Mt. Moosilauke (1859) - Two Murders
". . . This is a chapter we would gladly omit, but we should not be deemed a faithful historian if we did not write it. Within a year and a half of each other, it was alleged, two men were murdered in Warren. Antony McCarter and Vanness Wyatt were the alleged murdered men, - Patrick Sweeney and James M. Williams were the alleged murderers.
The first tragedy happened in 1859, and it was a snowy day in March when Antony McCarter was last seen in Warren. He had led a secluded life for years; but that winter had taken up his residence with Sweeney, an Irishman, who had his shanty in the fir woods by the brick-kiln, on the East-parte road. He had quarrelled with Sweeney's wife that morning, and she had inflicted a deep gash in his face with an iron poker. No one saw him after that day. . . .
. . . The second occurred in 1860, and it was far more serious than the Sweeney-McCarter affair, and the dead man never came back to life again. The killing took place on the morning of July 27, 1860. Williams had been to Samuel Bixby's, who lived over the river from the depot, to milk his cow. Wyatt was at work loading bark near the railroad track. Coming home in company with William Clement, Mr. Williams saw Mr. Vanness Wyatt approaching him with a small stick in hand. . . ."
From "A Brief Account of Two Murders" by William Little, pp. 316-324, The Moosilaukee Reader (Vol.2). ©1999.
