| SAMUEL M. ANDREWS.
FOR THE MURDER OF
CORN ELIUS HOLMES.
IN KINGSTON, MASS., MAY 26, 1868.
TRUE PLYMOUTH ROCK OFFICE,
W. W. AVERY, PRINTER,
No. 1 Court Street, Plymouth, Mass.
1868. -




SCENE OF THE KINGSTON MURDER .
SKETCHED FOR THE TRUE PLYMOUTH ROCK.
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T H. L. A. L.
OF
SAM’L M. ANDREWS,
FOR THE MURDER OF
CORN ELIUS HOLMES,
IN KINGSTON, MASS., MAY 26, 1868.
TRUE PLYMoUTH ROCK OFFICE:
W. W. AVERY, PRINTER,
No. 1 Court Street, Plymouth, Mass.
1868.


TRUE PLYMOUTH ROCK :
MOSES BATES, EDITOR.
SUPREME JUDICIAL COURT.
PI.Y.MoUTH, DEC. 1, 1868.
PRESENT, CHIEF JUSTICE CHAPMAN.
JUDGES FOSTER, WELLS, AND COLT.
Counsel for the Government :
CHARLES ALLEN, Attorney General.
EDWARD L. PIERCE, District Atty.
For the Prisoner:
G. A. SOMERBY, Boston.
CHARLES G. DAVIS, Plymouth.
The Supreme Judicial Court, commenced with regard to bias,8.c., which being satisfae-
an adjourned term in this town on Tuesday torily answered, the juror was duly sworn.
Dec. 1st, for the trial of Samuel M. An-
drews, for the murder of Cornelieus Holmes
in Kingston on the 26th of May last, in ae-
cordance with an indictment found at the
June term of the Superior Court.
The Court came in at 11 1-4 A. M., and
after the usual proclamation by the Crier,
Hon. Chas. Allen, Attorney General for
the Commonwealth, briefly stated to the
Court the nature of the indictment, and the
Clerk proceeded to call the list of persons
who had been summoned as jurors for the
occasion. After calling the whole list, and
no person desiring to be excused for the
ordinary reasons, the list was then called
separately with the following results:–
Bela Alden, challenged by the prisoner.
Silas B. Alden, sworn to make just and
true answers to the usual interrogatories
Edwin C. Ames, excused, having formed
an opinion.
Samuel D. Bartlett, challenged.
Andrew H. Bates, challenged.
Hira W. Bates, sworn.
Ezekiel Bemis, sworn.
Eleazer C. Bennett, sworn.
Resolve W. Bowles, excused.
Lemuel Bradford, sworn.
George Bradford, challenged.
Herschel E. Briggs, sworn.
Cyrus P. Brown, challenged.
Mark H. Cahoon, excused, having scru-
ples against capital punishment.
Nathan S. Carey, sworn,
Edward S. Carnes, excused.
Nathan Chandler, excused.
Joseph Clapp, sworn.
Thomas Clapp, challenged.
Syl, a.us Clapp, sworn,

4.
Oliver Cobb, challenged.
John Cook, sworn.
John B. Damon, challenged.
Solomon K. Eaton, sworn.
Samuel H. Elder, challenged.
Davis R. Eldridge, challenged.
Willard Ellis, excused, over 65 years old.
Geo. W. Folsom, challenged.
Geo. W. Ford, challenged.
Marshall Fuller, challenged.
Wm. F. Harding, challenged.
Jesse Harlow, sworn.
A full complement being now completed
the jury was empannelled, as follows:–
1. Silas B. Allen, Marion.
. Hira W. Bates, Hanover.
Ezekiel Bemis, Pembroke.
. Eleazer C. Bennett, E. Bridgewater.
Lemuel Bradford, Plymouth.
Herschel E. Briggs, Plympton.
. Nathan S. Cary, North Bridgewater.
Joseph Clapp, South Scituate.
. Sylvanus Clapp, South Scituate.
. John Cook, Halifax.
. Solomon K. Eaton, Mattapoisett,
Foreman.
12. Jesse Harlow, Plymouth.
All other jurors summoned for the term
were then discharged. The indictment was
then read by the Clerk, containing several
counts, each charging the prisoner with hav-
ing committed the crime of murder, and the
announcement was made that the prisoner
had pleaded that he was “not guilty” and
put himself upon his country.
The District Attorney then proceeded to
open the case, the facts of which were fully
stated in our paper of June 6th, and are as
follows:–
RELATIONS OF THE PARTIES.
Mr. Holmes, was the youngest son of the
late Joseph Holmes, of Kingston, and
though very far from being the incompetent
:
and useless individual he has been repre-
sented, he was still in many respects eccen-
tric, or singular, a man of the strongest
prejudices, which often controlled his social
and business relations with the community
in which he was born, and where he lived
and died. For several years Mr. Holmes
resided, or boarded, in the family of Mr.
Andrews, and though himself a member of
the Baptist Church in Kingston, he seemed
to place implicit confidence in Andrews,
partly because Andrews was universally
trusted in the community, being a deacon in
the Orthodox Congregational Church in that
village, a leader in sunday schools, prayer
meetings, sewing circles, &c., as it would
now seem, from the constant efforts of An-
drews to “keep on the right side " of the
man whose bounty he was seeking to re-
ceive. On the death of Mr. Holmes' father,
some four years since, it was ascertained that
by his will he had given the principal amount
of the estate which he intended for Cor-
nelius in trust, and, though the latter had
been generously provided for, from that
time he seems to have consulted Andrews in
regard to his affairs rather than the mem-
bers of his own family. This morbid state
of mind seems rather to have been increased
by the assiduous friendship of Andrews,
and when in 1867, his brother Paraclete
died intestate, leaving one-fifth of his large
estate to be distributed to Cornelius, An-
drews seems to have lost no time in dictating
a will, which under his auspices Holmes pro-
ceeded to execute and place in charge of
Andrews, by the provisions of which one-
half of Mr. Holmes' estate was bequeathed
to Mr. Andrews. Thus fortified, for the fu-
ture, Mr. Andrews had every motive to wish
Mr. Holmes might hurry up the business of
“shuffling off this mortal coil,” and there
was the double incentive to aid in a matter
of that kind, that Mr. Holmes was a man in
perfect physical health, and likely to live
quite too long for Andrews personal conven-
ience; and besides he was of that peculiar
temperament that the slightest offence on the
part of Andrews, might induce him to change

5
his will and cut him off altogether, when all
his ambitious hopes of wealth which would
enable him to dispense his christian gifts
with liberality, would be buried in oblivion.
From the date of that will,—safe. in An-
drews’ hands, his effort to influence his
prospective benefactor seemed to increase
and was a subject of no unfrequent comment.
Mr. Holmes resided in the house provided
for him by his father, half a mile from the
house of Andrews on the road to Plymouth,
—boarding in the family of Capt. E. Leach,
who leases the estate. For many months
Andrews has seemed to impress upon the
mind of the man whose will he held on to
securely; that not only Mr. Holmes' family
but that of Capt. Leach also were his ene-
mies, and so seductively has this influence
been applied, that the silver ware and other
personal property of Holmes has been trans-
ferred from his own house to that of An-
drews, who from the date of such transfer
seems to have considered all such property
as his own. But these small legacies seem
rather to have increased than satisfied his
desire for wealth. Increasing in his Chris.
tian zeal, new honors were showered upon
him by the brethren and sisters of his asso-
ciate church; his house was the place where
meetings must be held to originate or per-
fect new associations of benevolence or
charity, and thus was required expenditures
beyond his legitimate means to keep up with
his increasing popularity, and importance in
the limited circle in which he moved. And
just at this juncture a new necessity is crea-
ted by which wealth in the hands of this
devoted christian may be made to contribute
to the cause which he has espoused.—
The society to which he belongs, have just
commenced to improve, beautify, and adorn
their church, requiring an expenditure be-
yond their immediate ability to pay. How
popular indeed would the Deacon of that
church be, if he only had in his possession
the ten or twelve thousand dollars which
would be his own by the right of will, if only
that “weak-minded Baptist,” would just
stop the physical duty of respiration, for
then he could loan the church, upon easy
terms, the amount of money they required,
and the name of Andrews would be echoed
as a liberal christian, throughout the de-
nomination to which he belonged. Thus
much for the motive, which must have
prompted this terrible, and atrocious act, if
the theory of the prosecution is correct.
THE WRITTEN NOTE.
The note received by Mr. Holmes, on the
evening of his death, has no significance,
except upon a single point. Mr. Holmes
had sent word to Mr. Andrews that he
should go to Boston on Wednesday, (May
27,) and wished to see him before that day,
an occurrence of neither unusual or unnat-
ural significance. To this summons Mr.
Andrews replied by a note dated May 26th,
which he sent by the son of Deacon New-
comb, Mr. Andrews being an employee in
Mr. Thomas Newcomb's factory, inform-
ing Mr. Holmes that it would be inconve-
nient for him to come to his room, but say-
ing, “if you wish to see me for anything in
particular, take a walk up to my house this
evening;-Ishall be in my garden until half
past eight, after that I shall go down to
the Store.” In response to this note Mr.
Holmes left his house before dark on that
evening, passed to the main entrance to the
new cemetery where he entered, and, taking
a footpath on the westerly side he crossed
the cartway leading to the Railroad and
entered Andrews' garden at the rear, or
Northeasterly end, about one hundred and
fifty feet from the line or the cemetery. By
agreement of all parties, Holmes was for a
considerable time in Andrews' garden, where
the two were in conversation, but what
occurred there none but Andrews now
knows. And just here is the hinge upon
which the whole chain of evidence hangs.
Andrews says that Holmes left his garden at

ten minutes past 8 o'clock, and “said he a gravelly hill, and the stones, which the
was going down to the Store,” (at stony day before were lying upon the banks, were
brook, near the Railroad Station,) and that
he, himself, kept on at work in his garden,
until 9 o'clock or after, when he came up to
his house, where, at ten minutes past nine,
he was seen leaning upon his own fence in
front of his house and spoken to by two
ladies. Are these statements true?
First-Mr. Holmes was a very timid man
who never was known to venture out alone
after dark, even upon a public street, and
all his acquaintances agree that if he did
leave Andrews' garden at that hour, to go
to the Depot alone, a new era must have
dawned that evening, for it was contrary to
his whole course of life.
Second,-If he started to go to the De-
pot alone which way did he take to pass
through the cemetery P. His most natural,
and the nearest course was to return by the
way he came, pass out at the main entrance
to the cemetery, and down the public road.
His next, and the only remaining natural
way was to take a footpath near the North-
west corner of Andrews' garden passing
Westerly about two hundred and sixty feet,
where he would intersect the commonly
travelled path which leads from the neigh-
borhood by the High School, and from that
point the path leads over a stile across the
cemetery, striking the Railroad some twenty
rods North of the Station and Store. But
the body was found upon neither of these
footpaths, nor upon any road or way lead-
ing to the Store, but outside of the ceme-
tery, upon the cartway leading from the
house of Mr. Caleb Bates, to his farm below
the Railroad, at a distance of sixty-two feet
below the lower path and stile, in a place so
sheltered by the surrounding pines that had
the people of either neighborhood been pass-
ing to or from the Store, or Railway Sta-
tion that night the body would not have
been discovered. The place where the body
was found,-lying across the cartway,+was
many of them lying about the body, covered
with blood and hair, and the head of the
murdered man was literally driven into the
hard embankment, (where he was found by
Mr. Bates the next morning, when, with his
men, he went to his farm,) by beating in the
back of the skull until the brains were lit-
erally forced out upon the ground, showing
how violent must have been the assault, even
after all physical power had been destroyed.
And here the credibility of Andrews' story
about his being at his work in the garden
from 8-10 to 9 o'clock Tuesday night, is put
to the severest test. It was a cloudy, foggy
night, and must have required a keen vision
to have enabled a man to plant until that
time of night, while it seems incredible that
he was but about two hundred feet from his
house, and but little farther from the prem-
ises of his neighbors on either side, and yet
no one saw or heard him at work there after
the time he fixed when Holmes “started for
the Store.” And if he was there all that
time alone, and a heavy powerful man like
Mr. Holmes was being killed in a manner
indicating such a struggle, for the pools of
blood in four different places show that he
had several times recovered his feet and
been beaten down again with the heavy
stones, at a point less than three hundred
and fifty feet from that garden, in a Norther-
ly direction with a light North Easterly
wind to where Andrews claims that he re-
mained, is it possible that he would not
have heard some sound from the struggling,
dying man? And why did he not go to the
Store, as he expressly informed Holmes he
should do, at 1-2 past 8 o’clock? He had
business at the Store, which Holmes had not,
but yet he stays, and plants as he says, un-
til past 9 o'clock, and Holmes, instead of
returning to his House aſter his business
with Andrews was finished, starts for the
Store, through the woods, contrary to his

7
entire habits of life, and is found murdered such a terrible exigency. Stoically, unfeel-
on a road which does not lead to the Store
at all. All these circumstances tend in one
direction, and seem to render it certain
either that Andrews did not intend to go to
the Store as he declared in his note to
Holmes, or if he did start to go there
Holmes accompanied him, and having dis-
patched his subject he returned to his house
to be about his own premises should any
alarm be given.
THE FENCE RAIL.
At ten minutes past nine that night An-
drews was standing in front of his house by
the street. An examination of the rail which
two witnesses saw him clasping with his
hands, shows the prints of bloody fingers,
indicating that in his haste to be seen about
home, he had not time even to wash the
blood from his hands. The answer to this
is that blood could not have been carried
upon a man's hands without having become
too much congealed to have lelt their im-
prints, but when it is recollected that it need
not have required more than thirty seconds,
for a guilty man to go from the body to this
fence, that, the dampness of the day, and
night, must have made the rail sufficiently
moist to dampen the blood upon the warm
hands,this explanation seems hardly tenable.
THE NEXT MORNING.
The morning after the murder Mr. Sproul,
at the request of Capt. Leach, called on An-
drews to enquire for Holmes who had not
returned the night before. Andrews ex-
pressed no surprise at his absence, but went
to his work at the factory, and in suggest-
ing the absence of Holmes to his employer,
Mr. Newcomb, he remarked: “I do not know
as it is any of my business to look him up.”
Less than an hour afterwards, the news
came to the factory that Mr. Holmes had
been shockingly mangled and dead, and re-
quiring the assistance of Andrews, as his
friend, in the examination, and in confer.
ence in relation to what must be done in
ingly, inhumanly cold, Andrews expressed
no feeling of horror that so shocking a mur-
der had been commited, within twenty rods
of his own premises, but he does not forget
before leaving the factory, to inform Mr.
Newcomb, what up to that time had been
kept a secret, that Mr. Holmes had made
his will, and that he should realize twelve
thousand dollars, by this event; and to
two other individuals in the factory he re-
peated the same information before he went
to the discharge of what to a man with the
slightest show of human feeling, would have
been a sad and solemn duty.
THE CLOTHING.
About 12 1-2 P. M., of that same Wed-
nesday, an hour when the machinery is
not in motion, Mr. Andrews was seen by
three of the girls who work in the factory
coming down the hill about two hundred
feet from the factory with a white bundle
under his arm, and instead of approaching
the factory he crossed the road passing tow-
ards the stream, then running at a rapid
rate, and disappeared from their sight.—
Ten minutes afterwards he was seen in the
rear of the garden of Joseph S. Beal, Esq.,
several hundred feet from this stream, have
ing ascended quite a steep acclivity to get
there, but having no bundle, nor did he
have any when he returned to the factory
before one o'clock. An examination of this
stream leads to the discovery of part of a
shirt and coat, stained with blood, but how
far they are identified as the property of An-
drews, is still undetermined.
The District Attorney closed his testimo-
ny at twenty minutes of 3 P.M., when the
Government proceeded to call the witness-
es previous to which, at the suggestion of
Mr. Davis, counsel for the prisoner, the
witnesses summoned were required to
leave the Court Room, so that all witnesses

8
should give their testimony without refer-luel Andrews, near where I came through my
ence to any other testimony. gateway, on the side of the road about sev-
Alden S. Bradford—called—sworn. Re-enty-five to one hundred paces from An-
side in Kingston. Am a surveyor. Recog- drews' house, going towards Mr. Peckham's.
nizes his two plans, the smaller one repre-I cried out to Mr. Andrews that Cornelius
senting portions of the town of Kingston Holmes was murdered. He seemed un-
near where the body of Holmes was found; º and said he was missing and he ex-
and the large one the plan of the principal pected it. When I got back to the body
streets of the town. The plans were fully there were as many as ten individuals there.
explained to the Court and jury. The dis- |The position of the body was not changed.
tances are reported to be correct. | I then noticed a large pool of blood on a
Cross examined by Mr. pºss-them. of stones, which had been scattered in
space between the cemetery fence and the |al directions. There was another pool of
place where the body was found was prin- blood a few feet below. I noticed the cloth-
cipally an open space. From where the ling when I first saw the body. The cloth-
body was found and the railroad it was ling was all in perfect order, excepting his
mainly woods. West of the woods and overcoat. His clothes were all buttoned up
south of the railroad is a peat bog, where nice, except the outside coat. The back of
Mr. Caleb Bates has taken out a large the head was crushed, and the brain
quantity of peat. was flushed out on the bank. Some 20, 25
Caleb Bates—called and sworn. º 30 stones were bloody. I took one of
Examined by District Attºy Pierce. the stones at the time which had the ap-
Reside in Kingston. Am a farmer and pearance of the brain upon it. (The stone
mechanic. Left home about 7 1-4 o'clock is shown to the Court and jury, weighing
on May 27, with a man and two horses. 7 1-2 lbs.) Saw marks upon the left hand
My man, John Hearn went forward, saw side of the road. I saw all the pockets
him lean forward, the horse was frightened. emptied. Saw Geo. F. Willis take things
He led the horses forward to secure them, from the pockets of Holmes. Heard Mr.
I went forward and saw the body in the
road. Saw only the side of the face, the
skin being discolored. The body lay upon
the right side, the back of the head was in
a depresslon, nearly level with the top of
the ground. When the body was turned
up I recognized it as that of Mr. Holmes.
The arms were crumpled under the body,
one leg drawn up. The right side was un-
der. At that time I did not notice the
wounds. I saw that the stones were scat-
Andrews say that Holmes left his house at
five minutes past 8. He suggested that Mr.
Holmes had had a fit, and thrown himself
down. Saying he had had one shock at
the Baptist Church, and one at his house.
The body appeared cold.
Cross Examination by Mr. Davis:-
When I first got to the body I recollect
seeing several stones about the road. Saw
places where stones had been removed from
a pile where I had put stones the day be-
tered around from where I saw them the fore. A bushel basket would contain all
day before. Saw blood on several stones
near the body. The day before I threw out
a portion of the stones from the road leav-
ing very few in the read. I was there some
three minutes and then started for Edward
the stones in the road near the body. The
stones were above and below the body.
|The upper pool of blood was among the
pile of stones from which stones had been
taken. Have not stated that two parties
Holmes'. As I went up the hill I saw Sam- threw the stones. Saw heel marks in the
9
hard gravel, near the lower pool of blood.
Saw a wallet, a roll of paper with money
in it, a knife, and snuff box. Saw nothing
sticking out of the pocket. The hands lay
under the body. The blood upon the stones
was fresh, when I saw them first. When I
saw Mr. Andrews that morning he was
walking slowly, apparently in a meditative
mood. This road is hardly ever used ex-
cept by me. The foot path over the stile
is for general travel. Have had no conver-
sation with Mr. Holmes for fifteen or twen-
ty years. He associated with boys or old
women. An intimacy existed between Mr.
Holmes and Mr. Andrews, and has existed
for several years.
John A. Hearn, called and sworn upon
the evangelists. Work for Caleb Bates.
Think I left Mr. Bates's house about a quar.
ter past seven in the morning. The hors-
es started and Mr. Bates asked me what
was the matter, and I told him there was a
man who was dead or intoxicated. I hal-
lowed for help and met Mr. Cobb, Capt.
Symmes, and Mr. James Sever. Mr. Se-
ver took out a $2 and a $1 bill out of his
vest pocket. I noticed his clothes and they
were all buttoned up. The body lay on
the right side, and was cold when we found
it.
Cross Examined:–His head was bloody.
I was there alone nearly fifteen minutes.
When I first lifted up his head and saw who
it was, I put the head back where it lay
when I first saw it.
David Delano–Sworn.
I reside in Kingston, about 50 rods from
the house of Mr. Andrews. Saw Mr. An-
drews about 8 o'clock on the evening of the
26th in his garden. It was an easterly fog,
and not very light. I went down to Mr.
Andrews house, heard voices in the garden.
and recognized them as that of Cornelieus
Holmes and Samuel Andrews. Heard An-
drews say to Mr. Holmes, “I will be back
in a moment.”
They were on the west
side of the garden a few rods from the
house. I transacted my business with An-
drews, ahout a rod back of his house.
Holmes was two and a half or three rods
distance. My business was to pay Mr.
Andrews a pew tax. I gave him a $2 bill
and he gave me back 35 cts., saying he
should have to owe me 15 cts. I then
went home directly. My house was lighted
before I went to Andrews house. As late
as half past 8, perhaps 20 minutes before 9,
I heard sounds like some one crying—di-
rectly after I heard something sounding
like a jarring sound. I saw Andrews
Thursday, he was going into his yard. I
was on the street. I asked him how long
I had been gone from Andrews garden when
Holmes left.
Cross examined—When I went down to
Mr. Andrews' I saw Mr. Geo. Clark. Saw
Smith Fuller near Geo. Clark’s before I
went to Andrews”. Do not think I should
have ever thought of the noises I heard
again if I had not heard of this homicide.
The night was a damp, foggy one. Have
been acquainted with Andrews six or eight
years. His character has been considered
good. I attended the Orthodox cºurch, but
do not know whether Mr. Andrews was a
deacon or not.
Rebecca Holmes, sworn. Is the wife
of Joseph Holmes, live opposite Mr. An-
drews, near by. Heard noises on the eve-
ning of the 26th, about 1-2 past 8. Thought
it was boys fighting down near the depot.—
It was a distressed noise, a sort of howl.
I saw Mr. Andrews and he asked me if I
had been down to the place where Mr.
Holmes was found. I told him I had. I
told him I supposed I heard the noise. He
said, “it is very strange, I should have
thought I should have heard it.” I asked
him where he was. He said, “at work in
my garden.” He was in our house again
that evening, to bring some pictures which
he got at Plymouth.
No cross examination.

