Date: Fri 28-Aug-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: CURT

Quick Words:

Laslo-Briscoe-history-fiction

Full Text:

From the Case Files of Detective Laslo Briscoe: Third Installment

By Andrea Zimmermann

It was just blind luck that Dan Cruson stopped by the police department this

week; only the town historian could definitively solve the most recent mystery

posed by the turn-of-the-century case files of Detective Laslo Briscoe.

Bets were on that the George M. Nichols who was tried for torching a barn in

Taunton, must have been the same George M. Nichols who was murdered during a

robbery two years later. It seemed divine retribution, after all. And nothing

in Briscoe's case files indicated otherwise.

Without so much as calling up his laptop files as reference, Dan explained why

it is unlikely the two are the same. It would have been quite a feat for the

fence-jumping, cider-drinking Nichols who used profanity and evaded the law by

hiding in an outhouse to metamorphose, within two years, into a well respected

farmer of 65 years. Maybe the police department should make Dan an honorary

detective.

No. 153 -- The Case

Of The Giddy Arsonists

In the case of arson, it is rare anything is proven except by circumstantial

evidence. But it does not bode well for the suspects when their arrest is made

in an outhouse in which they appear to be hiding. Such was the situation when

Constable Blackman, Selectman Glover, and I arrived to question Michael

Corbett and George M. Nichols about the firing of Samuel B. Camp's barn in

Taunton.

During Corbett's trial, the prosecuting attorney uncorked the vials of oratory

when he presented the motive for arson as retribution; some weeks before,

Samuel Camp refused to sell cider to Corbett, as was his habit, with

explanation that he hadn't any cider to spare. Corbett did not appear to be

offended, however, and Camp described their relationship as "amicable."

Corbett is undoubtedly the slipperiest of the two suspects. After Justice

Cavanaugh heard arguments of both attorneys, he discharged the man on July 8,

1895; but when Constable Blackman was sent once more to arrest both, it was

Corbett who, in a pretense to get his coat, made a long journey after it and

hasn't been seen since.

At the Nichols trial today, witness after witness was called to depict and

interpret the actions of two men they encountered the night the barn burned.

1) The suspects were seen earlier in the evening discharging firecrackers near

Burt Nichols'. At the critical time, they were spied vaulting a fence and

running down through the lots; two paths of flattened grass from the Camp barn

to the road were discovered.

2) When they ran past James Cummings at about 9 o'clock, he asked what was the

matter? They replied, "It's going to rain."

3) Corbett and Nichols came to the house of Fred B. Lake at about 9 o'clock

the night of July 1 and asked for a drink of cider. Corbett had one glass,

Nichols a glass and a half. Mr Lake testified his visitors were "in a jolly

state of mind," that Nichols declared he "could catch more fish than any man

in Taunton," and after 5 or 10 minutes the two went up the road singing.

4) Miss Susie A. Camp and her brother, Robert Camp, left the house of Mrs

Addie Nichols on Mt Pleasant at 9:15; on their drive home they discovered the

blaze, which illumined the sky. She said the fire was plainly visible to the

naked eye about an eighth of a mile away. They saw Nichols and Corbett coming

up the hill but did not speak to them; the two suspects "seemed to crouch down

and act in a guilty manner."

5) Dr Henry S. Nichols went down the hill leading to the scene but, shortly

after, returned to stand near the Corbett barn. While there he heard voices

within. When joined by other neighbors, it was suggested the Corbett barn be

searched and they entered the barn. While standing there, two men came running

up the road from the lake (one identified as Michael Corbett), using

profanity.

6) When found in the outhouse, Corbett and Nichols stated they were in the

little building because it was going to rain. But it was not raining when the

arrests were made.

When the facts are extracted from fancy, there is little by way of

circumstantial evidence (even considering the paths in the lots), to condemn

Nichols (or Corbett, for that matter, as testimony was much the same at his

trial). If Nichols had proceeded on his way, or if he had, indeed, seen the

fire and responded as any reasonable man would, Justice Wakeman would not have

found probable cause and would not have bound him over for $1,000 for trial in

the criminal term of the Superior Court.

No. 198 -- The Case Of

The Tattle-tale Accomplice

When squeezed with the least bit of pressure, a citrus fruit will spill forth;

so it is with the lowest element of criminal society. I speak not of the

outlaw who blazes a trail of the most despicable crimes and, when apprehended,

is silent and without remorse even upon judgment of the most severe nature.

While these familiar types may not be recipients of our admiration, it is

widely recognized they adhere to certain criminal rules for conduct.

But there are weak links in each level of community. And the person who sat in

the witness box on December 7, 1897, was a man of no character and without

loyalty -- even if measured by criminal standards. David A. Weeks was willing

to share in the bounties of crimes affected in partnership with Charles A.

Bonai in Connecticut, New York State, and Pennsylvania. But once his wrists

were encircled with handcuffs, he became disaffected and was easily convinced

to lay a multitude of blame on his closest comrade.

Although such a rogue does not levy a listener's full trust, I was gratified

to hear his brief explanation of a shooting that took place in Botsford in the

spring. The mystery that surrounded the incident was not doggedly pursued by

me or the deputy because the victim, Caroline Booth, was not the sort of woman

to be found at the Glovers' lawn parties. Proceedings were reported in The Bee

, but soon thereafter, the respectable citizens in town found other matters by

which to distract themselves.

The main testimony of the day, however, related to the most serious of crimes.

Weeks related how Bonai had fired two shots at George M. Nichols while robbing

the latter at his residence. They had planned the robbery of Nichols for a

long while, believing the man to possess considerable wealth. On July 21 they

hid out in a barn at Daniels Farms until 12:30 when they advanced toward the

Nichols house in the rain. It was their hope the rain would aid their entry

and hide their subsequent trail.

Weeks described how Bonai cut out a window pane, opened the sash, and crawled

into the house; he then let his cohort in through a side door. A noise

upstairs chased the two robbers outside, but they burst back in through the

side door to surprise Mr Nichols and his sister, Miss Mary Nichols. Bonai is

said to have called out, "Hold up your hands," to which Nichols responded by

striking him over the head with his lantern. That is when Bonai released his

bullets and Nichols fell to the floor, mortally wounded. Only after chasing

Miss Nichols upstairs and firing near her, did Bonai return to the downstairs

to demand money from the prostrate elder.

Bonai may have relented and secured some brandy from a closet after Nichols

pleaded for such beverage. But there is no semblance of compassion in thieves

who take their time to search the house and then help themselves to something

to eat, all the while their unwilling host bleeds to death.