Jasper County Democrat, Volume 4, Number 17, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 August 1901 — FOSBURG NOT GUILTY. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

FOSBURG NOT GUILTY.

Sensational Endia* of Pittsfield Man* alaiinhter Case, After all the turmoil in the Berkshirea this year-long mystery of a provincial police chief “more silent than a sphinx” and the protracted torture of a family that has at last proven itself brave, the' Fosburg case at Pittsfield, Mass., was thrown out of court Friday. Judge Stevens, before whom Robert 8. Fosburg was placed on trial on an indictment charging him with manslaughter in causing the death of his sister May, Aug. 20 last, granted the motions of the defense and directed the jury to acquit, the defendant, and the solid-looking Berkshire farmers, carpenters and merchants who had heard the evidence went cheerfully through the formality of obeying the court's instructions. All the grinding of the legal mill for a week produced no more proof than

there was a year ago tending to show that the accused young man had held the revolver with which his sister was killed. Not only had that not been shown, but It had not been shown that any other member of the family could have held the weapon, and, moreover, several Fosburgs had gone on the stand and sworn stoutly that there were intruders—white caps, burglars, or what you will—in the house the night in question that the eldest daughter came to her death at the hands of one of them. There was nothing for the court to do nnder the law but withdraw the case from the jury consideration. The fact that he did so was a tremendous slap in the face of the prosecution, which was a circumstan. e not regretted by the townspeople. The jurymen did not leave their seats. The verdict was received with shouts of applause, which the court immediately suppressed. The demonstration, however, was one of the most remarkable that has ever occurred in a court of justice. May Fosburg was shot and killed the night of Aug. 19, 1900. It was a warm summer evening, and the members of the Fosburg family, including the girl, her father and mother, her sister Beatrice and her brothers Robert and James, spent the evening singing sacred songs. In the house at the time was an intimate friend of the murdered girl—Bertha Sheldon, daughter of an old friend of the family who lived in Providence, R. I. There was only one member of the family missing—another daughter, Esther, who was visiting friends out of the city. Neighbors listened to the music, which was led by May Fosburg, and in which Robert took a prominent part. Just before midnight the house darkened and the family went to bed. About an hour later the neighborhood was aroused by screams. Robert Fosburg appeared at a window on the second floor and called frantically for help, crying out that the family was being murdered by burglars. Two pistol shots preceded the disturbance. Several armed men rushed to the scene, but It was too late. May Foaburg was lying on the floor of her bedroom, shot through the heart. Near by her father lay badly bruised and unconscious from a blow with a sandbag. The mother also had been beaten and trampled upon, and Robert Fosburg himself was suffering from a blow with a sandbag at the base of his skull. Beatrice Fosburg, the 13-year-old daughter, and Miss Sheldon were nearly overcome by fright

BOBERT FOSBERG.