10
Carrie T. Ripley—sworn. I reside in
Kingston. Saw Andrews on the evening of
May 26 in front of his house, about 1-2 past
7. He said he could not go to the singing
meeting, he had got to work in the garden
Cross examined—Mr. Andrews came up
to the fence as Mrs. John Cobb and myself
passed.
Sophie H. Jones—sworn. Is the wife of
Dr. Jones. Went to Andrews’ house on
the evening of the 26th of May about 14
before 5. We had a meeting in Mr. An-
drews' back parlor, Miss Annie Sever, Mrs.
Ames, and one or two other ladies, and re-
mained until about 1-4 past 9. Mrs. Ames
left first, then myself, and Mrs. Peckham
remained. When I came out I saw Mr.
Andrews, who said “good evening.” He
asked if we had put things through. I asked
him why he had not been in. He replied,
“I have been at work in the garden.” I
told him it was dark, if he could see to
plant at that time of night he must have
good eyes. He was standing by the upper
gate. I next saw him Wednesday morning
about 7 o'clock. He went into the office and
spoke to my husband. I said to Andrews,
“how awful it is, who could have done it.”
He said, “he should not have carried so
much money, and talked so much.” He
asked if we had said anything about the will.
We replied, “we had not.” He said “you
won’t will you.” Have heard conversation
of Andrews with regard to the will of
Holmes, –a short time after it was made.
My husband was present in the evening.—
He said there was a will made by Corne-
lius Holmes, he had been to Plymouth
with him, that his property was to be di.
vided between Joseph Holmes and Andrews.
I think this was about a year before Mr.
Holmes's body was found.
Cross examined : Mr. Andrews was a good
deal agitated on the morning after the body
was found, and appeared faint. My hus-
band gave him some ammonia, and I think
I took the bottle. When Andrews came to
our house and told my husband, my sister,
and myself with regard to the will, we were
all present together. Some time before the
homicide he told us that he had some silver
ware in his house, that belonged to Corne-
lius. Am very sure Mr. Andrews did not
say anything about the silver ware after the
homicide. Do not recollect when I first
heard of the silver ware after the homicide.
Have known Mr. Andrews many years, and
his reputation was always good. He was a
deacon in the church, and a constant at-
tendant. Know Mrs. Andrews, she has been
feeble for several years. The meeting at
Mr. Andrews’ house on the evening of the
26th was a meeting of the committee of the
social circle. I was in the back room next
to the garden. I know the time when I left
Andrews' house on the evening of the 26th
by the fact that it was half past 9 when I got
home.
Emeline J. Ames—sworn.
Wife of Benj. Ames. Saw Andrews on
the evening before the body was found.
Was at Mr. Andrews house that evening.
Left not far from 9 o'clock. Andrews
spoke to us as we came out. He was near
the west side of the garden as we came out
at the east side. He said, “good evening
ladies.” We asked him why he had not
been in and he said he had been at work in
his garden. Some of us said we should
think he would need an umbrella and a
lantern to plant at that time of night.
Nannie R. Sever—sworn.
Was at Mr. Andrews' house on the eve-
ning of May 26th. I did not see Andrews
that evening, heard him that evening as we
left the house, about quarter past 9. He said
“good evening ladies,” and asked if we had
got through with our business. He sent for
me Friday, P. M., and I went to his house,
was there about two hours, officer Macoy



11
was present.
tle help.
He said he might want a lit-
I told him I would give it to him
freely. He asked me to think over our in-
terview with him on Tuesday night. He
asked me where I thought he was when we
spoke to him, and he said he was leaning on
the West gate. I said I shall never believe
you committed this murder unless you con-
ſess it. He replied I shall never do that if
they string me up. Said he should not care
so much for his arrest but for his wife and
family. He asked about some Sturtevant
who was there Tuesday night and had not
been heard of since. He asked me and
Miss Katie Russell to find out about the
rumors which had been circulated about
Cornelius, having been frighened at some
time. He spoke of the Will of Mr. Holmes,
and said it would be read the next day. He
seemed to think it would be used against
him. This was almost in a whisper. Said
I don’t think God ever intended me for a
murderer. If I had murdered him for his
money, why hadn't I taken it? Said he was
always making him presents—and men-
tioned several things which Cornelius had
given him. Saw him a few minutes Satur-
day morning. He asked for a bottle of
ether. Mr. Macoy was about to carry him
to Plymouth.
Cross Examined: Andrews spoke to me
voluntarily about the will, and told me he
did not wish me to say anything about it —
Mrs. Andrews was not present at any of
these conversations, since the murder.—
Was present in the back parlor at Mr. An-
drews from 8 until past 9 o'clock. Mrs.
Andrews was present. In did not seem
dark to me on Tuesday evening when I
went to Mr. Andrews. Am not a member
of the order of Good Templars.
Court adjourned to Wednesday morning
9 o'clock.
WEDNESDAY_SECOND DAY.
The Court came in Wednesday morning
at 9 o'clock, the names of the several jurors
and of the prisoner were called, and the
counsel for the government proceeded with
the testimony.
Dr. Henry N. Jones—sworn. Have
lived in Kingston ten years. Saw Mr. An-
drews on the morning of May 27th at my
office. He was wringing and twisting him-
self. I asked him if he had hurt himself.
He made no reply. I gave him ammonia,
and he recovered. He said Cornelius
Holmes had been murdered back of the cem-
etery. I said to Andrews let us go right
down to the cemetery, he declined, saying
he must go home and see his family. He
asked me if we had ever said any thing
about the will, and wished us not to men-
tion it. He said he had told Mr. Newcomb
about the will. I rode down to where the
body was. Andrews rode with me as far as
Stetson’s corner. This was not far from
seven o'clk in the morning. Edward Gray
summoned a Coroner's jury of the persons
about there, my name appearing among the
others. Mr. Sampson moved the body,
which was taken up, put into his express
wagon, and carried to Holmes' house. The
head was badly mangled, the blood dried
upon the face. Some blood was flowing
and it continued to flow after it was put in-
to the wagon. There were a great many
stones about there which were bloody—
should say fifteen or twenty. The body was
taken to Mr. Holmes' room and laid upon
a bench for examination. I noticed nothing
in particular about the clothiug. I unbut-
toned some of the clothing about the neck.
The arms were drawn up and the hands
clenched, requiring great force to unclench

12
them. The left fore finger was bruised.
No other marks of violence about the body,
except the head. The jaws were set, and
the tongue protruded through the teeth.
The lip was cut through. The right ear
bruised, and two wounds about over the
ears where the skull was broken through.
The wounds were made with some blunt in-
strument. A little back of the wounds, on
what we call the crown of the head the
scalp was badly lacerated. The skull was
broken, the brain was protruding, and I
took out three pieces of bone, which I re-
placed when I sewed up the wounds which
extended nearly from ear to ear. The
wounds were then dressed to make it ap-
pear as well as we could. The funeral was
on Friday.
After the body was disintered I was pres-
ent with Dr. Henry J. Bigelow, of Boston.
who made an examination. The skull bone
was carried away by Dr. Bigelow. I saw
Andrews at Holmes' house on Wednesday,
27th. He was before the Coroner's inquest
and said Cornelius had made him a good
many presents. He said Holmes came to
his garden through the cemetery, and he
presumed he went back the same way, but
did not notice. I saw Andrews again at his
house. He spoke of the will and said Mr.
Newcomb told him to carry the will over to
Mr. Damon at the Probate Office. I took
out my watch and told him I thought he
would have time to go that day. I saw him
again at his house, and I gave him a mor-
phine powder at his request. He said he
was nervous or excited. Thursday he came
into my office and asked me if I could not
give him something to take, he felt bad. I
gave him a little whiskey. Before the
decease of Cornelius Holmes, Andrºws Was
at my house, and in presence of my family
said he expected to be a rich man some
time, Cornelius Holmes had made his will
and given him lots of property. Said Cor-
nelius came over to Plymouth and Mr.
Damon made the will. He requested us
not to say any thing about it. Was An-
drews' family physician. Not at his house
often. He was at my house frequently,
sometimes professionally and sometimes as
a neighbor.
Cross Examined:—Andrews called at my.
house frequently sometimes perhaps once or
twice a week, but sometimes perhaps not for
a month. I had given him morphine before
the death of Holmes. Have administered
ether to him when he has had his headaches,
or trouble about the eye. It was a sort of
neuralgic affection. I think I have been
called to Mr. Andrews three or four times to:
administer for this affection in the head. I
think I was once called to him for billious or
sick headache. I do not recollect that he
ever called at my office for medicine for
himself. Was first called to his family in
September, 1857. Jan. 16th, 1867, I was
called to prescribe for Andrews for illness.
Should think Andrews had been troubled
with the headache. Think I have seen him
with glasses on. Have conversed with my
wife in regard to her testimony here yester-
day. Heard notes read of my wife's
testimony taken by Ellis Ames, Esq. This
was at the house of Alexander Holmes last
evening. The interview with Mr. Andrews
with regard to the will was in my house,
and in the evening. Have heard Andrews
say, since Holmes left his house, that he had
some of Holmes' silver ware to keep.
When I first saw Holmes' body it was lying
by the cart rut. Should think the soil might
be a few inches above the top of the head.
Saw several stones lying near the body. One
stone near the head in the ground had a
blunt edge, similar to a cold chisel. The
stones extended both ways from the body
some two or three rods. Saw Geo. F. Wil-
lis about the body, at the time it was found,
think he took some things from the pockets.

13
He was one of the jury. The skull was
broken in upon both sides, and more partie-
ularly upon the back of the head. I pre-
scribed ether for Andrews the morning after
the murder, because I thought that this was
most likely to make him feel better. Should
say Andrews was rather a nervous man, not
specially so. His reputation as a good citi-
zen, for humanity, and kind heartedness was
good generally.
To Mr. Somerby :-Should think there
might have been five or six loose pieces
of the skull.
Re-examined by the Attorney General :-
Was at the house of Mr. Alexander Holmes
last evening and heard Mr. Ames reading his
notes to Mr. Holmes. Heard him reading
my wife's testimony and was interested to
hear what it was,
Francis Sproul —sworn. Live in Kings-
ton about two rods from Mr. Andrews. Mr.
Holmes' disappearance was first announced
to me by Mr. Leach. I went to Andrews’
house to find Andrews at quarter before
6 o'clock, but not finding him I went to the
factory and found him. Told him Mr.
Holmes was missing, that the folks were
very much alarmed about him. He said it
was very strange, that Holmes had sent him
a note telling him he wanted to see him but
that he could not come to Holmes' house,
and Holmes had better come to his house.
I asked him if he had not better go and see
if he could not be found. He said “cer-
tainly” and took his coat upon his arm, and
came down stairs with me. We saw Mr.
Newcomb who said he did not see any need
for Andrews to go as the Holmes' would
look him up. He said Holmes always car-
ried a good deal of money, paper and gold
pieces, and was very careless of his money.
Andrews then went back again up stairs, I
saw him again that day, when he spoke of
Mr. Holmes who he said had been kind to
him, that when they went to Boston An-
drews always told him to buy any thing he
wanted and Holmes would pay for it. He
said that when they stayed in Boston, Holmes
when they retired always took out his large
pocket book the last thing and put it under
his pillow.
Cross Examined:—Live in next house to
Mr. Andrews. [Explains the locality to the
jury by the plans.] Was out in my garden
on the night before I heard of the homicide,
but doing nothing in particular. The night
was foggy and thick, could not see very far
ahead. Could see the form of a man sit-
ting in Mr. Andrew's garden, but could not
tell how they looked. Could hear them
talk, but could not distinguish their voices.
One man was sitting down, and another was
using a hoe, but I could not tell what he
was doing. Have seen Holmes and An-
drews together but once that I remember
of Was in my garden fifteen or twenty
minutes and I went into my house about
twenty minutes of 8 in the evening. Think
Andrews was hoeing on the east side of the
path. Know it was about half past seven
o'clock and think I stayed out about 10 or
15 minutes. Mr. Newcomb told Andrews,
he did not see any use in his going, let the
Holmes' find him themselves. Andrews
replied he did not know as he could say any
more than he had already done, that Holmes
was in his garden the night before, and left
at ten minutes before eight. Mr. Newcomb
evidently did not want Andrews to leave
his work.
Have
been professor of surgery in Mass. Gen.
Hospital 21 years. Saw the body of Cor-
nelieus Holmes in the Town Hall, Kings-
ton. I had with me Dr. LeBaron Russell
and Dr. Porter of Boston, and Dr. Jones of
Kingston. The body was in a good state
for examination, the wounds principally on
the back of the head, most in the left side.
A short distance above the right ear, there
Dr. Henry J. Bigelow—sworn.

14
was a detached wound. The upper lip was
cut through. The scalp was very much
torn, the head very bloody, the wounds in
the line of the neck up and down the body.
Besides this the scalp was badly torn. You
could pass your hand under the scalp and
feel loose bones, some of them driven into
the brain. Counted eleven detached pieces
of the skull. Blood was found all over the
surface of the membranes of the brain.
The membranes of the brain were torn, and
the brain largely torn underneath. Also a
laceration of the substance of the brain op-
posite the principal wound on the left lobe
of the brain. There were wounds on both
hands, and black and blue spots on the left
shoulder and face. The internal organs
were healthy. The top of the skull, of
Holmes, was here exhibited by the witness,
and the nature of the wounds fully ex-
plained. (The skull was shown to the jury,
and the detached pieces of bone shown,
most of them being now attached by wire.)
At the time of the examination there was
one piece missing, which is here identified.
The wounds were by some blunt instrument.
They may have been done with stones. The
state of the skull indicated repeated blows.
The blow, judging from the appearance of
the skull could not have been made up-
wards, but must have been made when the
skull was below the party striking. This
was indicated by the longitudinal wounds on
the skull. Blows inflicting such injuries as
were indicated by wounds on the side of the
head would stun a man more or less, but
might not deprive him of his consciousness.
A man found in the positionin which Holmes
was found must have been alive when it
first came into that position. Found nº
wounds of consequence excepting upon the
head. Anything like a pool of blood must
have come from the head. Examined the
brain of Holmes, which was perfectly healthy
The blood between the scalp and skull came
from wounds inflicted on the head. A man
might be able to cry out after the stunning
blows on the side of the head. Such blows
would reduce a man's strength, and might
knock him senseless.
To the Court: Should think the pene-
tration of those pieces of the skull, must
have produced death in a short time. He
might have lived an hour or two.
Cross Examined by Mr. Davis:–The
left thumb was injured, tendon being cut.
The side wounds were an inch or more
above the ear. The notes which I dictated
were taken by Dr. LeBaron Russell. Was
on each side of the head a separate wound
indicating the wounds to have been inflicted
from different directions. The side wound
was a star shaped one, and made by a direct
blow. This was according to my best
knowledge on the right side, but I state this
with a little reservation, not deeming that
important. But the wounds on the side of
the head might have been made and still a
man be sufficiently sensible to cry out. He
would not necessarily have been insensible.
Should say half a teacup full of brain may
have been gone, perhaps less. Think it not
unlikely the cut in the brow came from some
hard substance on the ground under the
head. A heavy blow upon the head might
produce copious nosebleed.
To Mr. Somerby :-I meant to assert that
such blows could not have been made
upwards, in my judgment. The muscles of
the arm are not strong enough to accomplish
such a result. This is my opinion. Cannot
tell how many blows were necessary to pro-
duce such wounds as were found on this
skull. -
To Mr. Davis:–Do not know where the
piece of skull, which I never saw until this
morning, came from.
Benjamin Wormell–sworn. Am teacher
in the High School, Kingston. Boarded
with Mr. Andrews from May 10, 1867, to a-

15
bout two weeks after the death of Holmes.
Andrews came into my room on the evening
of May 26th some where between 1-2 past
9 and 10 o’clock. Was in the room with
the ladies from about twenty minutes of
nine, until a little before nine. Did not
stay over fiſteen minutes. Heard a noise
sounding like something striking. Was in
my room when the ladies went out. Heard
Andrews speak to the ladies when they went
out. My room is in the second story on the
south east corner. His voice sounded as
though he was near the street. Heard a
rap, I said, “come.” Andrews came in and
sat down at my right, by the front window.
He said hecame to see if I was in. I think I
conversed with him about some composi-
tions which I had read to him. He leaned
forward and I noticed the smell of ether.—
I said, “how you smell of ether.” He made
some reply, do not recollect what. In a
short time he appeared to go to sleep and
take no notice of what I was doing. I said
to him “you had better go to bed.” In a
few minutes he rose and left the room. I
heard him afterwards going home with Mrs.
Peckham. He has slept before in my room.
The noise I heard I thought at the time came
from the south. I thing he had on light
pants, dark coat and slippers. I saw him
the next morning not far from 7 o'clock.
Adjourned to quarter past two, P. M.
AFTERNOON.
Examination of Benj. Wormell resumed:
Mr. Andrews came in Wednesday morn-
ing about seven; made his way along to a
chair; Mr. Andrews and Mrs. Reed were in
the room. He made some remark about
Mr. Sproul coming to the factory to ask him
where Cornelius was. Said he felt weak
and faint, when Sproul told him what had
happened. A few minutes after Andrews
came in, he went out again. I took my hat
and went out; saw Andrews on a carriage
with Mr. White. He said they had found
Cornelius down by the cemetery murdered.
A short time afterward Andrews came back.
I told him to take care of his wife; I would
go for Mrs. Peckham. I told him I had in-
formed Mrs. Andrews. He replied: “it
would have been as well perhaps, if you
had not.” Andrews first told me that Mr.
Holmes had been found. I then went down
to where the body was; I examined Mr.
Holmes' left vest pocket; saw a new bill
sticking out of the pocket. Gave the mon-
ey to Mr. James N. Sever. His coat was
torn in one or two places. I went to the
school house about eight o'clock, came back
very soon and found Andrews lying on the
sofa in his house. Asked him to go down
to the cemetery. He said he would not go
for the world. Andrews was not at home
that day at dinner. Do not remember see-
ing him on Wednesday. On Thursday I saw
him, both before and after he went to Ply-
mouth. He had flowers in the wagon. I
think it was Thursday night after school
when I saw Mr. Andrews, who said, “It
was only Saturday that Cornelius was here
sitting on that sofa. He was damning the
Orthodox. I thought then something would
happen to him, he talked so wicked.” I
saw him Friday morning when he introduced
me to Mr. Macoy. I talked with Macoy
about the position of Holmes' body. Saw
Andrews again Friday noon about quarter of
one. He came to the table and asked me
to go down to Mr. Peckham's with him. I
told him I could not, for I must get back to
the school house at one. Andrews said to
Macoy: “I suppose you will have to go with
me.” It then occurred to me that Andrews.
was arrested. All three of us went to Mr.
Peckham's, and then to see Mr. Thomas
Newcomb. Mr. Delano came across the
street and Mr. Andrews had some conver-
sation with him in regard to the time.—
Tuesday night, when Delano came to tran-
sact his business with Andrews, I told him I

16
would do anything I could to help him. I
scouted the idea of his being guilty, and
told him I did not believe anybody would
think him guilty. Saw him in my room also
Monday evening, May 25th.
No cross examination.
Thomas Newcomb–sworn. Am a thread
manufacturer. Have known Samuel M.
Andrews since 1851. He acted as overseer
in the room where he was employed. He
oversaw carding and spinning and done up
threads. I paid him about thirteen shil-
lings a day. He worked as usual on the
26th of May. I first saw Andrews about
6 1–2 a.m. on Wednesday. He was talking
with Mr. Sproul. Andrews said Cornelius
Holmes was missing. Andrews, as near as
I can recollect, said Holmes was in his gar-
den the night before and left about fifteen
or twenty minutes past eight, to go to the
depot. He said he did not know what he
could do about it. I told mim I should not
go to look for him until some of his folks
had looked for him. He said Mr. Leach
had sent Mr. Sproul there to see if he
knew anything about Cornelius. He then
told me what had occurred in the garden.-
Mr. Sproul then left for home. The next I
saw of Andrews he said he did not know
but I smelt ether; said he had been using
some for a sore eye. I asked him which
way Holmes went from his garden and he
said “across the cemetery.” He spoke then
about the will, said Cornelius had made a
wiji, that he had it it in his poºgession.-
He went on to tell wat the provisions of
the will were, but I told him I did not wish
to hear anything about it. lite spoke then
about the silver ware he had in his posses-
sion, and slso a silver watch. He said he
did not think the Holmes' would attempt to
break the will because then Joseph would
not get so much. He said he wrote a note
to Mr. Holmes and sent it by my brother's
son, saying he could not come down them,
and asking Holmes to come to his house.
see if he could find out anything about Mr.
Holmes. The next time I saw him was at
the Coroner's inquest. He then said he did
not know but he had better go over to Ply-
mouth and carry the will to Mr. Damon.—
Thursday morning I saw him when he said
he had occasion to go to Plymouth to get
some alcohol, and had carried the will to
Mr. Damon. Never advised him to take
the will to Plymouth.
Cross Examined:—The thirteen shillings
per day paid to Andrews did not include his
extra work. During the last year he had
not done so much extra work. My brother
Guilford Newcomb kept, the general time
book, but each man kept his own extra
time. The conversation with Andrews about
the Will was about 7 o'clock Wednesday
morning. This conversation was near one
of the twisters which Andrews tended.
Richard Smith, the O'Brien boy, and Maria
Calahan were at work in the room at the
time. Andrews mentioned to me that he
had the Will, but I do not recollect that he
asked my opinion about going to Plymouth.
Did not smell Ether until Andrews spoke
about it. Andrews has had steady work
since he first commenced work for me.
Rev. Joseph Peckham—sworn Am pas-
tor of the Othodox Cong'ſ Church in Kings-
ton. Have known Andrews well for ten
years. He was one of the deacons. Was
at Andrews house some ten or fifteen min-
utes on the evening of May 26th. I was
there when the ladies went out of the house.
I went out soon after the ladies left. Came
out at the Easterly gate. Mrs. Peckham,
got home about half past ten.
I next saw Andrews Thursday morning.
He said he had been at work in his hen-
house that morning and had little relish for
his breakfast. He said he would not go to
see the body for the world. Told him I
presumed they would come for him as his
In the course of half an hour I told him.1 testimony would probably be important be-
did not know but he had better go up
and fore the inquest. The note was produced

17
and Andrews said “I wrote that note, you
will find a number of just such notes among
his papers.” This was in the room where
the inquest was being held. Mr. Joseph
Holmes said to Andrews –“if you want
to see me Mr. Andrews I shall be disengaged
soon.” I then went home and down to the
place where the murder was committed. I
was at Andrews’ house again that day about
half past ten. Told him this was a most
horrible murder and that I hoped the mur-
derer would be found out. I tried to talk
with Mr. Andrews about the probable cause
of the murder, but he seemed disinclined to
talk about it. The next I saw of him was
Thursday—when he asked me if I wanted
to go to Plymouth. I told him I wanted to
attend the Citizens' meeting that evening.
At his suggestion I procured Mr. Cushman’s
beach wagon, and took two young ladies
and Mr. Andrews to Plymouth. Andrews
wanted to go to Mr. Watsons, for flowers to
make a wreath, as he was to have charge of
the funeral. And he said, I want to see
Mr. Damon, and tell him not to say that I
came there with him to get the will made.
This he said was by the advice of Mr.
Thomas Newcomb.
He asked me if he had not better have
Mr. Beal's gardener make the wreath. This
conversation with regard to the will was had
in Plymouth. He said he took this will to
the Probate Office by advice of Mr. New-
comb. I understood it to be Thomas New-
comb. He told me at one time that Holmes
was solicitous about himself, that one
brother had died in a fit, and another had
had fits, and Mr. Holmes did not think he
should live a great while.
Cross Examined:—Knew Andrews some-
what before 1856. It is twenty-seven years
since I first went to Kingston, I went
West, aud returned in 1859, and since then
I have been pastor in the same church, as
before. Mr. Cornelius Holmes
2
was my
nearest neighbor. I think Mr. Joseph
Holmes has been dead about five years.
Cornelius did not live in his father's house
long after his father died. He then went to
board with S. M. Andrews and lived there
until some two years since. Have known
Cornelius Holmes 26 years. Mr. Andrews
general reputation for humanity, kindness of
heart, good temper, &c., was good. I think
he was a deacon about two years, and
Treasurer of the Society.
To Mr. Somerby :-Mr. Andrews said to
me that Mr. Newcomb had advised him to
see Mr. Damon and ask him not to say
that Andrews and Damon went to Plymouth
together to get the will made for Mr.
Holmes.
Thos Newcomb, re-called:—Did not ad-
vise Andrews to go to Plymouth and say to
Mr. Damon that he should say nothing
about Andrews and Holmes coming there
together, to get this will made.
Cross examined by Mr. Somerby:-Am
positive I never advised Andrews to go to
see Mr. Damon. Never advised him in re-
gard to the silver in any way.
Mary Me Creight-sworn. Live in Kings-
ton. Work in Newcomb's factory. Re-
member the finding of the body of Mr.
Holmes on Wednesday. Got back from
my dinner about 20 minutes past 12. Was
in the road. Saw Mr. Andrews between
half past twelve and twenty minutes of one
coming down the path near the house on
the other side of the road near the mill.
Did not see him aſter he came to the road.
I sat down on the steps of the factory. He
had a bundle on his right arm. Do not re-
member the exact size.
No cross examination.
Eilen O'Brien—sworn. Works in New-
comb's factory. Remember the day I heard
of Mr. Holmes' death. Was in the road.—
Saw Mr. Andrews coming down the path.-
He came as far as the house and had a white

