the neighbors en masse started out in search of the culprit. They first searched the woods on Lamont's farm. Near the northwest corner of the farm and in the edge of the woods is a watering trough for cattle. At about 8 o'clock A. M., the hunters, found bits of paper recently torn up near this trough and they were not long in discovering the lower limbs of a man protruding from a thicket of underbrush nearby.

   It proved to be the dead body of Dutton. Near him was a package labeled strychnine bought of Weavers Bros., of Dryden, Tuesday afternoon. He had evidently swallowed the strychnine with water from the trough and crawled up in the bushes. Four bullet wounds were found in his left side. The revolver, a twenty two calibre with seven chambers was in his left hand and six of the chambers were loaded.

   It will be remembered that he had fired two shots at Lamont, two at Rote, and three at least at the latter's sister. Rote says that when Dutton failed to catch up with Lamont he stopped and filled the chambers of his revolver before going to the barn. It is believed that after taking the strychnine he crawled into the bushes and discharged the three shots that were left in the revolver into his side, and that be thereafter deliberately filled the seven chambers and fired another shot into his side which reached a vital part. A more determined and deliberate attempt at self destruction the annals of crime does not furnish.

   Dutton purchased the revolver of Dr. Jennings, whose wife is a niece of Mrs. Lamont, at Dryden, Tuesday afternoon. He complained that it was too small and wanted a "32 or 38 calibre," but it was the largest that Dr. Jennings had in the store. At two or three other places in Dryden he could have obtained the larger sizes and it is very fortunate for all his victims that he made the purchase where he did. The ball of the 22 calibre is not much larger than an ordinary sized field pea and the charge of powder that propels it is about the same size. The ball of a 32 or 38 calibre revolver is much larger and striking a person in the face, as Mr. Lamont and Miss Rote were struck, would undoubtedly have produced instant death.

   Coroner Beach of Etna, directed an undertaker from Dryden to take charge of Dutton's body and it was removed to that village where the Coroner was to hold an inquest at ten o'clock on Thursday. Possibly no inquest will be held, however, as the Coroner was of the opinion that it was not necessary.

   Mr. Lamont is a man about 60 years of age, 5 feet 11 inches high, and weighs about 185 pounds. If he had had anything to defend himself with, the result might have been different.

   Dutton had evidently premeditated the job. He intended to kill Mr. Lamont, Miss Rote and her brother, at least, and after committing this wholesale slaughter he intended to kill himself. The fact that he succeeded in fully carrying out the latter part of his programme will be satisfactory to everybody, but the fact that he nearly succeeded in carrying out the first part is anything but gratifying. His victims are to be congratulated that they come off [sic] as well as they did.