A SORDID TRAGEDY.

Grey River Argus, Volume XIV, Issue 1762, 28 March 1874, Page 3

A SORDID TRAGEDY.

[FROM THE NEW YORK TRIBUNE.] Almon and John Gordon were the sons of a small farmer living in Thorndale, Waldo County, Maine. Something like the old rivalry of Jacob and Esau seems to have grown \ip with the young men. Almon was thrifty, industrious, and "close" — a man after his old father's heart. John was a" no account " young fellow he liked squirrel-hunting and j sleighing, bnt was adverse to hard labour. The old man, after various experiments, decided to leave his little farm to Almon, who wrought industriously in the field and wood-lot. John meantime, had " done chores " about among the neighbours, had let himself at intervals as hired man, and had lived a generally thriftless and shiftless life. Almon finally secured from his father certain writings which gave him absolute control, if not v ownership, of the farm. At this John was exceeding wroth. He had also been unprosperous in his little love affairs, and he was embittered and disappointed. Some person had written anonymous letters to the object of his affections, warning her that he was ane'er-do- well and a vagabond. This meanness he charged to his sister-in-law, the wife of Almon. . He swore he " would be even" with the whole family. '<►«. The fend culminated in a quarrel about a a saw which belonged to the farm, and which John took, without leave, to saw wood for one of the neighbours. One night, after some bitter talk, the brothers went to bed under the same roof. Towards, morning John rose up stealthily and crept into the room where Almon was sleeping with his wife and two children. With an axe from the wood-shed this Bordid Cain slew his brother, the wife, and 'one of the children, leaving the second child for dead. He then fired the house and alarmed the neighbours. His alarm was premature : the fire was extinguished ; the horrid butchery was manifest. He was arrested, tried, and convicted of murder in the first degree. The details of this sordid story, brought out in the course of the trial, gave glimpses of a mean and commonplace life, which only through violence and blood rose into the dignity of a tragedy. There was the weak old man beset by his natural affection for his sons, and their selfish greed. There the brothers wrangling over petty details of homely farm life, and inflamed with heartburnings about the ownership of field and wood-lot and the use of a saw. And there was the poor old mother trying to keep peace in the family, and secretly telling John he should have 300dol. as his part of the birth-right. The covetousness and rancour of the disappointed brother flamed and flamed until he was on fire with a desire for revenge. He was not a violent man, nor of dull moral perceptions j but he hated his brother, and so wore the brand of Cain before he lifted the fatal axe. Nursing his wrath, he fancied himself most ill-used and outraged by a Bupplanter. His passion grew on him as he mused over his wrongs, and the sight of his brother enjoying the comforts of a frugal homestead drove him wild. Soj for the poor sake of revenging himself for the loss of a few hundred dollars, he imbrued his hands in his brother's blood. Just as men more delicately nurtured and more profusely tempted become defaulters, theives, or murderers for the sake of thousands, this young Maine farmer brought three awful murders on Jiis soul, desolated what should have ■Ffoeen a happy home, and threw once more " a lurid light on the old proverb, " The love of money is the root of all evil."