18
bundle with him. I went and sat down and
saw no more of him.
No cross examination.
Margaret O'Brien—sworn. Live in King-
ston. Heard of Mr. Holmes’ death on
Wednesday. Saw Mr. Andrews come down
the path with a bundle which looked to be
white. Did not see him after he came to
the road.
No cross examination.
Cyrus W. Ripley—sworn. Searched for
clothing June 1st, in Jones River, below
Mr. Newcomb's mill. Found clothing. The
pieces of clothing were here shown to the
Court and jury and identified as the same
which I found while in company with three
other men. The two parts of the coat were
found at different places by the side of the
stream. This was some twenty rods below
the mill. The shreds of the coat were
found below where there is a wire across the
river, some quarter of a mile below the ſac-
tory. A portion of these pieces were picked
up on June 3d, some of the pieces were
found below the Kingston alms house. I
took charge of the pieces found on the first
day at the time, and gave them to Edward
K. Holmes. Those found the second and
third day were delivered to Mr. Macoy, the
officer.
Cross examined—Was present when the
pond in the cemetery was drawn off. It was
done by a man from Boston, with a Fire
Engine. I was first at the place when the
body was found, the morning after the hom-
icide. Saw a pile of brush about North:
East from where the body was found. Do
not know how long it had been there.
Samuel Soule — sworn. Searched for
clothes in Jones River, with Cyrus Ripley,
and others, the Monday after the homicide.
[witness recognizes parts of a coat and other
clothing as having been found in the river,
by him and others, and one piece found on
the salt marsh. By order of the Court
these parts of clothing were shown to the
jury, and by them examined
Cross examined—Did not mark the cloth-
ing to identify it. I gave the clothing to
Mr. Macoy, and have not seen it since until
now- -
David D. Drew–sworn. Edward K.
Holmes and I were in a boat and saw some
clothing found. I took what I supposed
was part of a shirt, and afterwards a collar
to a coat.
No cross examination.
Eli Wilson—sworn. Live in Kingston.
Work in Newcomb's factory. Have worked
there 23 years. Andrews has worked there
16 or 17 years. Andrews has worn a black
coat in the factory, and that was the last
coat I saw him have on before Mr. Holmes’
decease. Witness examines the parts of
the coat and identifies it as that of An-
drews, by paint on the sleeve and other
marks. Talked with Andrews once about
this paint on the sleeve. He held up his
arm, said he had got paint on his sleeve,
and asked me what would take it off.
Cross examined:—Have worked at New-
comb's for the last nine years. As often
as once a week I should think. Did not
work in the same room with him. Was
not until after this coat was found that I
thought particularly about this paint on the
sleeve. Will not say positively that this is
the same sleeve.
Henry Simmons—sworn. Live in Kings-
ton. Have known Andrews 15 years.
Have had a talk with him about a coat at
his house. I had been at work for Mr. An-
drews painting, and noticed some paint on
the sleeve of his coat. The paint was on
the right sleeve, nearly from the shoulder
down. [Identifies the coat sleeve as that
which he saw Andrews have on from the
peculiar shape of the spots.]
Cross Ezamined :- Knew Cornelius
Holmes was on speaking terms with him,
but not he with me. Knew Andrews, his

19
reputation as a humane person was good sc
far as I know. Saw this paint on Andrew's
coat at his house. There might have been
half a dozen spots. Know of no reason
why I should have noticed these paint spots
particularly, but I know I did notice them.
John Smith–sworn. Live in Kingston.
Work for Thomas Newcomb. Have known
Andrews for 15 years. Knew that he wore
a black coat with a velvet collar. [Examines
the coat and other pieces.] Think I recognize
the coat as one I have seen Andrews wear.
Have seen him wear India Rubber shoes.
[Identifies a pair of rubbers as a pair he had
seen Andrews wear. Know them by the
slippers inside.]
Cross examined:—Have worked in the
factory with Andrews fifteen years. Have
worked in the same room with him portions
of the time for the last four years. My
father worked there also. Cornelius Holmes
called frequently. Have seen them talking
together frequently, and have spoken to An-
drews about Holmes giving him his proper-
ty. My boy occasionally worked for An-
drews in his garden. Remember Holmes
and Andrews going away together one 4th of
July. Have heard Mr. Andrews say that he
and Holmes had been to Plymouth together.
To Mr. Somerby:-I never said I identi-
fied this coat. I identify the slippers but
not the rubbers. Have no other mode of
identification of the slippers except by the
nails and a hole in one of the slippers.
Uriah Macoy—sworn. Arrived in Kings-
ton on the morning of Thursday, May 28th.
First saw the prisoner to have any talk with
him on Friday morning, Mr. Geo. C. Pratt
being present. As soon as he was arrested
he asked me on what ground he was arrested.
l told him on circumstantial evidence. This
was while Mr. Pratt had gone after the war-
rant. I told him I had talked with Mr
Damon, and I asked him what he knew
about the will. He said he went with Mr
Holmes to Plymouth when the will was
made, Said he had never seen the will,
and only knew what Mr. Holmes told him.
Said Mr. Holmes told him he had given his
property after two legacies of $1,100 equally
between him and Joseph Holmes. I told
him I wanted to see the clothing he wore
the night he worked in his garden. He
brought me a coat, vest and pants. A coat,
vest and pants are produced and identified
as the same shown this officer by Andrews.
Andrews said he had his underclothing on.
There is blood on the vest which was on
when Andrews handed it to me. I told Mr.
Andrews I would keep that vest. He said
Mr. Macoy what do you find on that vest?
I answered I do not know as there is any
thing wrong, but I must keep this vest. He
said don’t get me into a scrape for I am an
innocent man. I then examined the pants
and remarked to him that they looked as
though they had been washed. There were
places which looked as though there had
been blood, and it had been sponged out. I
could find no blood on his coat. He said he
was sure he wore those clothes that night.—
I examined his hat and found spots of
blood on the lining. [Identified the hat,"as
the one given him by Andrews...] I then
took a walk with Andrews, went to New-
comb's. He said that when Holmes leſt
him Tuesday night he went by the path-
way north east from the garden. I then
asked him to go with me to where Holmes
was murdered. We came to the place
where the blood was upon the ground. He
seemed composed and made no remarks
whatever. Asked him why he did not go
to the store as he had spoken of in his
letter. He replied he was going for a
a barrel of flour, but the girl had gone for
it. We went to the house where Cornelius
was laid out. Mr. Andrews asked to see
Joseph Holmes before going to see the
body. Joseph told him in reply to his en-
quiry that he hardly thought the friends of
Uncle Cornelius would consent to have you

20
take charge of the funeral. He spoke to
Joseph of the silver ware and said it was
at his house. We then went in to where
the corpse was, and he stooped down and
kissed the corpse. We then went back to
Mr. Andrews’ house. Mr. Peckham then
talked with Andrews, advised him if he
done this deed to make a full confession.
He said he would if he had done it, but he
had not. He said, God never made me for
a murderer.
Spoke of certain peculiarities of Holmes,
and seemed anxious to have the officers put
on another track. Mr. Peckham came in
again in the evening and he and Mr. An-
drews made a prayer. I read a chapter in
the bible. I then locked him in the cham-
ber opposite Mr. Wormell's room, and I sat
down outside. The next morning I notified
him that I should have to carry him to Ply-
mouth. Before starting he asked me about
a lawyer, and after full discussion of the
matter it was decided to procure some Bos-
on lawyer. He spoke of Holmes carrying
a large pocket-book. He said the Baptist
minister and Mr. Lysander Bartlett also
knew of his carrying large sums of money.
Spoke of a great many presents which
Holmes had made him. The pants and coat
were kept in my possession until I gave
them to Dr. Hayes on the 1st of June. I
next saw them in Dr. Hayes office, and after-
wards in Major Jones's office.
I made an examination of Jones River, in
company with Edward K. Holmes. Mr.
Ripley and Mr. Drew. [The witness exam-
ined the torn clothing and identifies it the
same found on the banks of the river, by
himself and the other men.] This clothing
has been in my possession ever since they
were found in June. Mr. Andrews showed
me a pair of shoes which he said he wore on
the night of the murder in his garden. The
shoes are presented and identified as the
same shown by Andrews to Macoy.
The court adjourned to 9 o'clock Thursday.
THURSDAY_THIRD DAY.
The Court came in Thursday morning at
9 o'clock. Mr. Davis submitted a motion
for a view of the premises in Kingston by
the jury. The motion was overuled for the
present, the Court suggesting that such a
motion should have been made at the com-
mencement.
Uriah Macoy, direct examination resumed.
Took a piece of the rail from the fence in
front of Andrews house. [Exhibits the
piece taken from that raill Carried these
pieces to the office of Dr. Hayes, and Mr.
White in Boston.
Cross examined by Mr. Davis:—Was
present when Mr. Pratt arrested Mr. An-
drews. Had no conversation with Mr. An-
drews, before his arrest. Went to the gar-
den with Andrews. He showed me two
rows, which he said he had planted on Tues-
day night. I afterwards found out they
were planted with potatoes. The tracks
which I saw of two men were on the west
side of the east path. I only traced the
tracks to the path. There were some stumps
in a north easterly direction from where I
saw the tracks. I requested Andrews to go
to Holmes' house to see the body. Was
present at the interview between Mr.
Andrews and Joseph Holmes. When I
spoke to Andrews about seeing Mr. Damon,
he said he knew Damon had told him about
the will. He said he knew nothing about
the will except what Holmes had told him.
When Andrews was arrested, I had been
told a reward had been offered for the ap-
prehension of the murderer of Holmes.
My reason for not committing the prisoner
at once was that the feeling was so strongly
in his favor in the vicinity, and I thought
the facts could better be developed without

21
a committal. Did not tell Andrews that he
could not employ B. W. Harris as his coun-
sel, as he was employed by the government.
He spoke of wishing to have Harris.
drews said Holmes carried large sums of
money, had heard him say he had $500, in
one pocket, and $1,000 in another. Was
first on the ground Thursday forenoon, May
28th. The place was quite stony. Saw sev-
eral loose stones about where the body was
found. -
Re examined:—Had not heard of a re-
ward when I first went to Kingston. I
went by order of Maj. Jones, Chief Con-
stable of the Commonwealth.
George C. Pratt—sworn. Am Deputy
State Constable. Went to Kingston
Wednesday, May 27. Visited the place
where the body of Cornelius Holmes was
found. [The witness is here shown a vest,
coat and other clothing.] Reeeived them
from Macoy, and carried them to Dr.
Hayes, Saw Andrews on Thursday in the
street. Saw him also on Monday in the
jail in Plymouth. Told him he was not
obliged to answer any questions unless he
chose. Asked him if he passed round the
old building near the mill on Wednesday
about one o'clock. He said he did not.
Have seen a note. Have it in my posses-
sion now. [*Note produced.] Took it from
Frank Holmes. Admitted to be the signa-
tnre of Mr. Andrews.
No cross examination.
*The note was as follows.
Kingston, May 26, 1868.
Friend Cornelius:–You asked me to come down
and see you before you went to Boston, but it was
not so that I could come down last eve., and don’t
think I can this eve, as I shall have to work out in
the garden as long as I can see. If you wish to see
me for anything in particular you can take a walk
*"º", home º ºut half past
go down to the Store.
Yours truly,
S. A. A.
Edward K. Holmes. My father's name is
Edward Holmes. Spoke to Andrews the
day the body was found in the afernoon.
He told me he could not imagine who could
An-
have done it. Said he had lost the best
friend he had. He said he might have died
in a fit, he once had a fit and fell off the
sofa in his house. [Identifies clothing which
was found in the river, and on the bank,
corroborating the testimony of Ripley and
others.]
No cross examination.
Joseph A. Holmes—sworn. Was first in-
formed of the disappearance of my uncle a
little before half past seven on the morning
of May 27. Mr. A. H. Sampson brought
me a message from Capt. Leach. When I
reached the place of the body, as many as
40 or 50 persons were there. The body was
as it first lay excepting what Mr. Bates
might have done. The body arrived at the
house about half past seven. Saw Mr.
Andrews in Mr. Leach's room about half
past eight. Andrews said “Cornelius thought
a great deal of you and 1,” that he always
said if he died he wished me to have charge
of his funeral, that he thought the funeral
would have to be to-morrow. Before going
out of doors I showed Andrews the note,
and he said you do not find anything wrong
in that note do you? I next saw him
Thursday. He said he felt very badly.
Had been in Plymouth the day before, that
he saw a great many people who asked him
a great many foolish questions. He talked
a great deal about getting flowers for the
coffin on the occasion of the funeral, Said
Cornelius came up through the cemetery
and left before the town clock struck eight.
Said that when David Delano came to pay
his pew rent Cornelius said he guessed he
would go, and lef. He said “of course I
do not know which way he went.” He said
when people talked about the will, “I told
them it was strange people should begin to
talk about the will so soon.” Said he had
been in Plymouth the day before and had
heard that Sheriff Bates had made a will.
Said he supposed I knew as much about the
will as he did, supposed Mrs. Andrews also

22
knew all about the will. He said he knew
that Cornelius had a large pocket book.
Knew that he carried large amounts of
money. Had known him to carry as much
as $1,200. He asked me if I had not paid
Cornelius a large amount of money the
Monday before. I told him I intended to
but had not seen him. He said he thought
some one might have known that and
robbed him. Said that Cornelius had made
him a great many presents, had given him
the use of his land for that year. After-
wards he said “he told me I might have it
for five years.” [This was a small lot of land
adjoining Andrews' premises.] Said he in-
tended Cornelius to take that lot of land so
that he could have it. I referred to a noise
that had been heard Tuesday evening, and
suggested that I should have thought he
would have heard it. He said “I should
think so.” I planted in my garden until
after 9, but supposed he was in his cellar.
He alluded to the pocket book a second
time, said he knew he had two, and that he
had seen the large one within a week. Said
when they found the pocket book they
would find a note of his for $150. Andrews
expressed a desire to see the corpse, and I
went down to the room with him.
Saw him again Thursday evening when he
spoke of the flowers and the bearers for the
funeral. I saw him again when he came
down with the officers Friday morning, and
said he had come down to say that notwith-
standing his arrest, he was ready to take
charge of the funeral. I told him that un-
der the circumstances the family would
hardly desire him to assist at the funeral,
asked him in regard to a bill of silver ware.
And he said the silver was at his house,
that Cornelius carried it there saying it was
not safe to have so much property in one
place. Mr Macoy and Andrews then went
up to the side of the coffin, and after stand-
ing a few minutes stooped down and kissed
him saying he had lost the best friend in the
world. Told him we had found a paper
purporting to be a copy of a will, and he ad-
mitted he knew of such a paper. He spoke
of the will first. At our first conversation
Cornelius said he was going to the store.—
Had looked at the clothing of Cornelius
Holmes and put it away Wednesday, P. M.
after it was taken from the body. [The
clothing was here produced and identified 1
I examined this clothing Thursday morning,
with Mr Edward Holmes, found dirt in the
inside pockets, with pine needles and white
hairs in the pocket. They are there still
[Shown to the jury.] That afternoon I
showed the clothing to Mr Hollis and Mr
Morse, and subsequently to Attorney Gen-
eral Allen, and then I delivered it to Dr
White. I received the clothing from Dr
White and delivered it to Mr Pratt, the State
Constable. The large pocket book was not
found. My uncle Paraclete died the last of
February 1867; my father in 1863. My uncle
Cornelius received from Paraclete's estate
$15000 in stocks, about $1600 in cash, his
share of the Real Estate, and the garden lot,
—worth about $600. Paraclete left no will.
Cornelius had a house which Capt Leach oc-
cupied, and the income of $10,000 from his
father.
Cross examined by Mr. Davis:–Found
the coat, pants and vest, in the shed of Capt
Leach. The shed has a door from the
house. The clothes were lying on a pile
of shingles. This was five or six hours af.
ter the clothes were received from the body;
carried the clothes in a basket to the loft
and think they remained there until carried
to Dr. White in June. There was also
underclothing which I put into the same
basket, and they were all carried to the loft
together. I think there were several notes
about the place from Andrews; think there
was one of nearly the same tenor as the
one produced to-day; think they may be in
the hands of Mr Joseph S. Beal; Do not
know how many; do not think I have seen

23
them since June. I have an impression my
uncle had a pocket book; one large enough
to hold a bank bill without folding. Mr.
Andrews said the pocket book found was
one of Cornelius'. Had the bonds and
stocks at the time of his death, and $1,600
in cash. Said Cornelins had told him he
might have the use of the garden lot for
five years. Andrews told me Mr Barnes,
Cornelius and himself all had pocket books
together. Understood Andrews in refer-
ring to the will to mention Mr. Damon's
name, but did not tell me he knew there
was a will; do not remember what he said
about Mr Damon. In the last of the spring
or early summer of 1867, Cornelius spoke
to me about a will, and said he wanted me
to make a will for him. I told him there
had been a memoranda of a will found, and
it was then he told me about Mr Bates and
others making a will. [Compared the mem-
orandum with a note and supposed it was
Andrews' hand writing, but came to no
definite conclusion.] My Uncle was a large
man, broad shouldered, and weighed more
than 200 pounds. Knew Andrews was ar-
rested when he came down with Macoy on
Friday. Andrews came down to say he
was prepared to take charge of the funeral.
Had about $500 of money in my hands
which belonged to Cornelius. Collected
his dividends for him but was not specially
authorized to act for him. George F.
Willis and others helped put the body into
the wagon.
S. Dana Hayes—sworn. Am consulting
and analytical chemist and State Assayer.
On the 30th of May I received a vest from
officer Pratt, purporting to be the vest of
one Mr Andrews of Kingston. [Identifies
the vest.] I retained this vest for several
days, and early in June Dr White and my-
self examined it, we cut it, Dr. White tak-
idg part, and the remainder I retained
One piece had a clot of blood upon it. Dr
White and myself divided this piece equal-
ly; compared it with blood said to be that
of the murdered man, and found it exactly
similar; compared it with sheep, chicken,
and oxen's blood and found it entirely dif-
ferent. Other clothing was brought to me
which I here identify by marks made upon
it; found blood upon the pieces of the coat
and pantaloons. Identifies the fence rail,
before sworn to by Macoy; found upon
this, blood precisely the same as found up-
on ihe west. Identifies a pair of shoes and
a gray hair taken from one of the shoes.
Dr. J C White–sworn. Am a physi-
cian; my duties being to instruct students
in Harvard College. On the 6th of June
Maj. Jones and another man brought piec-
es of clothes to me, which I here recognize,
and also the fence rail; blood was found
upon the piece of vest, and by chemical
analyses was shown not to have been the
blood of quadrupeds. [The testimony of
Dr. White was purely scientific, of an ex-
ceedingly interesting nature, but the terms
used could hardly be made intelligent in
a rºlinary report.] In July received from
Jos A Holmes, a package of clothing, said
to have been worn by Cornelius Holmes.
In the left hand breast pocket was found
pine leaves, and a few gray hairs; there
were two stains in this pocket composed of
dry blood, which were superficial and had
not penetrated through the cloth, resembling
human blood; there were stains of blood
upon the outside of the coat; the left hand
pantaloon pocket was stained on both sides,
with a red substance which gave unmistak-
aule evidence of blood; the inside lining of
the waistband of the trowsers was also
lined with blood.
Court adjourned to quarter past two P. M.
AFTERNOON.
Dr J C White.
Cross Examination :-The stains on the
coat lining were small spots of blood.
Subjected no part of the outside of the coat
to analysis. I took the stains on the out-
-

24
side of the coat to be blood. In the trows-
ers I found no blood except in the left hand
pocket, and on the waistband. The micro-
scope used was a compound microscope,
magnifying several hundred diameters. The
corbuscles of human blood differ from those
of the blood of most other animals. A
single corbuscle of human blood is about
32-100 of an inch in diameter.
Dr Hayes re-called.
Cross Eacamination :-The examination of
the rail was made entirely by the microscope,
and was not subject to chemical analysis.
James N Sever—sworn. Was walking in
the cemetery with Captain Symmes when I
first heard of the murder. Benjamin Dun-
ham and Mr Cobb were there when I reached
them. [The testimony of this witness was
corroborative of that of the previous witness
in regard to the position of the body..] We
took $2.10 from the vest pocket. Captain
Symmes and myself then left. A short
time after Mr Edward Holmes came and
then the wallet was taken from the pocket
It was pretty full of bills. Both Mr Azel
Sampson and George F Willis examined the
pockets. I saw Samuel M Andrews at his
house that day. He said he sent a note by
Charley Newcomb.
Cross examined:—Do not know which
pocket the money came out of Go to the
cemetery four or five times a week. Do not
think the place is frequented in the evening;
the ground was covered with stones for
some 30 or 40 feet; there were loose stones
lying around upon the bank; saw two pools
of blood on the opposite side of the road
from where the body was; I saw a litle
spot of blood on the ground where the hat.
which was found, lay. A wallet, a noll o
bills, a jack knife, and snuff-box were put
into a handkerchief and given to me. Mr.
Andrews' general reputation was good. He
was a kind-hearted man.
Azel H. Sampson—sworn. Am Post
master at Kingston. Went to where the
body was, between 7 and 8 o'clock; there
were 15 or 20 persons there when I arrived.
The body was lying on the right side; I as-
sisted in turning the body over; I helped to
take the things out of the pockets; took a
small snuffbox out of the right hand coat
pocket; that roll supposed to contain money
I took out of the left hand pantaloon pock-
et, the wallet I took from the right hand
pantaloons' pocket. [All these articles are
here exhibited.] When I took hold of the
body to turn it over I had on my gloves; I
took off my gloves when I put my hands in-
to the pockets; I unbuttoned his pants to get
at the watch pocket to see if I could find
any thing else. From 15 to 20 stones were
bloody; the stones were towards the Rail-
road from the body. There were pools of
blood on the west side of the road farther
down than the body. Had my horse and
wagon there and the body was put into it
and carried to the house. When we ar.
rived there the body was taken out and car-
ried into the house. Helped take ºff his
clothes; his clothing was in proper order,
the shirt was pulled down, and I saw no
blood upon it. Saw Andrews on Wednes-
day at Leach's house; he said such excite-
ment never affected his brain, it aff, cºed
his stºmach. He spoke of Mr. Holmes
as having been kind to him. Saw him
again the night before the arrest; said he
always went to Boston with Mr Holmes
and Holmes always paid the bills; said that
Holmes carried a good deal of money, at
one time he told him he had $800 here, and
$1,000 here, and $1,200 here. He spoke of
Holmes having been in his garden on the
evening of the 26th.
Cross Examined:—There was any quanti-
ty of stones about where the body lay-
The needles were disturbed on the bank
looking as though there had been a scuffle.
Saw a hat on the left hand side of the road
ten to twenty feet from the roadway-
Should think there had been a scuffle near

25
where the hat lay. Saw bloody stones a-
bout there, when I drove down to take the
body I backed the wagon to the body and
when the body was loaded Geo F. Willis
was in the wagen. The body was put into
the lower room. I helped take off the pan-
taloons. Do not know who took of the
rest of the clothing. Have known Andrews
some ten years. Think he moved to Capt
Leach's before Paraclete died.
Wm Symmes-sworn. Saw the body of Mr
Holmes when it was first found. Mr James
N Sever, Mr Dunham and Mr Bates' man
were there. Nothing was done then. Mr
Sever and I walked away, and afterwards
returned. [The testimony of the witness
corroborates that of Mr Sever in regard to
the body..] Helped take off the clothing at
the house. The pants were all buttoned
up when the body was first ſound. The shirt
was bloody about the neck but in good or-
der below.
Joseph S Beal–sworn. First heard from
my man of the death of Mr Holmes, soon
aſter Mr Joseph Holmes came to my house
and we went to where the body lay. There
were $2.10 taken from his vest pocket.—
A wallet was taken from his right panta-
loon's pocket and a roll from his left panta-
loon's pocket. [The witnesses recognizes
the snuff box, wallet and the roll of bills.]
Where the body lay, there was considera-
ble blood, the ground was saturated about
where the head lay. The stones were
covered with blood. There were 12 stones
weighing from 4 to 12 lbs. covered with
blood. Counted in all 27 stones which
were bloody. Saw Saml. M. Andrews
that day, May 27, at 25 minutes past
12. Soon after I saw a stranger going
through my adjoining lot, trying to get
through my gate. I sung out to him, “you
cannot get through there, the gate is
fastened.” He went into the house where
my hired man lives. I soon found out it
was Mr Andrews; I asked him about the
note sent to Cornelieus, and he explained
it to me.
[The testimony of this witness was very
full with regard to conversations between
the witness and Andrews, in relation to the
work in the garden.]
Mr. Andrews said “I left off work a
few minutes before nine o'clock, when I went
into my house.” Said “I was at my house
when the ladies left, they spoke to me and I
spoke to them.” Said he told Mr Trabadt,
when he came up through the garden, he
only wanted to see the flowers. Spoke of
Cornelius as the best friend he had in Kings-
ton. He said he had often seen Cornelius
with large sums of money, as much as
$1200. He came out of my driveway and
went out into the street. Noticed that his
hands had been thoroughly soaked. My
next interview was on Friday when he
came down the street in charge of Mr Ma-
coy. Mr Macoy said, “Mr Andrews says,
ºthere was a copy of Mr Holmes will found
in his coat pocket.” Mr.Andrews says “yes,
or nearly a copy but I think the will gives
me more than the copy.” [The prisoner
here became excited and spoke out say-
ing. “Mr Beal I never said any such
thing.” J. On Wednesday, June 3, I ex-
amined the fence in front of Andrews’ house.
I saw marks on the rail looking like blood.
Pointed out the spots to Mr Macoy, and
helped him take off the rail, and carried
him down to the hotel, with the rail.
Did not leave the rail after I first saw
these spots until it was in possession of Mr
Macoy. [The location of the fence was here
pointed out to the Jury upon the plan.]
Cross examined. The first part of this
examination related to the death of Mr
Holmes' father and brother, and was un-
important. Did not know on Wednesday of
the will of Cornelius, think I first heard of
it Thursday evening. I think Frank Holmes
first told me of the copy of the will. Iſave
seen what purports to be a copy of the will.

