Murder of Catherine Mary Richards, Plainfield, Otsego Co. NY, 1878

Chenango Semi-Weekly Telegraph, Norwich, NY, July 3, 1878

Murder at Plainfield, Otsego Co.

The home of the girl Catharine Mary Richards, who was brutally and cruelly murdered last Tuesday on the Plainfield Hills, Otsego County [NY] overlooks in all directions views which cannot be surpassed in the world, one of the most delightful landscapes of valleys and hills intermingled that can be imagined.  The would-be ravisher and murderer left his work, which commanded these views, and sent into eternity one of the happiest and most promising young girls that lived in that section of the country. She is described as the picture and embodiment of good health and happy, buoyant spirits, an idolized namesake of a darling child who had been removed from her family by disease and was beloved by all who knew her.

The inquest continued through Thursday and up to nearly 3 A.M. Friday and after the case was submitted to the very intelligent jurors by the clear-headed coroner and skillful surgeon, Dr. Spencer, they compared notes for half an hour and then requested the coroner to adjourn the inquest so that additional evidence might be obtained. The request was granted and an adjournment, subject to the call of the coroner, was ordered.

Wednesday and Thursday little or nothing could be done toward "working up" the details of the case.

The testimony in the preliminary examination at Unadilla Forks, Monday, of Myron A. Buell, the farm hand, charged with murdering Miss Richards, leaves the young man hardly a foothold upon which to stand in the midst of an outraged and saddened community.  The evidence as taken before the coroner's jury seems to form a strong chain of circumstantial evidence against him and he will doubtless be turned over to the criminal court to be tried for murder.

Freeman's Journal, Cooperstown, NY, July 14, 1878

Mysterious Tragedy

On Tuesday the 25th ult. about 5 o'clock P.M. Catherine Mary Richards aged 14 years and 9 months, daughter of Wm. C Richards of Plainfield Center in this county [Otsego Co. NY] was found dead in a stall where a bull was kept and the bull running at large.  At first it was supposed that the bull had caused her death and her father, who was absent on a visit to Remsen, was notified of her death from that cause.

On examination of the circumstances connected with the case, suspicion was aroused that it was not the work of the bull but of some fiend in human shape and an inquest was organized Wednesday night by Coroner Dr. W.M. Spencer of Edmeston, who summoned a jury, and after viewing the body, adjourned till 9 o'clock A.M. Thursday.

The family of Mr. Richards consisted of himself and wife and two daughters, Catharine and Maggie, the latter nine or ten years of age, and two hired men, Myron A. Buell and Daniel G. Bowen.  The father had been absent a week on a visit to Remsen, and the mother had gone to Winfield on the day of the tragedy, leaving the two girls and the two hired men.

Under Suspicion

Suspicion began to point towards young Buell, who was known to be an unfavored suitor for the company of the girl.  As soon as Coroner Spencer was notified, he was put under surveillance.

From the proceedings of the inquest, which occupy more than eight columns of the Utica Herald, we extract the following:

Daniel G. Bowen:  first witness sworn, testified: lived previous to my residence here in Florence, Oneida County [NY]; knew the deceased about a month before death; last saw her previous to her death at the dinner table of her father's house, Tuesday, June 25; she was in her usual health; saw her next in the barn dead, about 5 P.M., same day; my business called me to the barn; went to drive the bull into the barn; passed through the northeast door, which was open; I was the first one who discovered her dead; the door was entirely open; I stepped into the door and saw the body of the girl lying on the right side; she laid in front of the stanchion which was used to confine the bull; the bull could not have entered his stanchion without disturbing the body; the bull made no signs of fear; didn't see any unusual movements by the bull;  I said, "Oh Myron, what's happened?  The girl's dead, surely!"  Myron Buell was with me; he accompanied me to the stable; Buell was inside with me; I walked up toward the girl and the bull retired from the stable; then we looked at the girl; Myron then went to the house, followed the bull and drove him from the barn; then Maggie (the youngest sister of the deceased), Miss Jones and Myron came to the barn, and all entered the stable and looked at the girl; Buell was going to get the horse and go to West Winfield, when I told him we had better carry the body into the house as it was in a bad shape; Buell, myself and two or three men carried the body into the house; when we picked her up her head lay toward the south and her feet toward the north; her clothes were intact, in their usual shape; no part of her person was exposed.

