These Dark Mountains

Duxbury, 1880. Following the discovery of the body, a woman and her son stand trial for the murder of Alice Meaker.

Duxbury, 1880. A Sheriff’s Deputy searches for the missing Alice Meaker and a suspect agrees to lead him to the body. A story of two late night carriage-rides into the Little River district of Waterbury, culminating in an awful discovery.

Duxbury, 1879. Eight year-old Alice Meaker and her brother are taken in by an older half-brother in exchange for $50. 11 months later, she disappears in the night.

December 11, 1899 dawned gray and cold, rain blowing in waves with the winds up Cherry Street. Agnes Willis spent the day at work as a “scrub woman,” or cleaner, before meeting up with Gilbert Farmer and returning with him to her Cherry Street tenement. They took supper with the neighbors. A blade was needed to cut the chicken and Gilbert offered up his knife, a folding dirk. Its edge glittered. Sources: Guyette, Elise A. Discovering Black Vermont: African American Farmers in Hinesburgh, 1790-1890. University Press of New England, 2010. Williamson, Jane. “African Americans in Addison County, Charlotte, and Hinesburgh, Vermont, 1790–1860.” Vermont History Vol. 78 No. 1: 15-42, 2010. Whitfield, Harvey Amani. “African Americans in Burlington, Vermont, 1880–1900.” Vermont History Vol. 75, No. 2: 101-123, 2007.

It’s early afternoon, not yet two o’clock on October 23, 1879, when Luman Smith returns to his farm in Williston. His little girl runs out to meet him and they go to the barn together, talking of this or that, then turning at the sound of footsteps, his father-in-law coming over.

October 6, 1875. Wednesday morning in St. Albans and Aldis Brainerd is reading the paper. He’s at his house on North Main Street or at his offices in the Brainerd Block. He’s taking breakfast, perhaps, or sitting at his desk when he unfolds The Daily Messenger to its second page, a headline reading: Another New Hampshire Horror A School Girl Outraged & Murdered

On Friday, July 24, 1874, Marietta Ball dismissed her class and closed up the No 2 schoolhouse. As usual she intended to pass the weekend with Clara Paige and left directly from the school, carrying her nightdress, slippers, and underclothes in a bundle under arm.

The moon was in the window. The bedroom swam silver in its light.  Half-past eight o’clock on October 3, 1868, and Hannah Russell lay awake, her husband Perry beside her. He slept deeply and didn’t stir, though wind shook the roof-slates and rattled the shutters and somebody rapped at the side-door. 

Henry Beumond worked at Guild & Wetherbee’s paper mill in Westminster, Vermont. Late in the afternoon of June 12, 1895, he descended to the mill-race to rake out the debris and spied a starch box caught up on the racks. He fished it out and was surprised to find the lid was nailed shut. He pried it open.

The hills were on fire. It was the spring of 1877, windy and dry. In West Jay, Vermont, Mitchell Ploof was at work in his clearing when he smelled smoke and heard a rustling in the undergrowth. Rabbits. They poured out of the forest, “whole droves” of them running, and there were other animals too, squirrels and chipmunks. The fire followed, ten minutes behind.

July 28, 1902, a Monday evening. Clarence Adams was driving home from Chester village when two men stopped his wagon. He couldn't make out their faces but one of them had a shotgun. They wanted money, they said, or they'd shoot.

Tressa was up. Lillian Gallup heard movement upstairs and assumed it was her houseguest Tressa Dustin. It was just after eight in the morning. Lillian waited but Tressa didn’t come down. An hour later, Lillian went upstairs and found the guest room empty.