26
Have kept it until a day or two ago when I
gave it to some of the officers of the Court.
(A paper is shown and identified as that
copy.) I think it was given to me Friday
or Saturday after the arrest; my impression
is I had it from Joseph A. Holmes. Have
notes purporting to be from Mr. Andrews.
(Several notes were here produced by the
witness, receipts, &c., and examined by M.
Davis, and read to the jury, including the
copy of the will, and severalletters of a very
religious nature.)
Mr Andrews had on a low hat when he
came and spoke to me, when seen closely it
was not all of one color. Asked Andrews
to give me the contents of the note he had
written to Cornelius, and he gave it to me
correctly with a single exception. When I
examined the fence I rode up to Andrews
and turned my horse around before I got
out. When I first saw the spots of blood
near the body the blood was partially dried.
Saw several stones which were bloody. This
was on Wednesday afternoon between 4 and
5 o'clock. Think I picked up a stone at
that time which had finger marks of blood
upon it. Two stones, one weighing about 8
and one about 10 lbs., were near the body,
both bloody. I have had the original will in
my possession given me by Mr Damon, and
by me copied in phonography. Did not
see the articles taken from the pockets of
Mr Holmes.
The examination was here suspended in
consequence of the illness of Mr Herschel
E Briggs, one of the jurors, and the Court
adjourned until half past eight Friday morn-
ing.
FRIDAY_FOURTH DAY.
John B. Hollis—sworn. Am Deputy
State Constable. Arrived in Kingston on
Thursday. Saw Andrews the first time in
the house of Mr. Leach, in Mr. Holmes
room. Told him we were officers sent
there to look up evidence, with regard to
the murder. He says I suppose you want
me to tell my story. He says “have you en-
quired where Capt. Leach was that night?”
Told him we had had some conversation
with him. Asked if we found out any
thing. Told him “not much.” Said Mr.
Holmes always wanted to see me before he
went to Boston. Went to Mr. Newcomb's
and sent him a note telling him if he want-
ed to see me he had better come to my
garden where I was going to work. He
came to my garden about half past 7 P. M.
came through the cemetery. Says he left
my garden soon after Mr. Delano left, a lit-
tle before 8 o'clock. Said he worked in
his garden as long as he could see after Mr.
Holmes left, as he wanted to finish plant-
ing. Isaid “we want to see you in the morn-
ing in your garden, to see where Holmes
went into the woods.” Said he was some-
what nervous, and wanted to get some rest,
but sat down a while longer. Said Capt.
Leach came to his house in the morning
and told him Cornelieus had not been home
during the night. That he told him he
guessed he would find him at Stony
Brook; he went that way when he left my
garden. Said Holmes had a large pocket
book. Mr. Morse showed him a pocket
book, and asked him if it was like that.
He said something like it. Said Holmes
had been a good friend to him, and had
made him a great many presents. Took a
coat from Holmes' barn. [The coat here
produced.] This is the same. Found pine
needles in the pocket, and spots in the
pocket looking like blood.
Cross eacamined : — Am not mistaken
regard to the pockets.
in the left hand breast pocket.
in
The needles were
Did no
27
know when I conversed with him that he
had conversed with Newcomb. Think I
saw the note written by Andrews to Holmes
that night. Arrived in Kingston Thursday
night and had very little conversation with
any one except Andrews. Went down to
the place where the body was found. Saw
spots of blood, a good many stones with
blood, and some with hair upon them. Saw
that some of the limbs of the pine trees,
were broken. The spot west of the road
looked as though some one had been there.
George H. Morse—sworn. Came to Kings-
ton on Thursday with Mr Hollis. We went
up into Mr Holmes' room, Mr Joseph
Holmes brought up Mr Andrews and in-
troduced him. Mr Hollis told Mr Andrews
“we wish to learn all the facts, as we are
informed that you were on intimate terms
with him and can give us more information
than any body else.” He said “who do you
suspect?” Mr. Hollis said, “we do not know
who is suspected yet, we want to get at all
the facts.” I asked him if he saw any one
go down to the woods either just before, or
just after Mr Holmes left his garden. He
said he did not. Said that Holmes said he
was going down to Stony Brook, as there
was some one there he must see. Did not
say who it was. [The testimony of this wit
ness fully corroborated that of Mr Hollis,
the previous witness.]
Cross Examined:—No one but Mr Hollis
and Mr Andrews was present when we had
this interview.
pocket book was a little smaller one than the
one I showed him, and a little lighter col-
ored. I asked him if the wallet found on
the body was the one he referred to, and he
said it was not. There was a sign that the
pine needles had been disturbed, and there
was blood spattered around there. Made
memoranda at the time, which were written
out and banded to the District Attorney of
of the facts from which my testimony has
been given.
me.
Mr Andrews said the large
[This memoranda was here shown by
the Attorney General, and a long discussion
ensued as to whether the counsel for the de-
fence could cross examine the witness upon
those statements. The Court decided that
the defence were entitled to read the paper,
and might present the statements there made
to the jury.]
Made the memoranda at the time on
patent tablets, and consequently wrote out
the testimony from this memoranda.
Mrs Mary H. Peckham—sworn. Am the
wife of Rev Joseph H. Peckham. Went to
Mr Andrews' house on the evening of May
26th. Met Mrs Jones, Miss Sever and other
ladies there. Did not go away with the rest
of the ladies. Administered Ether to Mrs
Andrews, and left for home about half past
ten. Saw Andrews as I was going out and
told him Mr Peckham had been there twice
to see him that evening. He said he had
been at work planting potatoes in his garden.
He said he would go part way home with
Saw him the next day, at his house.
He looked sober and said Cornelius had
been found murdered. We had some con-
versation in regard to it. Saw him again,
think it was Wednesday or Thursday. He
told me something about the will. Think
he said he had carried it to Plymouth. Had
no conversation with Andrews about the will
prior to the death of Cornelius Holmes.
Saw him several times after the murder be-
fore he was carried to Plymouth.
Cross examined—Mr Andrews was in at
our house Thursday morning. He had been
down to the mill and was unable to work —
He might have spoken of having carried the
will to 1-lymouth at that time. (Mrs Peckham
was here shown a plan of Mr Andrews'
house, and explained the location of the sev-
eral rooms to the counsel and the Court, and
the counsel explained the matter to the jury.)
Euler late in the Spring, or early in the sum-
m r Mrs Andrews called at ºur house and
slid Mr. Holmes wanted to make a will,—

















28
that he had drawn up a memorandum of a
will, but did not like it very well; think she
showed me the memorandum which I took.
She asked me if Mr. Peckham would assit
in drawing up a memorandum from which
the lawyer could make a will; presented the
matter to my husband; he objected at first
because Mr. Holmes was not particularly
friendly to Mr. Peckham. This memoran-
dum was finally drawn up and I gave it to
Mrs Andrews.
Re-examined by the Attorney General :-
The only memoranda which Mr. Peckham
furnished me and which I gave to Mrs An-
drews was to put in form such suggestions as
were made in the paper which Mrs Andrews
gave me. -
Edward Holmes—sworn. Am brother of
Cornelius Holmes. Received articles pur-
porting to be taken from the body of Cor-
nelius Holmes. [The witness identifies the
snuff box, package. of money, wallet and
handkerchief, produced by Mr. Sampson,
as the same.] Received these articles
while the body was lying upon the ground.
Did not see them taken from the body.
Received them from James N. Sever; they
were tied up in the handkerchief when I
received them. I saw the money counted.
There was $740. Saw Andrews that day
at the house where the inquest was held, at
the time.
Cross examined:—Saw none of the arti-
cles taken from the pockets. I was near
by but looking the other way. Did not
want to see the pockets examined. First
saw the memorandum of a will at the in-
inquest; it was handed me by Joseph A.
Holmes. Mr. Lysander Bartlett said it was
taken from the coat of my brother in the
barn. Should think it was at 9 or 10 o’clock
in the morning. My brother called at my
house. Did not call on him very often.
Never said any thing to me about making a
will. Never heard that he had said he
should give nothing to me or my family.
Margaret Dailey-sworn. Knew Corne-
lius Holmes. Saw him have a pretty good
size, large pocket book. It was larger and
wider than the wallet which has been iden-
tified. I saw him taking a note out of it.
Should think I saw it five minutes.
Cross examined:—I saw the pocket book
open. Asked him how much money he had,
he said I “should not covet my neighbors
goods.” I first told Mr. Alexander Holmes
of this pocket book, when I heard Mr.
Holmes was dead. Am sure it was a large
pocket book, and fastened with a strap. I
came to live with Mr. Alexander Holmes a
year ago last May. Cornelius came there
pretty often. He always came through the
kitchen. I was standing in the kitchen
when I saw the pocket book; was not near
enough to see how much money there was
in it.
Lysander Bartlett—sworn. Was in Capt.
Leach's house Thursday afternoon. I first
went in to see the body, then into the cham-
ber where Mr. Andrews, Edward Holmes,
and Joseph A. Holmes were. Andrews
said he knew Cornelius had a large pocket
book. Joseph A. Holmes asked him if he
Said he
knew anything about the will.
did, he had been over to Plymouth, had
seen Sheriff Bates who said he was one of
the witnesses to the will.
Cross Examined:—Cornelius was at my
house often. Sometimes once a week, and
sometimes oftner. Stayed an hour or more
at a time. Came often when I was not at
home. Have heard my wife say several
times that Cornelius had made a will.—
Think I have mentioned the matter to oth-
ers. Do not recollect that I have heard that
he had given anything to Andrews. Knew
Mr Andrews and Mr Holmes were friends,
never saw them together. Mr Andrews
said he thought it strange that people should
ask him about the will. Mr Joseph A Hol-
mes then said “is that all you know about
the will” Mr.Andrews said “no " I am a ship
carpenter and work for Mr Edward Holmes.
Mrs Eliza Bartlett—sworn. Am the wife

29
of Mr Lysander Bartlett. Had a talk with
Mr Andrews aſter Mr Holmes' death. He
said he knew of his carrying large amounts
in a large pocket book. -
Cross Examined:—Recollect that Mr An-
drews had his hands crossed in front of him.
Known Cornelius Hºlmes ever since we
went to school together. Have heard him
say he was going to make a will in the
course of the summer. The same year Par-
aclete died. Afterwards told me had made
a will, and had given the Baptist society
$1,000. Asked me if he had not done pretty
well by the society. Heard him say he
should not give his brothers and staters any-
thing. That they did not need it. Did not
speak to my husband about it until it had
been made as much as six months. Corne-
lius said be could alter his will at any time.
Saw the clothes taken from Mr Holmes
while the gentleman was shaving him. I
carried them to the wood house and put
them on a pile of shingles. I found in the
pockets a handkerchief and piece of waste
paper. Mrs Waldo Fuller took out some
keys and handed them to me. Do not rec-
ollect of seeing any hairs on the clothing.
Mr. Andrews used the words “large pocket
book” not wallet. Did not hear that a copy
of the will was found until next day.
To the Attorney General:—Cornelius said
his brothers and sisters had money enough
and said some of them would get none of
his property. Did not say he should cut
them all off. He had often said the Baptists
should not suffer while he lived. Said he
had made his will and had given them $1,-
000. Told him it did not correspond with
his talk considering the amount of property
he had. Said he could alter his will at any
time. He said Mrs Tilton, a former minis-
ter's wife, was of the same opinion,-that
he had not given the society enough.
Richard Smith–sworn. Live in Kings-
ton. Work in Newcomb's factory. Have
known him 10 years. Talked with him
Thursday morning about 6 o'clock. He
said no one was found who committed the
murder. He said “give me your hand and
don't tell, until you hear it from others.
Andrews has made a will, and given me all
his furniture, silver plate, silver watch, and
the rest of his property to me and Joseph A.
Holmes.” -
[The testimony of this witness was given
in such broken English and in so low a tone
that it was entirely unintelligible.]
No cross examination.
Daniel E. Damon sworn. Am Register of
Probate and Attorney at Law. Was coun-
sel for the prisoner from the Saturday that
Andrews was committed until soon after the
Grand Jury met in June. I wrote a will
for Cornelius Holmes June 29, 1867. An-
drews came to my house after I had taken
tea, and said Cornelius Holmes wanted me
to make a will. We went into the office with
Holmes, and either Holmes said to Andrews
you may go now, or Andrews said “I will go
now.” Mr Holmes then produced a memo-
randa and said he wanted a will made from
that. From that memoranda I made a will
which was executed in presence of Major
Bates, Captain Harmon and myself. [The
will is here produced and read..] The will
was executed that evening. Do not know
as I saw Andrews again until Wednesday,
the day after the murder. I was in Boston,
came home in the last train. Saw Andrews
after I got home. He gave me the will and
said he had brought it for me to keep in the
Probate Office. Said he had brought it over
because he had been advised to do so by Mr
Newcomb and I think Dr Jones. Spoke of
the will and silver, and said they were left
with him. When the will was made it was
put into an envelope but not sealed up.
[The Attorney General here attempted to
put in the fact that Mr Damon found money
concealed in Andrews' cellar, but it was
ruled out, the act being while Mr Damon
was acting as counsel for the prisoner.
30
Cross Examined:—Mr Holmes and I
talked over the items of the will, and a few
alterations were made. Did not see An-
drews again that night.
Mrs Maria Leach–sworn. Cornelius
Holmes lived in my husband's family. Saw
Andrews the morning after the murder. We
spoke of the murder. Said Cornelius was
in the habit of carrying large sums of
money, had known nim to carry as much as
$1,000 at a time in a large pocket book.
Came to our house quite often, more than
once a week. He often was in my room and
they had interviews there, and Cornelius
would invite him to his room up stairs.
Cross eacamined :-I think Mr. Holmes
boarded with me two years and one day.
The clothes which were taken from Holmes
I do not know what became of. I did Mr.
Holmes’ washing. Dot not remember of
ever seeing Holmes' clothes wet when they
were brought to be washed. Should have
known if there was anything of the kind.
Cornelius would frequently offer to help me
wash his clothes, when he knew I was not
well. Said he had frequently done so, and
he would sometimes take hold and wash
the wristbands and dirtiest places. Told
me twice he had made a will, but did not
tell what the provisions of the will were.
Seemed to feel very bad when Alexander
Holmes was sick. Visited Frank Holmes
often. Visited Edward’s quite frequently.
Re-examined:—Mr. Holmes asked my
husband if he could alter his will, he
told him “yes, or he could add a codicil.”
Geo. T. Adams–sworn. Live in Kings-
ton, am a farmer and dealer in provision.
The court adjourned to quarter past
two P. M.
Mr. Adams–Know Mr. Andrews, he
came to borrow money of me; the first
time $100. Told me he would give me 8
per cent. that he had subscribed for the re-
pairs of the Church, and did not want the
society to know he hired money. Told him
I would let him have it in a week. Did let
him have it May 20, as shown by a note
here. He also owed me a meat bill of $51,
and promised to see both that and the note
paid in October. Saw Mr. Andrews the
morning after the murder. Said his wife
was in convulsions. Stopped at his house,
it was five minutes past eight.
Cross examined:—Said he wanted the
money for church purposes.
Simeon W. McLaughlin—sworn. Live
in Kingston. Andrews came to me April
16th to borrow money. Said he had sub-
scribed $200 to repair the church. I lent
him money, and took his note for $100.
Cross examination :-He stated to me
that he had subscribed $200 towards the
church: He said they had put it into shares
of $100 per share; that he should have to
raise $200 for six weeks.
Wm. H. Burges-sworn. Live in Kings-
ton, keep store. Did not loan Mr. An-
drews money.
"Cross examined:—There is a footpath
leading from near our store across the
cemetery to the trip-hammer neighborhood.
Have an account against Andrews. He
had paid money at different times. On
May 20, $34.70. He did not then pay all
he owed. From January to this time he
had paid us $211.81. We had paid $7," on
a verbal order of his to my partner's sis-
ter. He had spoken to me at one time say-
ing he had rather not pay his bill that
month, as he had advanced money to pay
Mr. Peckham.
Wm. S. Adams–sworn. The prisoner on
the 9th of April borrowed of me $100, and
took his note for it, payable one year from
date. He charged me not to let any one
know it, said he did not want Cornelius or
Mr. Newcomb to know of it. Charged me
not to say anything to any one. The wit-
ness testified to the same facts relative to
the position of the body, bloody stones,
finger prints, &c. Noticed a large size flat
stone, which had blood upon it. Saw marks
looking like heel marks, down the hill, some
40 feet from the body. Mr. Andrews said


31
Cornelius had a note of $150, and Edward
Holmes coming up said such a note had
been found. -
Cross examined—Saw pine needles in the
road near the body. Saw a pool of blood
some 5 feet from the body, and the evidence
of a scuffle on the bank, near the trees.—
Supposed he and Andrews were particular
friends.
Addie Reed–sworn. Is the sister of
Mrs. Andrews. Made an examination in
Mr. Andrews’ cellar. Mr. Damon found
some money in the closet in the cellar-
The money was found in the right hand
corner of the lower unpainted closet. There
was $190. One $100 bill, one $20, and two
$10's, among the money found. It was in a
brown paper. Cross examination post-
poned.
Cyrus W. Ripley—recalled. Found a
piece of skull bone last Sunday afternoon
within two feet of where the body of Holmes
was found. Identifies the piece of bone.
Ezra Fuller—sworn. Went to the place
where the body of Cornelius Holmes was
found on the morning when it was first
seen. When I first got there, there were
but three there. There was an impression
in the ground where the body lay.
No cross examination.
Henry Cobb–sworn. Went to see the
body of Cornelius Holmes. No one moved
the body while I was there until others
canne.
Cross Ezamined:—The body lay ontside
the rut. Did not discover any hole in par-
ticular, it was just outside the rut.
Benjamin Dunham—sworn. Went to see
the body of Mr Holmes. No one was there
when I got there except Mr Hearn. Mr
Henry Cobb and I went there together.
Cross Examined:—Saw considerable many
stones about there. It was quite a stony
place. Am not positive who took the money
from the pockets. Helped put the body
into the cart. Do not know how many there
were there, might be 30 or 40.
Elizabeth Holmes—sworn. First heard
that Mr Holmes was killed about 7 o'clock
on the 27th. Saw Andrews about half past
seven. I said to him “Cornelius is killed.”
He said “he is, and that is all I know about
it.”
Rev Joseph H. Peckham re-called:—Re-
ceived from Mr Andrews between April 1st
and the death of Holmes $319.
Cross Eacamined :-Received of Andrews
between January 1st and, April $82. Told
Andrews I would subscribe $100 towards my
salary. There was about $2,000 subscribed
towards removing and repairing the church
The same was put into shares of $100 each
Mr Andrews subscribed and paid $50, for
which I loaned him the money. On May 24
he paid me this money back.
At this point the Attorney General an-
nounced that the Government rested their
case for the prosecution. The Court gave
the jury a recess of five minutes.
Opening for the Defence.
After some discussion between the Attor-
|ney General, the counsel for the defence
and the Court, relative to what has been
proved, and what is claimed by the Gov-
ernment. Mr. Davis, at eight minutes past
4 o'clock P. M., commenced his opening for
the defence. Mr. Davis commenced by re-
ferring to the maternal ancestors, referring
to their insane proclivities. He referred
to the threats of violence, on the part of
his mother when the prisoner was four
years of age, and she was taken from home
and sent to a lunatic asylum where she
died. The mother of the prisoner was in-
sane when he was conceived, insane when
he was born, and when he was nursed, and
who has lived even with the fear that this
inherent misfortune would be visited up-
on him. With a life blameless in all its re-
lations, the prisoner comes here charged

32
with the highest crime known to our laws,
and the jury are asked to decide upon the
evidence. The counsel claimed that upon
the character of the prisoner alone, they
had a right to a verdict of acquittal, it be-
ing morally impossible for him to commit
such a deed.
The counsel here referred to the fact that
meither of Mr. Holmes’ brothers and sis-
ters did not take him to their families, after
the death of Mr. Holmes' father, and that
he, naturally enough, sought a home in the
family of Mr. Andrews, who had been kind
to him. Mr. Holmes was not an idiot, nor
in all respects a weak-minded man. He
had a will of his own, was a man of strong
animal passions, but never married, nor, so
far as is known, indulged in any sexual re-
lations with the opposite sex.
[A portion of what the defence propose
to show, referred to by his counsel, is not
of a nature to be admitted to our columns.]
The friendly relations existing between
the parties was here dwelt upon at some
length, and the planting of the garden on
the night of the 26th, and the visit to the
cemetery to see the lots, and other im-
provements, &c. The scenes here de-
scribed are similar to those mentioned in
the confession, soon after the death of Mr.
Holmes, and We cannot, of course, insert it.
After the act was committed, and the
prisoner rises in the morning to reflect upon
what he had done, he remembered of the
will, and from that time his acts were to
conceal the facts, and prevent suspicion
resting upon him.
The motive for the act was here adverted
to, and it was claimed that no possible
motive could have existed for such an act,
when the man who was killed was his best
friend. The jury are to decide whether this
Mr. Holmes’ father died.
is a deliberate, premeditated murder, cr
whether it was murder with extreme atroci-
ty and cruelty ; manslaughter; or if it is
justifiable homicide. The counsel have
dwelt upon the points of law as understood
by the defence in this case, read from the
authorities upon the matter of circumstantial
evidence, and at great length the rules of
evidence was referred to, but which the
public would hardly find interesting or in-
structive.
The opening occupied about two hours in
being presented, and, though mitºh of it
was of an indelicate nature there were a
large number of ladies, many of them quite
young women who seemed unabashed—
throughout the entire address of Mr. Davis.
First Witness for the Defence.
Alden White:–sworn. Mr. Andrews
owes me over $1,000. I do not know ex-
actly how much, I havn't reckoned it up
lately. That transaction extends back
quite a number of years. Think Andrews
spoke to me with regard to a will.
A long discussion here occurred, with
regard to the admissibility of certain state-
ments of Andrews.
Mr Andrews said Mr. Holmes had made
a will and used him well in it. It was
about a year ago. Lived with Mr. Joseph
Holmes seventeen or eighteen years before
he died. Used to see Mr. Cornelius Holmes
and Mr. Andrews together quite often. Do
not know how long they were acquainted.
This familiarity was both before and after
Mr. Andrews'
general reputation was good.
Adjourned to Saturday morning at nine
o'clock.

