killed by the falling of a tree. His age was 65. Miss Merriam was found dead in her bed. Her age was 69.
On the night of the 7th of March, 1855, a shocking murder was committed in Gardner. The house of Miss Miriam Kneeland and Mrs. Sarah K. Phinney, was entered, by breaking a window while the occupants were in their beds; the murderer with malice prepense, and without any provocation, maliciously murdered those two innocent persons by striking them on their heads with a cudgel. The instrument used was a chair-post. The murder was not disclosed until the next day evening. This affair so agitated the town, that there was but little business accomplished for a week; there was great exertion used to ascertain the perpetrator of this invidious deed. The Selectmen offered a reward of $500, to any one who would detect and bring to justice the assassin.
A young man by the name of George Stacy was apprehended and tried before a Justice of the Peace in Gardner; the evidence was so much against him, that he was committed for a further hearing before the Supreme Court, at Worcester. The Grand Jury found a bill against him, and the case went to the Trial Jury, but their verdict was not guilty.
