Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Old Case of Murder by Arsenic (Part Two)


 
 
Syracuse Daily Courier, October 2, 1879.

     Another scene was enacted In the Chittenango mystery yesterday. At one o'clock
in the afternoon Frances Shrouder was brought into the Justice's court by Constable George Merwin.  A few minutes later George Shrouder appeared In custody of Constable George Marshall. Ex-Senator Charles Kellogg acted as counsel for the prosecution and D. D. Walruth for the defense.

     Frances was greatly agitated and when the charges were read to her she
nearly broke down. In reply to Justice Bettinger’s question as to whether she pleaded guilty or not guilty, she said in a tremulous voice, "Not guilty. I am as innocent as you are."

    Her counsel in her behalf waived examination.

    Shrouder presented a most abject picture of misery and despair. In a firm voice he entered a  plea of not guilty, and, like Frances, waived examination. Justice Bettinger committed the two to Morrisvllle jail to await the action of the grand Jury.

     Constable Marshall drove a democrat wagon up in front of the court room at two
o'clock, and Shrouder, with a pair of handcuffs encircling his wrists, was seated on the front seat. Frances was assisted to a place in the rear end of the wagon. Part of the seat was already occupied by a young fellow named Stevens, who had been previously sentenced to jail for the period of thirty days for assault and battery.

     Frances was the possessor of a small yellow dog, and she asked to take that with her. She said she "should be lonely without it." She was finally induced to leave it, and gave it in charge of her mother-in-law. Before she left she kissed the animal and with tears In her eyes bade it good-bye. A large crowd assembled to see the prisoners off, and several of the more youthful portion of the population followed the vehicle to the outskirts of the town.

     Before she was arraigned Frances said to Justice Bettinger, "It is an awful thing, but I can prove that I am innocent." She brought a box of silverware from the house, and sent it to the First National Bank for safe keeping. The authorities asked her to sign a certificate in regard to the valuables. This she refused to do, and her attorney took the silverware and deposited it in a safe In his office.

     Mrs.Hines, Shrouder's mother, said, "George was a good boy, and never gave her any trouble." She presented the prisoner with a half a pound of chewing tobacco to exercise his dental organs upon while in jail.

     Frances retired Tuesday night at half past nine o'clock, in charge of Mrs. Daybash, the wife of Mr. Barnard's brother. Constable Merwin, who was in charge of Frances’ appearance, remained in the house. Frances arose at seven o’clock the next
morning, and when asked  by Merwin how she felt said, " Not very well. I did not sleep much last night." She drank a cup of  tea but ate scarcely anything. To all with whom she talked she protested her innocence.

      After the funeral Sunday evening, Frances, without any apparent cause, fainted. It Is
stated, however, that when someone threw water in her face she opened her eyes rather suddenly and expressed a little indignation at the means the person took to resuscitate her.

     "Fainting is characteristic of her," remarked a person yesterday afternoon to a Courier reporter. "Yes," added another, "she can faint whenever she wants to." From the statements the reporter concluded that Frances had reduced fainting to a science.

     George Merwin, the officer who was detailed to guard Frances, was asked If she had made a confession to him, "No," he hesitatingly replied.

     Did she make any admissions?"

     "Well," responded Mr. Merwin, "I got hold of some things that the prosecution requested me to keep.”

     No amount of pumping would induce him to divulge anything, he was with her constantly after her arrest, and it is not Improbable that he obtained some important point.

     Ex-Senator Kellogg who appeared for the county at the examination, when questioned as to new developments evaded a direct answer. Chauncey Cowden, the man who was employed by Mrs. Barnard to drive the team was found sitting on the steps of one of the village stores yesterday afternoon by the reporter. He is a large, frank, intelligent looking man and answered all questions rapidly.

     "Did you notice anything suspicious about Mrs. Barnard's sickness and death?"

     "He said that when Mrs. Barnard was taken sick she complained of violent pains in the stomach and could eat nothing,"

     "Did you ever hear Frances threaten the old woman?"

     "Until within a few days before Mrs. Barnard's death Frances had not spoken to me in a long time. She told her mother a short time ago that when she spoke to me I would know it. I said I did not care to have her [talk]. A week ago Monday, Frances came out into the garden where I was hitching up the team, and said, 'It won't be a great while before things will change here and we will have the horses when we want them!’ Last Wednesday she remarked, 'We'll have the house to ourselves pretty soon.’”

     "What occasioned this remark?"

     "She had dinner on a server which she was taking up stairs for herself and George.
The hall door was not open and she had to return to the kitchen and put the victuals on the table and go back and open the door. It was then that she said we'll soon have the house to ourselves."

     A week ago last Sunday morning George went to the barn while Cowden was down street, and when the latter returned he found Shrouder with one of the horses hitched up; Shrouder said he was going somewhere; Cowden said the horse had worked hard all the week and he could just as well walk; Shrouder insisted on taking the horse and Cowden compelled him to put it back in the barn. Shrouder went off swearing and threatening.

     Cowden continued: "Last Monday morning he told me he wanted me to leave the barn unlocked. I said, all right, and shut the door and locked it. Those were the last words he
spoke to me. I have not seen him since. Frances slapped her mother's mouth some time ago on account of something about the team, George never struck the old lady, but jawed her when things did not go to suit him. Frances used to come home when she was stopping at her mother-in-law's, and jaw her mother. One day I asked Mrs. Barnard why she did not come when I was there, and call her a liar and a damned old fool.”

     "Did Frances swear at her mother?"

     "Swear, why, she'd swear at her and at me. While I was attending to the laying out of Mrs. Barnard, George and Frances went out into the kitchen, and when I went she had one hand on his shoulder and he one on hers, and they were talking very earnestly. I went down street afterward and when I came back she and George were watering the flowers and laughing and giggling. They stopped when I went in."

     The house where Mrs. Barnard died is locked and will remain closed until some disposition is made of the property, which is controlled by Dr. Billington, who is the administrator of old man Barnard's estate. Public opinion has not changed. People think that if Shrouder and his wife are guilty, they will make a confession. An indictment will probably be found against them by the grand jury, which will sit on Monday.

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