33
SATURDAY-FIFTH DAY.
The Court came in on Saturday at 9
o'clock, and the examination of the witness-
es for the defence was resumed.
Alden White—resumed.' I said to An-
drews I thought Cornelius was ſailing in
health. Andrews said he thought he was
too. This was where Mr Edward Holmes
now lives.
Cross Examined by the District Attorney :
—This was in the evening, Andrews came to
the house on business. Remember of no
other conversation, except that Andrews
said he did not want me to name the matter
of the will to any one. Saw Andrews the
morning after the murder on the road be-
tween his house and Mr Caleb Bates’. He
got into my wagon and rode a few rods.
He said Cornelius had talked hard about
folks of late. Mr Caleb Bates had previous-
ly told me of Mr Holmes' death.
George Clark–sworn. Live the next
house east of Mr Delano's, near Mr An-
drews. Andrews spoke to me Monday
night about purchasing some hens; told
him I would come after them the next night.
Tuesday night I went after them; found
him in his garden about half past seven
o'clock; partly paid him for the fowls, but
we could not make change; told me I could
pay him any time, that the hens belonged to
his wife. I then went home, changed my
clothes and went to the meeting of Good
Templars. This was about 8 o'clek. I put
up a notice forbidding persons from passing
through my grounds. Think I have seen
one or two persons go through east of my
house; belong to the same church. Mr
Andrews, Mr Gershom Bradford and myself
3.
were appointed a committee to purchase the
property of Mr Ezra Perkins, and dispose
of it for the benefit of the Society. The
purchase was made by Mr Bradford who
acted as committee for the whole. If there
was any arrangement to sell any portion of
the land I did not know of it.
Charles Newcomb–sworn. Andrews has
given me notes three or four times to Corne-
lus Holmes. Carried a note the night be-
fore I heard of the murder of Mr Holmes.
This was about twenty-five minutes of seven
at night. Have seen Frank Newcomb, my
brother, carry notes to Holmes for Andrews.
No cross examination.
Frank Newcomb–sworn. Have carried
notes to Holmes for Andrews; know of no
one else who has except my brother.
Catherine O'Rouke—sworn. Live in
Kingston; work in Mr Newcomb's mill.
Have carried one note to Holmes from An-
drews.
Mrs. Mary Reed–sworn. Am mother of
Mrs. Andrews. Reside at Mrs Andrews.
Have lived there nine or ten years. Mrs.
Johnson and Mr. Wormell boarded at Mr.
Andrews. My room was next to Mr. Wor-
mell's. Did not see. Mr. Andrews on the
evening of May 26th. Went to bed be-
tween 9 and 10. I did the washing when
Cornelius lived at our house.
[A discussion here ensued with regard te
the admissibility of testimony tending to
show the habits of Holmes, and the testi-
mony was ruled out.]
Knew Mr. Andrews went down to the
cemetery a good many times on Sunday; a
good many times; went down to the ceme

34
tery one Sunday three times; once did not
get back until after meeting time. Always
went to evening meeting. During the last
spring Andrews seemed kind of dull at
times; would come in and go out suddenly.
Always complained of headache; have had
to bathe his head; I used to sit up with him.
Complained of general headache often, and
had trouble with his eyes three or four times
a year. Have heard Cornelius say he was
going to make a will, and he wished Mr
Andrews to fare well. I saw the will in the
house. Andrews took it out of a box and
showed it to me. Never saw it but once.
Do not remember when it was. Holmes
said he wanted Andrews to have his watch,
and several other things; he said he had
spoken to his sister, Mrs. Adams, about it.
He spoke well of Joseph A Holmes. Said
he had told his sister, his brothers should
have none of his property, they had prop-
erty enough. Cornelius came to Mr. An-
drews the Saturday aſternoon previous to
the homicide; brought some flowers which
Iput in the vase. Said he wanted Andrews
to keep the flowers but did not want him to
carry them into the orthodox church; he
waited until Samuel came home, and spoke
of the flowers again; said he got them at
Mr Watson's in Plymouth. Knew An-
drews' mother in Plymouth. She was a
mild, pleasant woman.
[This kind of evidence is objected to and
ruled out...]
Never saw Mr Andrews' mother but once
after she was sent to the Insane hospital,
at Worcester.
Cross examined:—Never saw Holmes'
will but once, and then Mrs. Andrews read
it to me. Do not remember whether it had
any seal or not; it was in an envelope. She
took it out of a book in her room. Think it
was several months before Holmes' death.
Heard Cornelius speak of his will several
times. Heard him say that he did not
want anything to do with the d–d ortho-
dox. Good many people went to the cem-
etery sundays. Andrews had the headache
when he had been overworked
Daniel E. Damon–sworn. Mr. Holmes
asked me what I should charge for writing
the will; he hesitated some time. Wanted
to know if I should change the will, if I
should charge anything more.
Cross examined:—He left my office and
in a few minutes came back and said I
might go on and write it.
Mary T. Johnson–sworn. Reside in
Kingston. Have boarded at Mr Andrews
four years last fall. Was there when Cor-
nelius Holmes boarded there. Heard Mr.
Holmes say he was going to make his will,
and that Mr. Andrews should fare well.
Said he had spoken to his sister Mrs. Ad-
ams about it, and that she said “do what
you please with your property.” He said
the Holmes' should not have any of his
property. Was at home a portion of the
time on the evening of May 27th, in Mrs.
Reed's room. Went out between nine and
ten with Mrs. Atwell Adams. Did not see
Mr. Andrews after supper that evening.
His habit was to eat his meals by himself,
coming home late. Had a great deal of
headache and took ether for it. Have known
Mrs. Reed to get up and go to his room at
night. Remember when Frank Robbins
died, Mr. Andrews came home and put his
hands to his head and said “ oh dear, have
you heard the news.” Saw Mr. A. after the
death of Cornelius, about the house. No-
ticed no smell of ether. Went to the store
at the depot the day before the homicide,
for a bushel of potatoes and a barrel of flour.
This was sometime in the afternoon.
Cross eacamined : Saw Mr. Andrews
Wednesday noon, before dinner. Mrs.
Andrews asked me to go for the potatoes.
Heard Mr. Andrews say he was going to the
store.
asking me to get these and other articles at
the store.
Mrs. Andrews was in the habit of -

35
[The court here took a recess of ten min-
utes.]
Bethiah C. Austin—sworn. Reside
Plymouth, and am a school teacher. Knew
Mr. Andrews' mother, lived a neighbor
to her on Cole's Hill. To me she always
appeared insane. Knew when Samuel was
born. She was insane at the time. Saw
Mr Andrews at the house of Mrs Robbins in
Plymouth, at the time Frank died. He
appeared very lively on the occasion. Saw
him I think every day until after the funeral.
Saw him again soon after Frank was buried.
Saw him again last April, met him on the
street. He laughed quite heartily, so much
so that it shocked me. He was walking
quite fast. -
Cross examined—Do not know how old
Mr Andrews is, should think 44 or 45 years.
His mother was never treated for insanity
before his birth, to my knowledge. Mr
Andrews has two sisters living, one in Ply-
mouth, and one in Newmarket, N. H. One
sister is dead, and Samuel is the youngest
child. Did not see Mrs Andrews often, she
was insane and I did not wish to see her;
perhaps not oftener than once in six months.
Think Samuel was three or four years old
when his mother was sent to the hospital.
Hannah McDaniels–sworn. Am the sis-
ter of the prisoner. Am 40 years old, my
brother Samuel is about 37. Remember my
mother, and that they had to tie her when
they carried her away. She died at Brattle-
boro. My brother Calvin went to California
with some Plymouth people. I left Ply-
mouth 14 years ago.
[The witness at this point of her testimony
fainted, and was taken from the Court room
in charge of Dr. Gordon.]
Mrs Eleanor Robbins—sworn. Live in
Plymouth. Am the oldest child of my
in
mother, am 48 years old and the sister of Mr
Andrews. Think my mother would have
been seventy-five this month; she has been
dead eight or nine years; I was ten years
old when I first remembered my mother
particularly. She said people would talk
about her, and would get into a chair and
watch for people. I thought at first it was
so, but soon found out that she was mis-
taken. This was before Samuel was born.
She used to take Samuel and wander off
with him. Remember my grandmother;
grandmother, Mercy Robbins, remember
that she was not like other people, but I was
not old enough to understand why. George
Robbins was reported to be insane for five
years. My grandmother told me that every
one of her mother's children but herself,
were insane. My mother used to get up
nights and turn her shoes around. I lived
with Samuel most of the time until I was
married. Lost a son two years ago. Samuel
came over in the morning. I noticed he
was uncommonly lively, and walked about
a great deal.
told me that Cornelius was making his will.
I understood it was at Mr Damon's. Did
hot say what the will was to be. A year ago.
last October he told me Cornelius Holmes
had made his will, and it was in his favor.-
many times. They have been at our house
together quite frequently.
No cross examination.
ton in the south part. Worked down by the
depot, and generally went through the cem-
etery. Crossed just at the foot of the hill
where the body was found. I passed that
way night and morning. Sometimes I have
been across there as late as half past nine;
have seen people in the cemetery as late as 8
o'clock. Passed there the night before the
body was found, about half past seven.
"roºs lºcamined:—When it was foggy I
Adjourned to quarter past two, P. M.
she died at the house of Mr Calvin Bearce,
in Plymouth. I just remember my great.
Samuel was over here with Cornelius a great
hady ºver saw anybody in the cemetery. …,
He came to my house and
Smith Fuller—sworn. Reside in King.

36
AFTERNOON.
Mrs McDaniels—testimony resumed. My
brother Samuel and Cornelius Holmes were
at my house in Newmarket, a year ago last
March. They last came to my house on the
first of last April. My house was in sight
of the Depot, about five minutes walk by the
road. I went to the door and met my broth-
er and Mr Holmes. They stayed all night.
In the morning my brother appeared strange
stopped several little children and ate nuts
with them. He did not treat me as he
usually did, and did not ask me to come and
see him. Did not stay with me all the eve-
ning. When there before he always stayed
with me most of the time. He was always
very fond of me when there before.
Cross examined : Have three children,
one was seven last January. Lived in New
Hampshire fourteen years. My brother was
at my house in July, five years ago, and but
once since.
[The witness here corrected her direct
testimony.]
Have not been in Plymouth or Kingston
for four years, until now. I have not seen
much of my brother for a few years back-
The last time he was there he waved his
handkerchief when he left, but five years
before, when he was there, do not remember
that he did wave his handkerchief.
Hannah Bearce—sworn. Is sister to the
mother of the prisoner, and is 59 years old
the 3d of next April. Remembers her
grandmother as being anything but sane.
Samuel M. Andrews was brought up by
mother and myself in this town. He might
have been 8 or 9 years old when we moved
to where we new reside, near Russells
Mills. His home was with us until he was
married, when he was about 20 years of age.
He worked in Kingston about a year and
came home Saturday nights. Do not re-
member about Mr. Andrews' mother being
insane until about a year before Samuel was
born. Sometimes she would cry a good
deal, and sometimes would laugh. When
Samuel was born, she was insane. Four or
five months before he was born I stayed a
fortnight with her. She continued to grow
worse until she was carried to the hospital;
knew when she was carried to the hospital
at Worcester. She remained there consid.
erable time and came back to Plymouth,
being considered incurable, she was sent
to the Brattleboro’ hospital, by the town.
Samuel Andrews paid the expense of bring-
ing the body of his mother to Plymouth,
and burying her after she died.
[The testimony of this witness was cor-
roborative of other testimony with regard to
the insanity of the collateral branches of
of the family.]
Have visited Samuel several times in
Kingston since he kept house. He came to
the house of my niece in New Hampshire, on
the 1st of April.
I tried to have him come to my room and
he would not come. He finally came up and
stayed about ten minutes, and I thought he
appeared very strange. He went round the
house a good deal with his sister's children.
When he was going to the depot he waved
his hand a good many times, and also the
last thing when he got into the cars.
Cross Examined:—My mother died twelve
years ago the 12th day of last July. She
was never insane. Samuel Andrews' mother
was the oldest of my father's children. My
father and mother had six children—Jeru-
sha was the eldest, (Andrews' mother,) The
remaining five children were Betsey, Besson,
Ichabod, Thomas, Calom, and myself. The
offspring of these children, with the excep-
tion of Mrs Andrews numbered, thirty-four,
none of whom were insane. When An-
drews was two months old my mother and
myself took him and his mother to our
bouse. Andrews was nursed by his mother
until he was two years of age.

37
Loring W Barnes—sworn. Formerly
lived in Kingston. Knew Cornelius Holmes
and Andrews. I worked in Newcomb's fac-
tory. Holmes gave me a pocket book but
I am not sure whether he gave Andrews one.
I think this was in 1859.
[Objection was raised to a question as to
whether the witness ever slept with Corne-
lius Holmes, and the objection was sustained
by the Court. The Court stated that they
should not authorize the jury to infer either
offence that had been intimated.]
No further question was asked the witness
Boston, towards paying the salary of the
minister.
Cross examined by the Attorney General:
[Paper shown witness which she thought
was the same one read by Mrs Andrews.]
Never knew before Mr Andrews received
the check that he had any church money in
his possession.
Thomas Bearce—sworn. I reside in
Chiltonville and am 62 years of age. I am
brother to Mrs Andrews. She first exhib-
ited symptoms of insanity forty-three years
ago when at times she would be very gloomy,
Miss Addie Reed who was a witness for and at other times indulging in fits of
the Government, testified that she had re- laughter. This was about five years before
sided in Mr Andrew's family for the past
15 yrs. I was present at a conversatiou in
the sitting room at Mr Andrew's house,
when Mr Holmes spoke about making a will
and said that Mr Andrews’ should fare well.
He also said that Edward Holmes' family
should receive none of his money. I recol-
lect of seeing a will but did not read it.—
It had a seal on the right hand side. I can-
not fix the time of this conversation. I
heard the will read by Mrs Andrews’, but
can recollect but little of it. Can remember
that Mrs Adams was to have his easy chair.
Mr Andrews' his silver ware and Joseph
Holmes and Mr Andrews the remainder
the property. Have heard Mr Holmes re-
mark several times that Mr Andrews should
fare well when he died. Have seen a gold
watch at Mr Holmes house, which he said
would be Mr Andrews when he died. On
night of murder I retired about ten o'clock.
The next morning I did not see him, as I
went to my school at Abington. Before Mr
Andrews came to Plymouth he first handed
me a $50 bill and a portmonnaie and told
me to provide for the family as I was the
only one who could do it. The bill was
given me before noon and pocket book in the
afternoon. I think there was abnut $40 in
the pocket book. I know Mr Andrews re-
ceived a check of $50 from Mr Tobey, in
was treated as an insane person.
Samuel was born, and during that time she
At time
of birth and after, insanity seemed to be
settled upon her. I recollect that about
five months previous to his birth, she got up
at midnight one night, and took a long
walk without anything upon her head. Af-
ter his birth, we did not consider it safe to
leave him alone with her. It is thirty-three
years since she was carried to an insane
asylum, and died in the insane asylum at
Brattleboro, Vt. My grandmother mar-
ried a Doten, and had two children, Mercy
and Jerusha. When Mercy died, (who was
the daughter of Mercy Robbins) she was
73 or 74 years of age. After the death of
Mr. Doten my grandmother married Mr
Robbins, and had four children, namely:
Eben, the eldest, George and Betsey, twins,
and Benjamin, the youngest. Eben was
taken insane at the age of 32 and continued
so until his death; George was deranged
for a period of five years and then recovered;
Benjamin was deranged when at the age of
40, and Betsey was insane and we expect
that she strangled herself. Mr Andrews
appeared to be a very timid and harmless
man; was generous and free hearted. I
thought he was a very religious man.
Cross Examined by Attorney General:—
My Aunt Mercy first became insane when

38
about seventy years of age. My mother's
half brother Ebenezer received a blow by
some falling object in a factory long before
he became insane. -
Calvin Bearce,—sworn.
younger than my brother Thomas. First
remember Mrs Andrews when about four
years of age. I am now sixty-one years old.
When she first exhibited traces of insanity
she was about thirty years old. She ap-
peared to be absent-minded, and was very
jealous of her neighbors, thinking that they
were injuring her, when in reality it was
nothing but imagination. This was before
Hannah was born. After Samuel was born
she was very violent. I recollect hearing
my mother say, that she caught her by the
throat one day, and endeavored to choke
her. One Sunday while visiting at my
house she suddenly started off and walked
to my brothers's house, a considerable dis-
tance, leaving Samuel at my house. When
she arrived at my brothers' house she said
that she must go back immediately, as she
had left her child. He went back with her
and she threatened to kill him if he did not
go back. The distance that she walked was
about three and one-half miles. My grand-
mother was always insane.
was quite insane, and was in the habit of
destroying things. Benjamin I can recollect
as insane, also George and his sister Betsey.
Mr. Andrews was a generous and humane
man, and was also a timid man, so much so
that a small boy coming out of a door would
frighten him.
Cross examined by Attorney General : –
My mother's sister Mercy was taken sick
befºre she became insane. I think that this
sickness caused her insanity. My niece,
Mrs Robbins, has now one child.
William Robbins—sworn. I am son of
Eleanor Robbins. Mr Andrews is my uncle.
I heard conversation about will at Andrews’
house, about one year ago. He showed me
a will bequeathing him and Joseph Holmes
I am two years
Eben at times
the larger portion of Cornelius Holmes'
property. He urged me to read it, and I
did, but cannot remember all of its contents.
It appeared to be a will drawn up in a legal
form, and having a seal upon it. Heard a
conversation some time previous about a
will, but cannot recollect what it was. I
recollect of Mr. Andrews coming to see me
once, and speaking about my being a wit-
ness to a will. He has purchased two
pounds of ether of me, one pound in Nov.
1867, and the other the day after the trag-
edy.
No cross examination.
Mr Guilford Newcomb–sworn. I reside
in Kingston, and am interested with my
brother in a factory situated there. I paid
Andrews $229.77 from January 1st until the
time of the tragedy. I am a deacon of the
same church that Andrews was. He was the
Treasurer. He rendered a verbal account of
his transactions as Treasurer.
[A book was here exhibited by witness
containing an account of receipts and ex-
penditure made by Andrews on account of
church, which witness thought was correct.
The church owed Mr Bartlett a note of
$50, and the account shows that $10 has
been paid, which is correct. Holmes visited
our factory quite often, and always came to
see Andrews. About the time that Paraclete
died I heard Connelius say that he meant to
make a will and give his property to those
whom he wanted to, and not be caught by
his brothers, and die intestate. Have heard
him say that his family had money enough,
and did not need his money. Have asked
Andrews after he told me that Cornelius was
going to make a will, if he had done so,
but could get no direct reply from him. As .
a peaceable citizen his character was excel-
lent. I always considered him one of our
best citizens. He was a very humane man,
and very obliging and sind hearted.
Cross examined by Attorney General:—
Have been engaged in manufacturing with

39
my brother for the past ten years, and An-
drews has been employed there during that
time. During this time I have seen no in-
dications of insanity. The day after
Holmes was killed I had no conversation
with Andrews about carrying the will to
Plymouth. I never advised him to caution
Damon not to speak of the will after it was
carried to Plymouth.
Dr Benjamin Hubbard–sworn. I am
an apothecary in Plymouth. Within one
year before the tragedy I should think that
Andrews had purchased ether of me six or
seven times. It was about one pint at a
time. He has also purchased morphine at
two different times, about one
one time.
No cross examination.
Richard Smith–sworn.
drachm at
Have worked
for Andrews in his garden. Worked on
Tuesday and Thursday morning. -
Mr. Sherman–sworn. Reside at Russell
Mills. Have always known Mr Andrews.
His character was good. He was humane,
generous, of even disposition, and kind
hearted.
No cross examination. -
At this point the defence not having any
witness whom they wished to testify until
after the prisoner has testified, the Court
adjourned till half past eight o'clock, Mon-
day morning. The prisoner will then testi-
fy in his own behalf, being the first instance
in our country that such a course has been
pursued in a capital trial. It is a privilege
vecorded the prisoner by a statute recently
enacted.
MONDAY_SIXTH DAY.
The Court came in a few minutes before
nine o'clock this morning, the court-room
being thronged with a number of specta-
tors eager to hear the testimony of the
prisoner, whom the counsel for the defence
intimated at the adjournment on Saturday
evening would be the first witness called;
but contrary to the expectations of all, Jo-
seph A. Holmes, one of the government
witnesses, was the first witness called.
Joseph A. Iſolmes—recalled. No gold
coin was found among my uncle's effects.
Have seen him have $200 or $300 in gold
eagles. Think I saw the above amount at
my fathers' house aſter Cornelius was bur-
ied. I think Cornelius had some gold paid
him in July and January previous to his
death.
No cross examination.
Benj. Wormell — recalled. During the
time I remained at Andrew's house he (An-
drews) was very restless; and I have known
him not to sleep more than five hours dur-
ing the night, on many occasions. I have -
paid Mr. Andrews for board, about $12.50.
I have also paid Mrs. Andrews about $70
during the winter term. The noise that I
heard on the night of the murder was in the
cellar of Andrews’ house. I boarded with
Andrews from May 10th, 1867, until aſter
July 4th last past. Mr. Andrews was usu-
ally in good spirits. I have known him to
be blue, but not so blue as I am sometimes.
Cross examined:—During the time I
boarded there, I never thought Andrews
was affected with insanity.
Miss Addie Reed–recalled.
at Andrews’ house 15 years.
I have lived
I have known
of Andrews being up at half past two o'clock
in the morning. He usually got up at five
o'clock during the summer and winter. At
Andrews' request, about two months pre-

40
vious to his arrest, I purchased articles at Cross Examined:—Cannot say that I have
the store of Burges & Bailey, having the seen any indications of insanity in Mr An-
same charged to his account. I afterwards drews.
paid them about $25,5ut do not recollect the Josiah D Baxter—sworn. I am a state
amount of the articles I procured at the constable; was present at a conversation
store. - between Mr Macoy and Andrews in regard
Mr. Reed, the mother-in-law of Andrews, to securing counsel. Andrews spoke of en-
testified as to his habits of early rising, it gaging Mr Harris and I think Mr Macoy
being the same as narrated by the previous remarked that he was engaged. I was at
witness. At the time of his nephews' death the place of murder soon after it occurred
º wº very nervºus. At one time he said: and saw a pool of blood under the pine
don't say anything more to me about it.” trees near where the body of Mr Holmes
At this time he complained of considerable was found.
trouble with his head. He used to say to No cross examination.
me “mother how I do feel, I wonder what
my end will be.” -
No cross examination. TESTIMONY OF THE PRISONER
Rev. Joseph Peckham—sworn. In the -
latter part of spring or summer of 1867, his Samuel M. Andrews, the prisoner, sworn.
wife told him that Andrews wished him (Mr. I was married 16 years ago the 16th day of
Peckham) to draſt a will for Mr Holmes, or last March. Purchased house in Kingston
a memorandum. of Mrs. Peleg Bradford, 13 years ago last
[A copy was here shown the witness which March. I was to pay $1300 for it. I was
he thought was different from the one writ- not to pay anything the first year, and $100
ten by him] the second year. I mortgaged the bouse
I attended a meeting of the citizens of to Mrs. Bradford. Previous to my arrest
Kingston where a reward of $2,000 was of: I had paid all but $300 for it. At the time
fered for the arrest of the murderer of Mr of the purchase, I had about $300, which I
Holmes and the town of Kingston offered an expended in repairing the house. Last
additional reward of $500. March the house was worth about
[The witness stated that the Memorial $2700 or $3000, having as I thinkincreased
and Rock had made a misrepresentation as in value. On the 26th of May last, I owed
to his testimony in regard to the shares ob- $1000 to Alden S. White, $100 to Mrs.
tained for the removal and repairs of the Adams, $100 to Wm. Adams, $100 to Sim-
Church and then explained the method as eon McLaughlin, $100 to Samuel Adams,
to the origin of these shares which is the $100 on my house, and $150 to Cornelius
same as we have previously published.] Holmes. The debt of Mr. White was
I saw Andrews once at a social circle at to be paid within ten years and had two
his house when he appeared very strange. years to mature. The amount I owe
A paper was read it being a sort of bur- Mrs. Adams is due in July next. I
lesque in which two negroes named Qualon also owed Dr. Jones for medical services
and Quasha were represented. Andrews about $30 or $40, and a bill at the store of
considered it a very ridiculous thing. He Burges & Bailey. I may perhaps owe a
was also very indignant about it, supposing few small bills besides, but they are not
tha Qualon meant Mr Holmes, as the boys large in amount. My house is well fur-
ad often called him by that name. nished. Among my plate I have one doz-

41
en silver forks, two large silver spoons, one
silver spoon holder, one gold bowl, and two
napkin rings. At the time of my arrest I
had on hand $150 which I was accountable
for as Treasurer of the church. $110 of
this money came from Edward S. Tobey of
Boston, and which was to be used for re-
pairs on the church. When the society first
talked of repairing the church, I wrote to
Deacon Ichabod Washburn of Worcester,
formerly a resident of Kingston, and asked
him how much he would give. He replied
that he would give us the last $500 on con-
dition that we should not run in debt. I
then went to Boston and saw Mr. Tobey,
he gave me $100, his wife $50, and his
aunt agreed to give $10, but she did not
pay it. The money was given me as fol-
lows. One $100 bill, one $50 bill, and one
$10 bill. This was paid me about the time
of our State election, in November 1867.
Of this money, I paid Mr. Peckham $50
towards his salary, which was then overdue.
I replaced this amount in March when Mr.
Wormell paid me $82 for board. On Jan.
1st, 1868, I had in hand $250. From Jan.
1st until the time of my arrest, I have re-
ceived $229.77 for work. I have also re-
ceived three notes of $100 each, amount-
ing to $300; from Mr. Wormell $82.50;
from Addie Reed $25; a check of $100
from Mr. Tobey, toward paying the salary
of the minister; from David Delano $3 for
pew rent; $6,75 from Samuel E. Cushman;
$1.12 from Mrs. Bailey; $6 from Gershom
Bradford; from Eleazer Faunce $4.50; from
Mrs. Cobb $1; from Wm. H. Burgess
$15,00; from N. Beals Jr.. $15,00; from Eli
Wilson $8,00; from Harvey Stetson $3.50;
from Miss Simmons $1; from A. B. Foster
$4.00; from Mrs. Samuel Adams $20; from
Timothy French $7.50; from H. K. Keith
$25.00; from John Willis $10; from Miss
Powers $2; from Mrs. Russell $6; from G.
S. Newcomb $10; from Mrs. Burgess $4.50;
from Lemuel Bradford $2; from B. E. Wa-
terman $6.00; from Mrs. Henry Adams
$4.00; from Joseph A. Stranger $10; from
Jason Bradford $1.50; from Edward Holmes
$10; from Alexander Holmes $5; from Benj.
Cobb $5; from Alexander Fuller $5; from
Benj. Ames $5; and from Frank Fuller $5.
For the three months previous to my ar-
rest I had received from Miss Johnson mon-
ey for board. I cannot state the total
amount of the above sums that I have men-
tioned. From Jan. 1st 1867, until the time
of my arrest, I had paid Mr. Peckham
$357; Burges & Bailey 8211.81; Wm. H.
Myrick $11.50; Wm. S. Danforth $30.10
for insurance; Mrs. Bartlett $10, interest
on a note, due her, by the Parish; S. N.
Burbank $30; Mr. Bonney #19.18 for paint-
ing; Mr. Waterman for work, $45. I also
paid Harvey Stetson for work, but cannot
recollect the amount. There may be oth-
er amounts that I have paid and cannot rec-
ollect. On the 26th day of May last, I had
in my possession $190, which was contained
in one package. One hundred and sixty
dollars of this was money received by sub-
scription for the repairs of the church. The
remaining $30 I had reserved from my own
funds to pay on a note due to Mrs. Bartlett
by the Parish. I had no funds belonging
to the Parish in my possession at that
time. Besides the money above mentioned
I had one $50 bill and between $40 and $50
in my pocket book.
On the Saturday after my arrest when a
dispatch came to carry me to the jail at
Plymouth I carried $190 down cellar and
buried it. I think Mrs Reed saw me when
I went down cellar. The reason that I
buried the money was that it belonged to
the Parish and I was afraid that it would be
taken from me when I arrived at the jail.--
I did not know what else to do with it. As
soon as I got to the jail I told Mr Damon
what disposition I had made of the money,
-

42
and requested him to get it and pay it over
to the Parish. I also gave Addie Reed $90
in officer Macoy's presence and told her to
provide for the family. I supposed if I
brought it to Plymouth it would all be taken
from me. When I arrived at the jail I had
five fifty cent pieces of fractional currency,
which was not taken from me. I was asked
for my pocket book but had none.
[A copy of a paper purporting to be a
settlement made to Mr Newcomb by An-
drews of the Parish affairs was then shown.
the prisoner, which he thought was not the
same as the one by which the settlement
was made.]
The night before the Parish meeting
Addie and I counted subscriptions to the
amount of $229, which had not been paid.
On the first of April last, when I made my
annual report I counted everything as good
and so included it all in my report
I first became acquainted with Holmes six-
teen years ago last March; I was twenty-
one years of age at that time, and had just
been married and lived in Mr Bradford
Foster's house. It is about nine years
since he first made me presents. The first
that he made me was cloth for a pair of
pants and a circular overcoat. In the front
entry of my house is a hat tree and a carpet
on the floor given me by Holmes. In my
parlor is a marble slab, vases, what-not,
easy chairs and pictures all presented to me
by Holmes. He has also given me one
dozen silver forks, two large silver spoons,
one large silver sugar spoon, two napkin
rings and a very nice gold watch chain
which he gave me but a short time before he
left my house.
About nine years ago, while I was living
at the house of Mr Foster, Holmes came to
my house one dark, stormy night about
eight o'clock. My wife was away from
home at the time. I told him that I was not
expecting him such a stormy night. He re-
plied that it stormed so hard that he thought
he should have to remain all night. I told
him that he might. He then said that he
should have to go home and tell his mother.
I told him that if he was obliged to go
home he had better remain there. He went
home and soon after returned. We re-
mained up until ten o'clock, when we re-
tired. A short time after we had been in
bed he attempted to commit an outrage upon
me. I immediately got up and sat on a
sofa. Holmes also got up and excused
himself, and promised not to repeat it if I
would return to bed. Since that time he
has attempted the same thing several times
at Boston, also at Newmarket, N. H. He
always felt so badly about it that I over-
looked it.
During the last few years I have seen
Holmes at the mill sometimes three times a
week and sometimes not more than once in
two or three weeks. Cornelius always told
me iſ he outlived his brother Paraclete he
would make him a handsome present. After
Paraclete died without a will, he came to me
quite excited and said his brother had died
without having his will executed, and said
he would have some of his property but that
he should make his will and would not give
his brothers anything; that Joseph Beal
had made his brother's will and cut him off,
and that he would not give them any thing.
He came to me with memoranda on a piece
of paper several times. Wanted me to make
a will. I sent it to Mr Peckham and had
him embody Holmes' views, and subsequent-
ly these were written out by my wife. Mr
Holmes came to Plymouth with me and Mr
Damon made a will from that memoranda.
The will was taken home by Holmes, and
about two weeks after he gave the will to me
and I put it among my other papers. I
have told Dr Jones, one of my sisters, Mrs
Robbins, and several other individuals with
regard to the will. Holmes charged me not
to tell any one that he had made a will.

43
When I was at home, and he came there, I
always went home with him. I sent him
notes frequently by different individuals.
Gave him a note of hand for money, some
of which I paid Alden White. He was
anxious to have me put blinds on my house,
and told me, if I would have blinds put on
he would give me back that note. He had
it in a pocket book which he said he bought
of Hunt & Sampson. [The pocket book,
which has been shown, was the same.] He
had a smaller pocket book. They were
both wallets though I always call them
pocket books. He bought three pocket
books at his brother Edward's store, and
gave one to Mr Barnes, one to me and kept
one for himself. This was his smallest
pocket book. The larger one, when we
went to Boston, he always put under his
head. -
Cornelius Holmes was at my house the
Saturday before his death; brought some
flowers but told me not to take them to the
Orthodox Church the next day; asked me
to come down to his house Morday or Tues-
day as he was going to Boston. Did not go
Monday night, as I went down to the store
with Mr. Wilson. Went up stairs; met
Mrs Samuel Adams, and she asked me to go
home with her, and left her house about half
past ten for my own home. Saw George
Clark, I think it was Tuesday noon-time, and
he engaged to come and get my hens that
night. Worked all day Tuesday in the mill.
in the morning I bought half a bushel of
potatoes of John Smith, wheeled them home
at noon time. My wife told me in the morn-
ing she wanted a barrel of flour, and I told
her I wanted some potatoes. Just before
I left the mill I wrote to Cornelius the note
(which has been published,) and sent in to
Mr Holmes by Frank Newcomb, gave him
two cents or carrying it. Went home, took
my supper on a plate, and went into the
roc where my wife was. My wife's moth-
Mr. Clark
er and sister were in the room.
came for the hens, weighed them and took
them away; this was at the house. I next
went out to my garden and commenced
planting potatoes, dropped the potatoes and
put in the plaster. Cornelius came up a-
cross his own lot and I did not see him until
he was by my side. Said he had been up to
Frank Holmes' that day and to Walter
Faunce's. Said he had not been to Frank
Holmes' before that day for two years. Mr
Delano then came to pay his pew tax. I
knew he came to pay his pew rent, and went
to him. I did that because I knew he was
prejudiced against the Orthodox, and did not
like to do the business in his presence. I
then went back to Cornelius and he said it
was getting damp and he must be going.—
Said he was going to Boston and was going
to get a new silk hat, and an every-day one.
We went to see the stumps which I had dug
up on his land to see if there was any rotten
wood to put into flower pots. He told me I
could have the land as long as I wished.—
Asked him if he would sign a lease for five
years and he said he would. The lease was
made out but I never asked him to sign it.
He asked me if I was going to the store. I
told him I was not, that Miss Johnson had
been down there, and I should not have to
go. He asked me to go down to the cem-
etery to look at some lots. After looking
at them we came up to the stile, and sat as
much as 15 minutes. He asked me to take a
walk and I declined. We finally went down
to where his body lay, he stepped up on to
the bank, threw me down, tore open my
pants.
[A portion of the evidence here is in-
admissable.]
I was excited, took two stones, in my
hands and struck him, but there was much
lost time which I cannot account for. I
think I struck him just as he was rolling off -
the bank. As I left Cornelius Holmes, I can-
not describe my feelings; my hair was mat-
ted with blood; I went over the stile; took

44
my handkerchief; went to the pond and
washed my face; took my hat, but do not
remember where I picked it up ; went back
over the stile, up through my garden on the
east side of my house, and sat down by my
east gate, because I had not strength to
stand up. My left side has troubled me
from that time to this. I had two bruises
on the back of my head. My first intention
was to confess the whole, but I thought of
my wife, her state of health, and thought it
would injure her. I supposed if I con-
ſessed I should be hung. Another reason
why I did not confess was the peculiarity of
the circumstances, -which have already been
explained. I stopped until the ladies came
out; Mrs Jones spoke and asked me where
I had been ; told her I had been planting.
I went into my house, saw that I was pretty
well covered with blood, went down cellar
and changed all my clothing, put my bloody
clothing under some bean pods and such
like; went to Mr Wormell's room and after-
wards down to my sitting room, laying down
on the sofa, and when Mrs Peckham came
down I went part way home with her; then
came back and took some ether, and went to
bed, but not to sleep; got up about 3 o'clock
and as soon as daylight went out and tried
to clean out my hen-house; and went to the
mill about half past five. Found some blood
on my neck and on my shirt; tore off the
sleeve and threw it into the race. Mr
Sproul came and said Captain Leach sent
him to tell me Cornelius was missing.
[The witness here corroborated the testi-
mony of Mr Sproul, Mr Newcomb, Mr
Bates and others, with regard to the tran-
saction of Tuesday morning, the day when
the body was found.]
Never had the slightest idea of killing
Cornelius Holmes until after he had thrown
me down; after that I cannot tell how the
time passed. Cornelius Holmes was always
kind to me, and if I had asked him for
$1000 I think I should have obtained it. I
did not borrow the money of him which I
wanted for the church improvements be-
cause of his antipathy against that church,
and I did not like to tell him I wanted
money for this purpose. It was for this
purpose that I borrowed money of Capt.
Adams, Geo. T. Adams, and Mr.McLaugh-
lin. As one of the church committee of
three, I agreed to do my part towards pro-
curing the money for the church improve-
ments, purchase of the blacksmith shop and
lot, and it was subsequently to be reim-
bursed. On the 2d day of May I paid Mr
Peckham $100. On the 15th of April I
borrowed $100 of Mr. McLaughlin and half
of it was paid to Mr. Peckham.
All the money was borrowed for church
purposes and I expected to repay it from
subscriptions. The money given for the re-
pairs of the church was kept separate from
the money for Mr Peckham's salary. He
(Cornelius) never refused me when I asked
him for money. Took nothing from Mr
Holmes' person on the night of his death.
My bodily health has been good for the
last two years except that I have had con-
siderable headache.
[The witness was here faint and obliged
to sit down.] -
Guilford Newcomb—recalled. Cornelius
Holmes when he talked with me in regard
to his will said he had talked with his sister
Mrs Adams and she was willing he should
dispose of his property as he saw fit. This
was not said in Mr Andrew's presence, nor
ever communicated to him by me.
Edward S Tobey—sworn. Have seen Mr.
Andrews two or three times. -
sion is that I saw him in the Autumn of
1867; cannot fix the day. I have made
two donations. The second in April last
The payment I do not recollect from memo-
ry, but is a matter of record. I paid mon-
ey in behalf of my mother and others. My
impression is that I paid $50 on the part of
my mother, Mrs Sprague, and other a:
My impres-

45
mounts. Do not remember whether the
money was paid by check or in money.
No cross examination.
Philander Cobb–sworn. Am a trader
in Kingston. Have known Andrews five or
six years. His credit in May last was
good. Never heard anything against his
reputation, either for morality or humanity.
No cross examination.
[The memorandum of G H Morse before
referred to was here read to the Court, but
does not vary the testimony of that witness
and Mr Hollis sufficiently to warrant its
publication.]
Court adjourned to quarter past two o'-
clock, P. M.
AFTERNOON
Samuel M. Andrews, the prisoner, di-
rect examination resumed. Am troubled
with headache most of the time; have used
ether most of the time; have bathed my
head in it and inhaled it sometimes; I had
dizzy turns; but mostly a pain in the head.
For the last two years have had headache
nearly all the time. Never said much
about the headache, generally kept it to
myself. Have had unpleasant sounds in
my head. When I made an exclamation in
the Court room on Thursday, I thought
some one had struck me on the head.
[The Attorney General here interposed
and asked the Court to prevent the intro-
duction of irrevelant testimony and the
Court stated to the counsel for the defence
that the enquiries must be more restricted
in their character.]
Had peculiar feelings while I was in the
jail, sort of ringing unpleasant sensations.
Thought I heard the sound of voices of
people I had known; thought I heard Mr
Thomas Newcomb's voice, thought he had a
rope to hang me with. When I was first
thrown down by Mr Holmes I hallowed
myself. Do not know whether Mr Holmes
did or not.
Cross examined by the District Attorney :
I thought when I was in bed that night I
would conceal the killing of Holmes.—
Heard Mr Davis in his opening remarks say
that after that night all my acts seem a lie;
such was the case, I told a good many lies
—cannot remember any particular lies but
rather deceived people; had no intention
of attracting suspicion towards any other
persons—think I may have done so. I of
ferred to conduct the funeral both before
and after the arrest. Mr Peckham came
to my house on Friday after my arrest, and
made a prayer, do not know that he made
but one prayer after my arrest and before I
was brought to jail: it is said after he con-
cluded, that I made a prayer—do not re-
member it. Thomas Newcomb advised me
to carry the will over to Plymouth; this
was on Wednesday: heard his testimony,
he is mistaken I think. Heard Mr Peckham
testify that you told him that Thomas New-
comb told you so, and thought at the time
that he was mistaken. Mr Newcomb told
me not to tell the Holmes' I had the silver
ware. Heard the testimony of Thomas
Newcomb, Dr. Jones, and Mr. Peckham,
upon this point, and think they are all mis-
taken. Mrs. Jones is mistaken when testi-
fying that they did not ask me about the will.
Mr Macoy is mistaken in his testimony with
regard to my arrest. First time I thought
I would conceal the killing was while I
sat down near my house, about half an hour
before the ladies came out. Made up my
mind about the time the ladies came out
that I would conceal the affair. I was sit-
ting on the grass near my west gate. Had
no particular object in placing myself there
in front of the house. Expected they
would come out, if they had not already
done so. After this conversation with the
ladies I went to my dining-room to change
my clothes. Remember Miss Sever's testi-
mony with regard to my appearance on
Tuesday night. I suppose my object was to
46
get testimouy with regard to my innocence.
Had no particular object in going to Mr
Wormell's room. He talked to me about
compositions. Decided to tell that I com-
mitted this deed the Monday after I was
committed, after Macoy had told me the
girls had seen me going to the river with a
bundle.
[The testimony here was of that nature to
compel most of the ladies to leave the Court
again, though they had crowded in with a
perfect knowledge of what was likely to
occur. We are obliged to 5mit it of course.]
Remember picking up my hat. I thought
a man could not kill another even in self
defence without being hung for it. -
Dr. Edward Jarvis–sworn. Reside in
Dorchester. Am a physician. Have prac-
ticed 39 years. Have had private patients
with me many years in reference to their
being insane. Insanity of ancestors
leaves the posterity more likely to be in-
sane. If insanity extends through several
generations it is more likely to be trans-
mitted to posterity. People often become
insane suddenly. The number as com-
pared with the whole number that becomes
insane, is few. There are many cases of
sudden insanity which are often brief, and
the mind soon returns to its sane condition
At the time the moral sentiment seems to
be obliterated. A homicidal mania is sup-
posed to be more likely in persons whose
ancestors were insane.
[A long discussion occurred relative to
the testimony of this witness in regard to
hypothetical questions, and much of the
testimony was opinions which have been
read in books, and could have little weight
with the jury.] -
[Recess for ten minutes. On the re-assem-
bling of the Court, and suggestions in re-
gard to the testimony, the examination of
Dr Jarvis was resumed.]
Have heard the evidence in this case and indicating insanity.
it tends to the suspicion of insanity. visit-
ed the prisoner Thursday when he made an
exclamation and his pulse was 122. It indi-
cated great anxiety.
Cross Examined:–Do not think the pris-
oner at the bar is insane to-day. Do not
think the idea has entirely disappeared
among professional men. Have seen moth-
ing in the progress of this case to induce me
to believe the prisoner was ever insane be-
fore the night of the murder, nor up to the
time when Mr Delano left his garden on the
evening of May 26th. Saw no evidence of
insanity when he was in Mr Women's room
nor when he walked home with Mrs Peck-
ham; nor was he insane in my judgment
during the three days following the death
of Holmes. Think his insanity is confined
to the few minutes when he was engaged in
the actual struggle, provided his testimony
is true. Thinkhe was coming out of his in-
sanity when he stooped to pick up his hat.
Insanity may appear for ten or twenty min-
utes when it had never existed before, and
never exist afterwards. This is a physical
disease of the brain—a functional disease.
It affects the mind. In this case, I should
think it would have been in the prisoner's
favor if he had come out and owned it and
given himself up.
Have had charge of one or two hundred in-
sane patients during my life; there is a sus-
ceptability to insanity in children, whose
parents are insane. Do not know what pro-
portion of the children of insane parents
become insane.
The defence here rested their case for
the present.
Rebutting Testigmony.
Dr. Jones—re-called by the government.
Never saw anything during my attendance
on, or acquaintance with Mr. Andrews











47
Thomas Newcomb—recalled. Never
saw any evidence of insanity.
Eli Wilson–sworn. Have known An-
drews 15 years, worked in the mill with
him the last nine years; never saw any evi-
dence of insanity.
Azel Sampson—sworn. Have seen him
three or four times a week. Never saw
any evidence of insanity.
Wm. H. Burges—sworn. Have known
him six years; seen him once a week; never
saw any evidence of insanity,
A. K. Harmon–sworn. Am turnkey at
the Plymouth jail. Had the prisoner in my
custody since the last of May; some weeks
after he came to jail there was a day or two
when he did not seem to be very talkative;
would not answer questions; went to the
cell and spoke to him, told him I had come
to put him in with other fellows; that they
would stir him up. He then said he was
feeling better; that he had had a bad time
with his head; I told him I was glad he was
better and left him. Saw him several times
that day but saw no more of his indisposi-
tion to speak. From that time to this
there has been nothing strange about the
prisoner.
Cross examined; Has complained of
headache some few times. At that time he
said he had had a hard time with his head.
Rev. Mr. Peckham—recalled. At the
night after the murder when I prayed in
Andrews' house, think I did pray that the
murderer might be brought to justice.
Cross examined : Saw Mr. Andrews in
jail, a number of times. Saw him once
when his appearance was entirely changed.
I asked him several questions and he made
no reply. After Capt. Harmon spoke to him
he said “you may tell my family I am a
murderer but not a thief.”
Mr. Macoy, -recalled. Mr. Peckham
prayed that the guilty might be punished.
Dr. George S. C. Choate—sworn. Am
superintendent and physician of the Taunton
Lunatic Hospital; have been for 15 years,
and have had charge of between three and
four thousand patients. The question was
then asked, What, in your opinion, are the
material points in the case bearing on the
subject of insanity, and what does each
point have for or against insanity—heredi-
tary insanity? Answer—The only point
which appeared in the case to suggest an in-
quiry into the mental condition of the pris-
oner was the fact that his mother and some
more remote relatives were insane, and
transmitted to him a liability to have the
same disease; insanity follows the same law
as other diseases in the mode of transmis-
sion; a child born of insane ancestry inher-
its not the disease but the same constitution
rendering it liable to the same disease, if
favorable circumstances arise for its devel-
opment; the fact follows from this that the
existence of insanity in ancestry proves lia-
bility only and not the disease; however
strong the proof may be of hereditary pre-
disposition, if it stands alone by itself, is of
no value whatever; it may become impor-
tant, however, in confirming direct testimo-
ny in a nicely balanced case; that direct
testimony I do find in the history of this
case; if a man under close observation man-
ifests no symptoms of insanity up to within
fifteen minutes of an act of violence, and
again under observation manifests no symp-
toms of insanity from a time fifteen minutes
after the act, it would be conclusive to my
mind that the act was not the act of mental
disease; I have never known, and I do not
believe that there exist cases of insanity
originating and terminating in a single act
of violence. When an insane man commits
an act of violence he acts either without a
motive or from a diseased motive. The ef-
fect of a diseased motive is the effect of a
delusion. The same criminal acts from one


48
of the ordinary motives of crime, either the
gratification of some passion or the attain-
ment of some personal advantage. The se-
lection of time and place is an important
element in forming an opinion as to the
character of the act. The insane man who
commits an act of violence does not choose
time or place. He frequently commits the
act in public, at noonday. The sane crim-
inal, on the other hand, chooses darkness
and seclusion. The conduct after the deed
has an important bearing on the question of
insanity. Ordinarily the insane do not con-
ceal, and will often proclaim the deed of vi-
olence they have committed. The sane
criminal almost invariably endeavors to con-
ceal it. The Court asked the witness this
question–Assuming the statement of An-
drews to be true, would you consider him
same or insane?
not pretend to reconcile the statement of
Answer–While I would ||
Andrews with the conflicting facts in the
case, yet on the whole I should consider
him sane. The preponderance of the facts
excluding insanity was so great as to over-
balance any doubts which he suggested by
his statement.
[The testimony of Dr Choate was of an
exceedingly interesting nature developing
facts relating to the appearance of insanity
of much importance coming from a man of
so distinguished reputation and skill.]
Geo. H Morse—recalled. This witness
explained his testimony and the paper
which had been read by the defence this
morning.
[The evidence on the part of the rebut-
tal was here closed and the Court adjourned.
The counsel for the defence will commence
his argument in the morning.]
TUESDAY_SEVENTH DAY.
Closing Argument for the
Defence.
Mr. Somerby, at five minutes past 9 o'clock
commenced his closing argument for the
prisoner, assuming at the outset that the
prisoner had not only not committed the crime
of murder, but no crime known to the law.
The prisoner is charged with murder, the
highest crime known to the law, and in the
same indictment charges him with man-
slaughter, and of almost every crime down
to simple assault and battery. Murder
means the killing a man with malice, when
a man sits down and cruelly deliberates up-
on the life of his victim. Murder in the
second degree, as the law says, is what is
not murder in the first degree. Every kill-
ing is not murder. This is not a case wheth-
er Samuel Andrews killed Cornelius Holmes,
that is granted, but it is not necessarily mur-
der. If a man under provocation kills
another the law looks at the infirmity of hu-
man nature, and asks what were the cir-
cumstances under which such life has been
taken, and declares if he had provocation he
is justifiable.
Thus far the argument is upon the hy-
pothesis that the prisoner was same as claimed
by the government. Before the jury can
decide upon this case, they must consider
all the circumstances which surrounded the
taking of Cornelius Holmes' life, and wheth-
er he was the friend or enemy of the pris-
oner.
Thank God, this case is not to be tried by
those who would take the life of this man
that they may get the money that is behind
the will, nor of the State Constable with

49
$2,500 reward, to influence them. The jury
are to remember that this man was killed
within forty rods of the highway; by the
cemetery where people were passing and re-
passing; on a public way and the $744 left
in his pocket. What! a man bad enough to
murder a man in that public place, at that
time of day, and not bad enough to take his
money? Look at the life of the prisoner; a
practical christian, his every act conformable
to his religious character, and is it possible
that he can have murdered his best friend?
Would a man have written a note to his
victim, if he had premeditated the murder of
his best friend? If this man has been guilty
isit not singular that all Kingston declared
that up to this time he had not been a hyp
ocrite P
[The note is here read to the jury and
the learned counsel discussed the ques-
tion of its entire consistency with his inno-
cence.]
The note does not ask Cornelius
Holmes to come up to his house but “if you
wish to see me for anything in particular,
you can take a walk up.” A man who works
in the mill fourteen or fifteen hours a day at
$2,17 a day, careful of his time, economical
of his money, with a house worth $2,709 to
$8,000 and a hundred dollar mortgage up-
on it, plan a murder of his best friend? If
the government ſail in establishing the fact
that the note does not contain maliceafore-
thought, they fail in the whole, for it is a
part of their chain of evidence. Andrews
was in the habit of writing notes to Cornel-
ius Holmes, and by the providence of God
they have been preserved to establish the
innocence of the prisoner.
[The several notes which have been read
in court were here read by the counsel.]
His blood relations excluded him from
their houses, and he goes to Samuel M An-
drews the economical mechanic, the true
thristain, and then he finds a true friend.
Is that the character of a murderer? Cor.
4.
nelius Holmes had no money then, he was a
dependant upon the bounty of others, and
there was then no motive for Andrews to
be his friend. Does a man, when he is go-
ing to murder, write it down and put it in
the pocket of his victim, that he may be
identified? Holmes came to Andrews' gar-
den that night just as he came other nights,
there was nothing unusual or strange about
it. This act which is called a murder, was
commited in his own neighborhood, near
his own house, at the time when he had
asked George Clark to come to that same
garden and get his hens, fixing no particular
time when he should come, but with a lia-
bility to come just at the time when he had
asked Holmes to come there; a time when
Mr Delauo was coming to pay his pew tax,
and is that consistent with deliberate mur-
der? The fact that these men came there,
that Mr Sproul, walking up and down his
garden, saw them in that garden, and rec-
ognized Holmes sitting on a box, shows
that he could not have deliberated a murder.
Any man can make himself believe a mur-
der if he allows himself to be governed by
prejudice, but the jury have got to look at
all the facts, and see to what they all point,
and then say what is their judgment in re-
gard to all those circumstances
The fact that this act was done in a public
place, when any one was liable to come along,
shows there could have been no deliberation,
but an all consistent with the innocence of
Samuel M. Andrews. He had no motive for
killing Cornelius Holmes. The theory seems
to be first because he had made a Willin his
favor, and second that he wanted money,
which his best friend was possessed of that
hence he had a motive for killing this “best
friend.” Did Andrews take anything from
that body ? If he did, he shows a degree of
malice, and should be punished for it. But
there is not a particle of evidence that he did
take a single dollar in money from the per-
son of Holmes. Never was there a more

50
cold blooded act than the one attempted by
the government to charge this christian man
with having robbed Cornelius Holmes and
then not prove it. What was his credit
there in Kingston, where every body knew
him? Philander Cobb, a merchant there,
testifies that his credit was good. Men loan
him money, $100, $400, $1,000 at a time
without security, and where was the cramped
condition of this prisoner, which the gov
ernment alleged they were to prove against
this prisoner but did not do it. He bor.
rowed the money to pay for improvements
in the church, and the account of the treas-
urer, Guilford Newcomb, showed that he
had overpaid the treasury of the church
$93.57, and the society actually owed him
that money. As one of the committee of
the church, this man borrows money to car-
ry on the improvements, goes to Edward S.
Tobey and asks him to aid them, and he
does it, $100 for himself, $50 for his moth-
er, and $10 for somebody else, and yet ev-
ery dollar is accounted for. Take all the
money which Andrews has received since
January which has been shown by the evi-
dence that he actually received, deduct what
he is known to have paid, and it leaves $312,
which the prisoner had a night to have on
hand when he was arrested, instead of the
$190, which it is said was found in the cel-
lar, and $90 which he paid to his wife and
her sister. He had a right to hide his own
money under every stone in his cellar if he
chose to ; it was nobody's business but his
own. There is not a particle of proof that
he had a single dollar which was not his
own, and to which he was entitled to do
what he chose with it. There is noth-
ing in any portion of the evidence, so far
as the government has shown, that every
dollar which the prisoner had in his posses-
sion when he was arrested was not his own
to do what he chose with it, and that por-
tion of the evidence has totally failed.
[The court here, at five minutes past 11
o'clock, give the jury a recess of five min-
utes.]
At twenty minutes past eleven Mr. Som-
erby resumed his argument.
All the matter of how much money the
prisoner had is of no consequence unless the
government show that be was in want of
money, and that they do not show. Nothing
is produced here to show that Cornelius had
any more than $744 at the time of his death.
and yet there is not a particle of evidence to
show that he had any more money. He
neverhad in his hands but $1,600 at any one
time in his life, and they have shown what
he had done with it, but not a particle of
evidence to show that he had another dollar.
And the government has got up a State Con-
stable theory to show that Andrews took
money out of his pocket book which he
never had. Mr. Morse and Mr. Hollis,
State Constables, testify that Andrews told
them Holmes had a large pocket book, and
Andrews said at the same time that when
they found that pocket book they would
find a note of his for $150 in it, and they
did find it in the pocket book they found.
Margaret Daily—out of Alexander Holmes,
kitchen, comes here and tells us that she
saw a large pocket book, and she is the only
individual who ever saw this pocket book
and she never saw it open. Look at the
testimony of Geo. H. Morse and compare it
with his written statement which he says
contained all that Andrews testified to, and
there is not the word “pocket book” in that
paper from first to last. How easy for this
Morse to get the reward of $2,500 to get up.
this pocket book story, though he forgot to
put it down, when he was writing out the
evidence he was procuring as an officer of
the Commonwealth, looking at a case of
murder. Nobody ever saw this pocket
book but Margaret Daily, and nobody ever
saw it in his pocket. Margaret Daily's testi-

51
mony fits this case too well. It is like the
man who fits the key to the combination
lock—he made the lock to which that key
was fitted. The jury can draw their own in-
ference. -
Failing in every thing else the govern-
ment are driven to the necessity of produ
cing a cook in Alexander Holmes' kitchen
to prove that this man had a pocket book
which nobody else ever saw. Making a will
in a man's favor is no motive for killing a
man. What circumstances surrounded this
will? Was he alone when he made this
will? He had friends to look after him
when he dies, but not while he is living.
This will was a public thing, made in the
Court House, witnessed by the Sheriff, and
the turnkey, people knew it every where,
Andrews knew it. “Cornelius spoke well
of Joseph A. Holmes,”— they say. I am
glad he did, he deserved it. But what
would have been the case had Cornelius
Holmes died a natural death? Would not
these same blood relations have contested
that will, and contended that Andrews had
no right to take that property? Could a
man then deliberating upon his course of
conduct kill a man, to get possession of a
will, which, though it gave him a portion of
his property, would subject him to the op-
position of all the blood relations of the
murdered man? If a man had murder in
his headrº would there not be some time,
some where, that this malice can be sug-
gested?
In all the annals of crime there is a not
case where a man has killed a man that he
might get possession of a will. This the
ory is set up because the government have
failed in that theory, and they present this
as the alternative. I cannot conceive of a
case where a will, under all of these circum-
stances, with all the difficulties which sur.
rounded it, would be an inducement to mur.
nelius Holmes is dead, that this man killed
him, we admit; but that he had deliberately
planned to kill that man is not true, and the
jury have the right to take his testimony on
the stand, as true, and the government can-
not show that he has prevaricated or falsified
in a single instance, since his first conſes-
sion. A man whose whole character has
been above reproach up to the 26th day of
May last, has a right to have his testimony
on the stand here believed, just as any other
witness.
The crime which Cornelius Holmes at-
tempted to commit is as old as the Mosaic
law; it is not new or strange; the Courts
have taken cognizance of that crime, ever
since Courts have been established. The
Mosaic dispensation establishes the fact of
this crime; it has been recognized by the
English common law; it is punishable by
our laws, and why may it not be true in this
case? It is not strange that Holmes who
was singular, with no family, no pledge to
society, should have looked upon this mild
man, – with his appearance more like a
woman than a man,—in the same light as
upon a woman. Human minds are so con-
stituted that there can be no evidence of
such crimes as this, and hence we have no
proof of this except the testimony of the
prisoner, and that we are bound to believe.
If Holmes did commit the crime which this
prisoner says he did, what had he not a right
to do, in defence of his honor, and his rep-
utation ? Was this prisoner, born of insane
blood, begotten in insanity, born of an in-
sane mother, nursed on insane milk, guilty
of a crime, when he resisted the crime which
Holmes attempted to commit upon him *
[The counsel here read the genealogy of
the Andrews family showing inherent insan-
ity back to the fourth generation, and also
read from the authorities to define the law
der the man who made that will. That Cor- upon hereditary insanity.]

52
Look at the prisoner. Did you ever see
such a man. “I tell you, gentlemen of the
jury,” says the counsel, he has the calmness
of insanity. Look at the occasion when he
kills a man with stones, either he was insane
or so excited that he did not know what he
did.
Court here adjourned to quarter past two,
P. M.
AFTERNOON.
The Court came in at a quarter past two,
and Mr. Somerby resumed his argument for
the defence.
Do not mean to say the prisoner is insane
now, or that he was insane before the act,
but that at the monent of this killing of
Holmes he was influenced by an insane
mind, which is so subtle that no laws can
control it. No man can define the human
mind, what it will be, or what it will influ-
ence or control. A man may lose his self
possession and not be considered insane by
the people at large. Men cannot understand
the laws of the mind and there is then no
evidence that this man was sane, and I con-
tend that they must prove he was not insane.
The law presumes a man sane, as a general
rule, until the evidence is introduced to
prove that he is insane. The experts differ
in some things with regard to insanity, as all
men do who undertake to discuss the subtle
influence of the mind, but in the fact of
tendency to insanity they both agree. Both
agree that in case of a child conceived, born
and reared by an insane mother, we may
look for insane child. Nothing but insane
passion could influence a man to commit so
horrid and cruel a crime. Dr. Choate comes
here and talks about having 3,600 patients,
but is he honest ? Is he learned? Dr.
Jarvis testifies taking into view the circum-
stances of this case assuming the story
of Samuel M. Andrews to be true, that for
the time being his mind was gone, and if this
be so there is no more question about his
motive for the act. Dr. Choate, a man who
evidently understands what he is talking
about, says taking this case altogether, the
prisoner was not insane. If he believes the
prisoner's story he believes there was a lapse
of time when the mind of the prisoner was
gone, and if the jury believe the hereditary
taint, as testified to by these medical men
then they are to presume this prisoner was
insane when this act was committed. Rea-
soning from his ancestry alone, there is no
man within the circle of our acquaintance
more likely to be insane than this prisoner.
Mrs Peckham says he has seen him on
one occasion when he appeared strange;
Mrs. Austin, a teacher in Plymouth saw him
last April and saw him go along the street,
that he spoke to her, his eyes glistened, and
he laughed, and she says, I thought of his
mother. Then again at Newmarket, at the
house of his sister, he appeared strange,
and Mrs. McDaniel says he seemed just as
she remembered his mother. The jury have
got to weigh all this evidence, and see that
simple justice is done. Cornelius Holmes
is dead— we cannot bring him back, and
this trial is not to avenge that death. Is there
a doubt of the sanity of this prisoner and
the jury will have the responsibility, and up-
on their heads will be the result, if they by
their verdict ask to take the life of that man
whose reason was then dethroned. But if
a man has killed another in self defence, or
if the transaction connected with it was of
such a nature as to be revoling to the mind,
would it not be the most natural thing in
the world for him to try and conceal the
act, when he thought of his invalid wife, to
whom he was devoted 2 If after the act
was committed this prisoner did try to con-
ceal his act, it is no evidence of his malice,
or his guilt. Would not every one under
the circumstances have done just as this
man did with that will, put it into the Pro-
bate office for safe keeping. He is not con-
tradicted on the main fact as to how he
committed this act. All agree that this act
53
there with blood upon them, so that the
was committed with stones, and that there vidual may be whose life has been taken,
were proofs of blood, and stones about the law very properly provides that the
ends of justice alone shall control the ac-
prisoner's testimony exactly corroborates |tion of our courts of justice.
the testimony of the government. Take
all these facts together, take the fact that
the government have burned brush heaps
and drained ponds, and yet no weapon but
the stones, with which this act was commit-
ted. If he was insane he ought to be put
where he shall be taken care of; if he was
not insane, but had this attempt to commit
a felony upon him, he had a right to kill him
and he should be acquitted. I submit the
case to the jury with all these facts and re-
sponsibilities, and ask at your hands a ver-
dict upon the law and the evidence which
has been presented.
[The counsel closed his argument, which
was exceedingly able and interesting, at
twenty minutes past 3 o'clock, having oc-
cupied five hours and fifteen minutes in pre-
senting this important case to the jury.]
The court then took a recess.
Closing Argument for the
Prosecution.
At twenty minutes of four the Attorney
General commenced the closing argument
for the government. When on the morning
of the 27th of May last, the quiet village of
Kingston was disturbed by the excitement
of the hour, what was it that produced this
excitement, which was sent upon the tele-
graph wires, and filled the columns of the
public press? Was it that an old man who
had not an enemy in the world was dead.
for death must come to us all sooner or la
ter, or was it not rather that a man had come
to his death by violence and the community
desire to know, and will know, by whom
this act of violence has been committed.--
No matter how high or how low the indi-
man P
It appears that the prisoner has been a
deacon of an Orthodox Church. There are
two considerations I wish to point out to you
in this connection. It is not a minister who
is brought here but only a deacon, who has
not the spiritual care of the members of the
congregation. The business of the deacon
is to serve the table and distribute the
charities of the church. There is another
consideration. In all political bodies, in all
social and religious bodies, some bad men
will be found. There always has been from
the beginning of time. Does that bring
any disgrace upon the other members of the
body ? It does not until we undertake to
shield him from the consequences of his acts.
The prisoner's pastor and his associate mem-
bers in the church do not come here to try to
shield him from the just consequences of his
act. They have had the justice to leave this
man to come here and stand upon his own
merits. It is said, and repeatedly, that your
verdict may endanger the life of the prison-
er, and that is true, it may. And suppose
it does? No one can feel the responsibility
more than I do; but, gentlemen, we are not
here to set our own judgment against the
people of the Commonwealth. It is the
judgment of the Commonwealth that a man
who commits murder shall suffer the penalty
of death.
The first question to be considered in this
case is: Did the prisoner at the bar kill this
You know at first he concealed it,
and the officers of the law were obliged to
look for the guilty party. Circumstances
pointed to Mr. Samuel Andrews asthe mur-
derer, and he was arrested on Friday, brought
to Plymouth on Saturday, and confined in
the jail, attended by the sympathies of a
large number of the people. When he is


54
told on Monday that he was seen going to
the river with a bundle of clothes, when he
finds that the evidence is so strong that he
cannot escape, he confesses that he did the
deed. Then the last defence of criminals is
brought forward, and the prisoner is said to
have been insane.
The question is whether or not he was of
sound mind? What sort of insanity is set
up here? They do not assert that he is in-
sane now and his demeanor here has con-
vinced you, I think, that he is not.
nor seriously pretended that he was insane
before the act. The insanity then rely on
an insanity which comes on in a moment,
and departs in a moment. If this is effectu-
al in this homicide, it may be made effectual
hereafter in the case of any secret homicide
which may take place. There should be
some rational ground for the jury to form
It is
Cornelius Holmes made a will leaving $8000
to the prisoner. He had a right to make
the will, but the testimony that has been in-
troduced shows that he was thinking of
making a change in it and leaving a larger
sum to the Baptist Church, in which he had
an interest. His most intimate friend ad-
vised him to change the amount of his be-
quest to the Baptists, with which the prison-
er was not in sympathy. He was already
gloating over his wealth, over money which
he expected to receive and which he had not
earned, when he told several persons that
Mr. Holmes was to leave him a large sum.
He knew of the intention of Mr. Holmes to
change his will and he was anxious that he
should die before he had effected the change.
It is too apparent that the death of Mr.
Holmes would be of advantage to him. The
wish came up that he might die—and then it
their judgment of this man's insanity, and
none such has been presented. Dr. Jarvis
says he thinks that such a thing might occur;
but Dr. Choate, a man of greater experi-
ence, says he does not believe such a case of
insanity ever did or ever could occur in
which a person was sane up to the time of a
murder, then for a few moments insane,
and ever afterwards with a sound mind.
There is not in the history of the world *
case of insanity like that which is set up
here. Suppose such cases had existed. How
can you distinguish in this case that insanity
was but a short step to resolve that he must
die. It is not to be denied that there did
rest with the prisoner this tremendous
motive. The considerations which would
affect a sane man are not those which would
affect an insane man. A sane man intend-
ing to commit the deed would have selected
a secluded spot, and the spot where the
homicide occurred was one of the most
secluded which could be found. The time
also was the best for the purpose which
could have been selected. The prisoner
had worked himself up to the idea that
did exist as it is claimed P. You would not Cornelius Holmes must die and what
say when a man does a deed which he
has a motive for doing, that he was insane.
You would not judge from an act which an
insane person might have committed with a
motive, that the person who did commit it
was insane.
Mr. Somerby finis fault with the Holmes'
and Beals', first for being too lavish of their
money in offering a reward for the detection
of the murderer, and again because they are
so avaricious in desiring the money which
was left to the man who killed their brother.
remained? Nothing but to find an appro-
priate time and place, and when these are
found he would perpetrate the art. If it
could have been done by him and carried
through safely, it would seem to have been
done under those circumstances which have
been presented in this case, where he c ºuld
account for himself immed ately before and
after the homicide. What were his actions
after the deed was committed 2 was he not
In
all cases where an insane person kills anoth-
calm and without a show of remorse 2
55
er, when he again becomes rational and finds
what he has done, he is filled with remorse,
and is very likely to have a return of the
paroxysm. Human nature is so constitu-
ted that this is always the case. It is im
possible for a man who has killed his best
friend to talk pleasantly with ladies and
with a gentleman not more than half an
hour afterwards. If he had been an insane
and innocent man, he would have acknowl-
edged the deed and expressed his regrets
at the work of his hand. He would not
have sought the ladies with whom he had
spoken, and solicited their aid in his at-
tempts to prove the impossibility of his hav-
ing committed the deed. If a child's pa-
rents are insane he is liable to be insane.
The insanity is not transmitted, but a ten-
dency to insanity is. It is said that the
atrocity of this act shows insanity. That
depends upon circumstances. If there was
no more atrocity than was necessary to ac-
complish his purpose to conceal by break-
ing in the skull, the wound made by an in-
strument which has not been found, or to
prevent his being able to speak, is not a
proof of insanity. In this case it seems
that there might have been a necessity for
the crushing in the head of Mr. Holmes in
the manner which has been described. Per-
sons did sometimes pass near the place of
the murder and it would not do to have
the murdered man make an outcry. It is
said the prisoner could not have done the
deed because of his piety, that as he did
therefore he must have been insane. Many
instances are on record which will show
that men of great piety apparently, have
committed the most atrocious deeds.
It is said that the prisoner did the deed in
self defence. He testified so on the stand.
Of course he would lie about it. He would
not take the stand to convict limself. It
his testimony is to be believed then the pris-
oner in every ease can swear himself free.
Logically, philosophically considered there
is no weight to be given to the testimony of
a person who is tried for murder, beyond
what is carried out by probability. In re-
gard to the assault which is alleged Mr.
Holmes committed. I think if a man ever
committed such an assult it would not be
made on his best friend. Several witnesses
testify that Mr. Andrews spoke to them of
a large pocket-book which Mr. Holmes car-
ried and some said in the left breast pocket.
of his coat. No pocket-book was found up-
on the dead body, but some spots of blood.
some pine leaves and white hairs in the
pocket of the coat. Even if he had the will
at home there might be another will and
perhaps it was this he was looking for. The
body lay in such a position that the pockets
in which he carried the pocket-book could
be easily reached on the ground where the
homicide was committed. There were sev-
eral pools of blood and all of this blood
flowed from the head of Mr. Holmes. No
blood was drawn from the body of Mr. An-
drews, and as Mr. Holmes was the stronger
of the two, it shows that Mr. Andrews had
the advantage from the start. Andrews
never pretended that he was hurt until after
he was confined in jail. They claim that the
murder was done with stones. Perhaps it
was, and perhaps it was not. It makes no
difference whether it was done with the
stones in the road or by the peculiar stone
which Captain Adams saw lying near. The
death of Mr. Holmes might have been
caused by a club, and that club have since
been burned. There is no evidence whether
it was so or not. If he had done that act in
self-defence it would not have been in human
nature to have conducted himself as he did
subsequent to the murder. He has the bur-
densone secret on his mind and he goes to
several persons and tells them abºu the
will, and asks the Joneses tº say nonig
about it. Then against the advice of triends,
he comes to Plymou h and enters the will in
probate. Such eager grew to avail him if
of the fruits of his acts is inconsistent wi h
either insanity or self-defence.


56
Such defence was unsupported by any
other testimony than that of Andrews. The
forcible commission of such an offence as
that suggested was impossible. A large
pocket book belonging to Holmes was no-
where found, and money was shortly after-
ward discovered in the prisoner's possession.
Although Holmes was the superior in size,
and probably in strength, it was clear that
the prisoner had the advantage from the
start, and pounded the former till he died.
If the prisoner had done the act in self de-
fence, it would not have been in human
nature to have conducted himself as he did
afterward. His talking to the ladies; going
into Wormell's room; wishing the funeral
to take place the next day; his haste to get
the will into the Probate office; his tissue of
lies; his trying to throw suspicion on inno-
cent persons; endeavoring to get up an
alibi; his blasphemous joining in prayer at
Mr. Peckham's as if he believed he might
humbug the Almighty, as he had his fellow
men; his last crowning act of hypocricy in
kissing the corpse—all tended to prove him
guilty, and to show that he was a whited
sepulchre of deception.
They say is he was guilty he had not
acted with sagacity. The history of crime
shows, however, that great guilt can never
coexist with a full possession of all the
mental faculties. It was through a want of
forethought that criminals so often convict-
ed themselve. It was a merciful thing that
prudence and discretion refused to be en-
listed in the service of vice.
The Attorney General concluded with an
eloquent peroration, in which he alluded to
the death of Holmes in terms which appar-
ently were keenly felt by the prisoner. He
then invited the jury to perform their duties
in the light of such reason and wisdom as
were given us below, in the light of that
other purer reason and wisdom by which
they would forever stand justified.
Charge of Chief Justice
Chapman.
The prisoner stands indicted for the crime
of murder, it is the most atrocious of all
crimes, for with a wicked and unlawful mo-
tive it destroys human life; and the right to
life is incomparibly the most precious of all
our rights. It is a crime not merely against
statute law, but against the law of nature.
The common law, which is the law that ex-
isted among our ancestors from the earliest
period of English history, always regarded
it as the highest of crimes. By the com-
mon law as it has existed in this Common-
wealth, murder is the killing of any person
in the peace of the law, with malice afore-
thought expressed or implied. The term
malice is used to express hatred, revenge,
ill will, but it has also a broader significa-
tion. It includes every corrupt motive,
which indicates a heart regardless of social
duty and fatally bent on mischief. For ex-
ample our desires to obtain wrongfully the
money or other property of another, and
attempting to commit a robbery or theft.—
His motive is mere gain, he would prefer to
injure no person, but in order to get the
property or to escape detection he takes the
owners life. His motive is malicious,
though he has no feeling of hatred, revenge
or ill will towards him. The term afore-
thought indicates simply, what is thought of
beforehand, or premediated. But by the
common law malice aforethought was held
to be something implied where there was
premeditation. If a man who was pro-
voked to sudden anger by mere words took
a deadly weapon and killed the offender,
the law implied malice afore thought because
words are no adequate provocation for such
an act as this. There were other cases of the
same character. This feature of the law
was regarded as too severe, and our legisla-
57
ture several years ago modified it by stat-
ute. Murder is now divided into two de-
grees. He then read from the statutes the
degrees of murder and the punishment at-
tendant upon them. To be murder in the
first degree the malice aforethought must be
premeditated. To premeditate is to intend
beforehand. It need not be a long time.
It merely requires time to form an intent.
A robber with a pistol or dirk, walking the
street, turns the corner, meets a bank mes-
senger with a roll of bills. In a moment he
determines to get it; the next moment he
shoots the messenger dead, takes the pack-
age and flies. His malice was deliberately
premeditated though it occupied but a few
seconds. For it was a cool act of the will,
and is unlike the intent stimulated by a sud-
den fight or quarrel, where one kills another
suddenly, not having intended violence be-
forehand. The malice and premeditation
are actual, and are not merely inferred from
the use of deadly weapons. In regard to
manslaughter, I cannot do better than to
read the definition of remarks of Chief Jus-
tice Shaw in the Webster case, in the 5th
Cushing, 204-5. Justifiable homicide rests
upon the right of self-defence. The law re-
gards this as a sacred right and every man's
heart justifies the principle. If an assault is
made upon a man with intent to commit a
felony upon him he may resist so far as is
necessary to resist the assailant even if he
takes the assailants' life. But this right has
a limitation. If he can resist the assailant
and free himself, and then kills his assailant
without necessity he is not excusable. If
mere heat of blood impels him to take life
in such a case he is guilty of man slaughter.
The burden of proof is always in the Gov.
ernment. The law always presumes, that a
man charged with a crime is innocent. A
jury should consider him innocent until his
guilt is proved. The law also presumes
that every man's character is good; that he
is honest, peaceable, humane and kind. The
jury should presume this without any proof.
Yet as we know by experience that the fact
does not always accord with the presump-
tion. It is satisfaction to know how the fact
actually is. If the prisoner proves that the
fact is so, it strengthens the presumption of
innocence. It is one of the exigencies in
which continued good cheracter comes to
his aid. It is hard to believe that one who
has always lived a virtuous life, and been
kind, peaceable, generous, and humane, and
apparently held the “fear of God” will com-
mit an atrocious crime. Yet this presump-
tion is not conclusive. Human experience
teaches us that such men do sometimes fall
with apparent suddenness into crimes of
every grade. A life of external goodness
sometimes for years, covers a base and
wicked heart. We cannot see the depths
of any man's heart, nor predict with
certainty what he may, or may not do un-
der the influence of temptation. The evi-
dence may be strong enough to convict a
man of the crime of murder. The proof of
guilt must be beyond reasonable doubt.—
The doubt must be reasonable, and not
merely captious or speculative. These qual-
ities or cavils often occur to our minds, but
as they do not act upon us in the business
of life, they are to be disregarded. The
rule is that the proof must be so satisfacto-
ry that you would act upon it, in the most
important affairs.
1st. The act of killing must be proved
beyond a reasonable doubt. 2nd. The
maliceaforethought must be thus proved,
and thirdly the deliberate premeditation
must be also proved. But a man's motives
and feelings may be inferred from what he
says and does, and from the circumstances
under which he acts. If he does an act, he
is presumed to have intended to do it. If
he makes an admission against himself he is
presumed to be sincere and thoughtſul.
The duty of a jury in a trial of such a
case is always painful. But only a part of


58
the responsibility rests on them. Others
are obliged to share it with them. Those
who are to gather up the evidence, and de-
tect the criminal, have an unpleasant duty
to perform. The public welfare and safety
of the community requires that they should
not shrink from it, but to discharge it ſear-
lessly and faithfully. Without this, crime
would go unpunished. They know the pub-
lic will censure them if they do not faithful.
ly and zealously do so, and that they may
also be censured for their zeal and faithful-
ness. There is also a painful responsibility
resting on the counsel for the prisoner.
They fear, lest they by mistake endanger their
clients' life. The court always assign coun-
sel to defend a prisoner, and it is to be said
to the honor of the bar, that no person
charged with murder, is ever unable to pro-
cure the aid of learnel countel, and though
he be poor and friendless, and the alleged
crime be hemious, he is always defended
with faithfulness, zeal and fearlessness. The
duty of being a witness, and stating un-
pleasant facts, is no light burden, and must
be faithfully performed. The duties of the
prosecuting officers is of the same charac-
ter. The duties of the court, in directing
the proceedings and instructing the jury,
and in passing sentence upon a fellow citi-
zen who is found guilty, are most painful.
The duty of the jury is of the same charac-
ter, but it is a simple duty. It is to find
the truth upon the law and the evidence in
the case, returning a verdict stating the
truth. It requires careful attention, a can-
did mind, and honest purposes, and that is
all. In the verdict you merely state what
you believe to be the ſat and merely say,
guilty, or not guilty, If you say not guil.
ty, the prisoner goes free. If you say gul-
ty, your duty is done. The court pºss the
sentence, and the Governor and Council
take charge of the matter. They cause
the sentence to be executed, or instigate it,
or pardon the prisoner.
The propriety of the law which in-
flicts capital punishment, is called in
question by some people. There are
those who are willing to aid in the en-
forcement of the law, and therefore certain
questions are regarded by the statute, to be
put to every person. Each of you have an-
swered that you entertain no opinions that
can interfere with your duty, in case the
prisoners guilt is proved. But it may be
proper to say a few words on this subject.
By our constitution the judicial and legisla-
tive departments are to be kept separate,
and neither is to exercise the powers of the
other. This is one of the most important
provisions in that instrument, and we are
sworn to observe it. The legislature is en-
trusted with the power to declare what is a
crime and prescribe its punishment. They
also have the right to say whether capital
punishment shall exist. Neither the court
or the jury have a right to meddle with
that law. Our duty is to try causes accor-
ding to the law as we find it. This is
enough for us. Yet the law which we are
now called to administer can be vindicated
as just and necessary. A man who disre-
gards the sacredness of anothers' life and
wickedly destroys it, may be justly con-
demned to die. He has no right to de-
mand that the Government shall regard his
life as sacred. The safety of the commu-
nity also requires this penalty for murder.
The principal purpose of criminal law, is to
deter men from crime by the influence of
fear. The fear of death is incomparatively
stronger than any other fear, that can be
placed before criminals. The fear of in-
prisonment is as nothing to it. And the
death penal y expresses the abhorrence of
the foul aim of murder, and tends to ex-
cite abhorrence against it in the minds of the
people. I believe the abhorrence that for-
merly existed against all crime, has been
liminished by the efforts of men to abol-
sh this penalty, and place murder in the

59
same category of other crimes, and the
sentiment of justice has been treated by
some as barbarous and base.
Under this indictment the prisoner may be
found guilty 1st, of murder in the first
degree; 2d, of murder in the second de-
gree, and thirdly the verdict may state
which degree of murder, or of manslaught-
er. If not guilty of either of these offences
he is to be acquitted. The evidence to prove
the crime may be direct or circumstantial.-
It is direct when an eye witness testifies that
he has seen the defendant do the deed. It
is circumstantial when no one saw it done ;
but witnesses testify to facts which if true,
make it certain that he did it. Crime always
seeks concealment when it can, and most
crimes might be committed with impunity
if direct evidence were held to be necessary.
The greater part of all our beliefs are found-
ed on circumstantial evidence. In the pres-
ent case no eye-witness was present. The
greater part of all our beliefs are founded
on circumstantial evidence. In the present
case no eye-witness was present. The blows
which caused the death of Cornelius Holmes
were given in the dark and when no human
witncss looked on. The government spent
days in proving circumstances which if true,
tended to prove that he was killed by the
prisoner, Andrews. They had no other
evidence, yet their proofs were very strong.
But the defence has saved you the trouble of
investigating the evidence. In the opening
it was admitted that Holmes was killed by
the prisoner, and that the bloody stºnes that
were found lying near the corpse were the
instruments with which he did it. And the
prisºner has admitted it in his testimony.
We start then with this fact proved and ad-
mitted, that IIolmes was killed by the pris-
oner Andrews. We pass then to the ques-
tion whether it was done with the wicked in-
tent alleged. The first fact alleged in the
defence is that it was not so done, but was
your attention then to the nature of this de-
fence. Insanity is a disease of the body,
that affects the mind. Oºr minds are
always more or less affected by bodily
disease. A headache or iudigestion operate
upon the mind. A fever does the same and
sometimes produces temporary delusion.—
This delusion while it lasts may so destroy
the reason as to become what the law calls
insanity. It would be wrong to hold a man
responsible for acts done in such a state of
mind. Diseases of the nerves are apt to
affect the mind. Sudden calamity or deep
grief also operates in the nerves and some-
times destroys the reason. There are also
cases in which there is a hereditary predis-
position to insanity. When the person whose
blood a man inherits has been insane he is
often predisposed to insanity, and is made
insane by slighter causes than other men.—
This tendency does not always descend. It
often happens that the children and grand-
children of an insane parent are as free
from insanity as other people. But this pre-
disposition is not itself insanity. It merely
weakens the physical system and and makes
it more liable to the disease or weakness of
the lungs, which is often inherited is not it-
self consumption, but renders a person more
liable to consumption. A slight exposure
would bring a consnmption then, if the lungs
Were strong.
As to what degree of insanity is sufficient
to protect a person from punishment read
Cºmmonwealth vs. Rogers, 7. Metcalf 501-
2.
A question arises here in regard to the
burden of proof. The rule is that the bur-
den is on the government to prove deliber-
ate premeditation. But the presumption is
that every man of adult years has the ordi-
nary abilities of a man, including the power
to distinguish between right an I wrong—to
consider, reflect, form purposes, and carry
them out. This presumption therefore, sat-
done under the influence of insanity, I eal lisfies the burden of proof, and requires the

60
jury to regard the prisoner as capable of
commiting the crime of murder in the first
degree, unless it is over borne, by a prepon-
derance of all the evidence in the case. It is
necessary for the Court to state two legal
rules. They furnish a general guide. But
after all, the jury will apply to any question
of this character, their practical judgment
and sound common sense, and endeavor to
satisfy themselves whether the evidence
proves that the prisoner was in fact same or
insane. Insanity is to be distinguished from
passion. One may become infuriated by
passion, excited by words or blows, or by a
struggle as to yield himself up to blindness
or impulse, and not know what he does.
But such passion is not insanity. One who
does not control his passions is to blame,
but an insane man is not to blame. He is
prostrated by disease of the body which has
so far affected his mind that he is innocent
in being unable to distinguish right from
wrong. If the prisoner killed Holmes under
the influence of an evil passion, and with-
out provocation, he is guilty. On the other
hand if there was no evil passion or motive,
and he was insane, he is an innocent man
and is entitled to go at large as much as any
of us. If he is acquitted on that ground you
will say so in your verdict. You will need
then to consider with the utmost care the
evidence on this subject. And here there
are certain presumptions of fact, which are
founded on experience. If when a man does
an act, he has always been sane, this tends
to prove that he was sane when he committed
it. On the contrary if he has been insane a
long time before the act, this tends to prove
that he was insane when he did it. This
presumption is often applied to the making
of wills and deeds. It will apply with equal
force to the taking of another's life. Anoth-
er judicial rule is, that if a man is sane just
after having done an act, it tends to prove
that he was sane when he did it. But if he
was insane just after it tends to prove that
he was insane when he did it. You can
judge practically how strong these pre-
sumptions of evidence are. Apply them to
this case. Up to within a few minutes of
Holmes' death, had the prisoner been insane.
From a few moments after his death was he
insane?
There is evidence of his appearance two
years before when Frank Robbins one of
his relatives died, also his appearance at
Newmarket. Both the experts say this was
not evidence of insanity. The question
whether the prisoner had any motive to do
the act, which would posssbly influence any
sane man, is importantin deciding this ques-
tion. You are also to consider the instru-
ment which he used, and also the circum-
stances of the act of killing. There is also
evidence that he had frequent headaches.
But it needs no experts to testify as to them,
for many of us suffer intense pain from
them, throunh the best years of our living,
still no one will infer insanity from them.
The jury will judge how strong the proof
of his sanity when he killed Holmes as
arising from the testimony, as to his being
sane before and after the time of the kill-
ing. If he was calm as well as rational, im-
mediately before, and immediately after,
they will judge how far it tends to prove he
was rational then. The prisoner is a wit-
ness and testifies to his state of mind when
he did the act. There are two things to be
inquired into on this point.
1st. Assuming his statement to be true
does it prove that bodily disease had sud-
denly attacked him, or that he acted under
the temper of passion; that he became
blind and furious. If it was the latter, it
was not insanity, and he must seek for an
excuse on other grounds. On this point
the opinions of the experts is given. Dr.
Jarvis says the facts indicate maniacal par-
oxysm. Again he says, regarding the pris-
oners statement to be true, the facts tend to
suspicions of insanity. He says the act of

61
killing is itself an evidence of insanity.
But it would give to crime perfect impuni-
ty if the commission of crime was to be re-
garded as evidence of insanity. It is prop-
ºr also to say, that if a homicide is eom-
mitted with circumstances of cruelty and
atrocity, that cruelty and atrocity in itself
tend to prove insanity. You are to judge
of these opinions. The opinions of experts
are mere evidence for the jury to consider
in connection with other evidence. The re-
sponsibility is after all on you to say wheth-
er the prisoner is, or is not guilty by rea-
son of insanity. I think the opinions of ex-
perts are not so highly regarded as they
formerly were. For while they often afford
great aid in determining facts, it often hap-
pens that experts can be found to testify to
any theory, however absurd. The experts
before you are gentlemen of learning, and
you must judge between them. If you find
the prisoner not guilty by reason of insan-
ity, you need investigate no farther, but
must acquit him. And if such circumstan-
stances were regarded as evidence of insan-
ity it would furnish an inducemunt to every
murderer to act with as much cruelty and
atrocity as as possible in order to furnish
proof that he was insane. But if the act
is one without any assignable motive, you
look more readily to insanity as the cause
than if a strong motive were proved.
I have spoken of the opinion of Dr. Jar-
vis that there might have been a sudden at-
tacs of insanity, that came on without any
premonition, and led to the murder and de-
parted as soon as the murder was consuma-
ted, leaving no trace behind. The opinion
of Dr. Choate is the contrary. He re-
gards such a kind of insanity as unheard of
and impossible, as insanity comes from
bodily disease, he thinks it would not come
or go suddenly, rage so violently and then
totally disappear. But if you do not be-
lieve that a kind of insanity exists, which
suddenly attacks a man whose health is
good, and whose mind is sound at the time,
superinduced by provocation, and after act-
ing violently and prostrating his reason and
memory, and then leaving him sound again
with reason and health perfectly restored,
then the defence of insanity fails. But if
you think there is such a disease, there is
yet another question th settle on this point.
The facts as to the killing, come from the
prisoner and his testimony. If you do not
believe his testimony then you have no ev-
idence tending to prove him insane at the
time. It is contended that his testimony is
not worthy of credit. On this point there
are certain rules of law.
1st. If it appears that a man's charac-
ter for truth has always been good, it is to
be presumed that he telis the truth on the
stand. 21. If he has always been kind
and humane, it is to be presumed that he
will not do an act of cruelty. 3rd. If he
has in important facts falsified and deceived,
it tends to show that he is capable of false-
hood. If he has been practicing deception
and hypocrisy, it tends to prove that he is
dapable of doing it again. If under the
influence of a strong motive, he has done it
many times, and testifies under the same
motive, the motive may now operate, as it
has done before. The prisoner now testi-
fies to save his life and liberty, and to save
himself from the implication of a great
crime, and his family from distress and dis-
grace. The jury must judge how this mo-
tive influenced him, if it had any influence.
If they do not rely upon his tentimony then
they will inquire whether there are any
facts, to prove his insanity. If they do be-
lieve it, they will judge which of the opi-
nions expressed by the experts is correct.
If he was not insane, there must be a fur-
ther examination of the proof to ascertain
why he took the life of Holmes. He alleg-
es and testifies that Holmes made an as-
sault upon him for the purpose of commit-
ting the crime against nature. This offence

62
is a felony of a grave nature. It was for-
merly punished with death. At present, by
general statutes chap. 165, sec. 18, imprison-
ment in State Prison not exceeding 20 years.
This is the crime which he charges that
Holmes attempted to commit upon him.
He says his violence began, when Holmes
suddenly aud unexpectedly threw him down,
tore open his clothing, seized him in a vital
part and had one hand on his breast, and
was proceeding to perform violence. If this
be true it would excuse him from doing any-
thing necessary to free himself, even to
taking life. If this is all he did he has com-
mitted no crime and is entitled to an acquit.
tal. It is not necessary to prove insanity
and the question of insanity becomes im-
material. And this difference depends
entirely on what you believe or disbelieve of
his story. Did Holmes, or did he not make
such an assault upon him P All the indica-
tions already mentioned bear upon this
point, the prisoner's previous good character,
kind and humane disposition, and the false.
hoods and deceptions practiced by him after-
wards, and the motive he has to testify, so
as to save his life. The age of Holmes has
some bearing on the question of whether he
had attempted such a deed. The fact that
all his clothing was found buttoned up, if
that was so; the fact that the prisoner was
not wounded in the contest if that was so,
are all to be taken into consideration. All
the appearance of the ground, and the
nature of the wounds, and the instrument
used to kill the deceased are to be consider-
ed. Do these tend to confirm the state-
ment of the prisoner that Holmes made this
felonous assault upon him, and that he was
acting merely in self defence, or do they tend
to show that the violence used was on the
part of the prisoner, and that he was the as:
sailant. Take these circumstances and the
prior and subsequent conduct of the defend.
ant, and decide whether on the whole you
believe his statements to be true. If he was
assaulted his justification will depend upon
the degree of violence with which he was
assaulted. If it was like the assault which
he states as having taken place when Holmes
slept with him at his house, or at the Tre-
mont House, it would hardly excite any
apprehensions of danger, or justify a homi-
cide. The fact that he continued to be in-
timate with Holmes, the jury will consider
as bearing on the question, whether he was
afraid of violence, or had cause for fear, or
whether Holmes would have been likely to
use any great violence at that time. If the
attack was not violent and did not indicate
compulsion by fear on the part of Holmes,
and if the prisoner freed himself from him,
and disabled him then the continuance of
the beating him with stones, if it caused his
death would be manslaughter. If the jury
disbelieve his story of Holmes' assault upon
him, and believe him to havo been sane,
then the fact remains that the prisoner killed
him without any assigned cause, either
to justify or palliate the act. His motives to
do the act have been inquired into. Evi-
dence has been given of his pecuniary cir-
cumstances, and also in respect to the will,
in which Holmes made a legacy to him. All
these are proper subjects of inquiry, as
bearing upon his motives.
It is satisfactory to ascertain the motive
which prompted a man to commit such an
act of violence. But it is not necessary to
prove a motive. If it seems an adequate or
reasonable motive for a murder it is a char-
acteristic of crime; that it springs from fol-
ly and it is often foolish at every step of its
course. It is truly said of one who does
a deed of wickedness. “He stumbleth in
the day time as in the dark, he knows not
at what he stumbles.” If the prisoner was
insane he is not guilty, and is to be acquited.
If he did the act in self defence he is not
guilty and is to be acquited, If he did it
under the provocation of an assult, but in
the heat of passion, he exceeded the proper
63
kegal limits of self defence, he is guilty of
manslaughter. But if none of these exces-
ses existed, and he was prompted by an evil
and unlawful motive, and acted with delib-
erate premeditation he is guilty of murder
in the first degree. If the jury arrive at
either result they are so to state it in their
verdict. I have endeavored to avoid stating
any opinion of my own, as to the guilt or
innocence of the prisoner. If any juror
should conjecture what they may be, he is to
disregard them. It is for the jury exclusively
to decide the question of insanity, or guilt.
But as the verdict must be unanimous it is
necessary that jurors should pay a proper
defence to the arguments and opinions of
each other. If each were to adher obsti-
nately to his own views a verdict would of-
ten be impossible and the public interest
demands that if jurors can conscientiously
agree they should do so. With these sug.
gestions gentlemen, I leave the case with
you.
The charge occupied just one hour in its
delivery, and at ten minutes of nine o'clock
the jury retired to consider their verdict.—
The judges, and the counsel for the govern-
ment, then returned to the Samoset House,
where they, and also the representatives of
the press, were comfortably provided for by
the experienced landlord, Mr. J. S. Parker,
during the trial. The counsel for the pris-
oner also left the court room, and repaired
to Mr. Davis' house, the expectation being
that a verdict would not be reached until
morning. But a few minutes before one
o'clock Sheriff Bates was notified that the
jury had agreed; the court bell was rung,
and the court and counsel called. Shortly
after one o'clock the prisoner was brought
in and had the appearance of having been
roused from a sound sleep. So far as his
face indicated any feeling, it was that of
gratification at the near approach of the
close of his suspense. The court and coun-
sel being in place, at half past one o'clock,
the jury came in and took their seats. In
answer to the question put by the clerk of
the court, the foreman gave as the verdict of
the jury—“GUILTY of MANs. AUGHTER.”
Mr. Davis, counsel for the prisoner, then
approached and took him by the hand, when
a smile was seen to rest for a moment on his
face.
The Attorney General then moved that
the court pronounce sentence.
Chief Justice Chapman asked the counsel
for the defence if they desired any delay,
and Mr. Somerby replied that they did not.
The judges then retired, but returned in
a few minutes and the clerk pronounced the
sentence of the Court, which is “twenty
years' confinement at hard labor in Charles-
town State Prison, the first day of which is
to be solitary confinement.” This sentence
is the heaviest allowed by the law; when it
was announced there were about fify persons
in the court room, and the verdict and
sentence seemed to give general satisfaction.
The court after passing sentence adjourned
without day.

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