Bowen's examination was discontinued at this point, and the inquest was adjourned to the Welsh Congregational Church.

Dr. J.M. Rose of West Windfield, a practicing physician of over forty years, testified that he first saw Catharine M. Richards, the deceased, since death, Tuesday about 8 P.M.; examined the body and found a cut about three-quarter of an inch long which reached to the bone; the cheek about the outer angle of the eye was injured and congested; a probe passed up from the wound under the flesh to the eye; there was a wound on the point of the shoulder in the form of a half circle, convex cut nearly through the skin; there was an abrasion on the left groin and on the right elbow from which the scarf skin was rubbed; a mark or discoloration on the neck extended around to within about two inches of the back part; Drs. Dively and Huntley assisted in the postmortem; there was no fracture of the skull. the doctor described minutely all the appearances of the body upon the postmortem examination and continued, the blow on the right cheek seemed to be one of the causes of death; the impression that I would have is that a wound from a bull's horn would be torn out more than this.  This wound was not made with a knife or a sharp cutting instrument; death might be caused by suffocation; the blow might have been sufficient; the heart and brain and all the abdominal viscera, including the uterus, were all in a normal condition; the ring appeared to be true all around the neck; the appearance was not like that made by a person handing, it appeared to come up pretty close under the chin.

On my first visit, my first impression was that she had been injured about the head very severely and then I thought death had been caused by the mark on the neck; I cannot account for the mark on the neck except that it came from applying some force from a strap or some ligature put about the neck.

Drs. Huntley and Dively who assisted in the postmortem examination were called and they corroborated Dr. Rose. The opinion of both as far as they would express it, was that death was caused by the combined injuries to the head and probable strangulation.

Witness Bowen was recalled; I was  hoeing hops that afternoon; Buell was helping me; I did not leave the hop yard after dinner till the horn for supper was blown; I went to the hop yard direct after dinner; Buell followed me; he did not remain all the afternoon; he left the yard at half-past three o'clock as near as I can guess; he was with me until that time; he had on rubber boots and said he was going to change his boots; as near as I can guess, he was gone about half an hour; he left the yard and went toward the house; when he returned I asked him where he had been so long; he told me he had been to the meadow driving the horses up; could not see the meadow from the hopyard; I knew one of the women was going away, but did not know which way; I hitched up the horse for Mrs. Richards, but went to work after dinner; I walked to the hopfield by the path; John Davis was at the hopfield about a quarter to four; that was while Buell was gone; I knew it was a quarter to four when Davis was there because John Pugh, who was in the next lot working said that Davis left at that time; Pugh was fifteen or more rods away; Davis stopped and talked to me between five and ten minutes; Buell came back about five minutes after Davis left.  Tuesday I think they blowed the supper horn for us about five o'clock; I came to the house over the hill; the bull was behind the cheese house; Myron was ahead a little ways, probably a couple of rods; I spoke about the bull first; I remarked "Myron the bull is out;" the bull was eating grass; he was not bellowing or pawing; both had hoes; the bull did not offer to molest us; in passing the door we would stand about five or six feet from the door; I stepped onto the barn floor; I said "Oh Myron, what has happened, the girl is dead;" I thought she was dead because she laid there and her eyes were shut; her face was from me, but I could see one of her eyes; it was shut; the girl's head was not over an inch or two from the stanchion; there was a little blood on the cut; the hands were part way open along by her side; I took particular notice all over how she laid; there was no dirt or manure in her hands; her clothes were not disarranged; I said "the girl is dead;" Buell said "Oh my stars, my stars;" Buell went to the house and I went after the bull; I said I thought the bull killed the girl; I had not examined the girl; I had not examined the horns; I was afraid of him; Maggie Richards and Miss Jones, who was sewing, came out; the body was carried to the house; Buell was talking of going after Richard Owen Richards; I heard Buell say "the bull had killed the girl;" Myron Buell and me carried her in. Catherine Mary and Maggie Ann were in the habit of milking in the stable where the bull was kept; I never knew of any trouble between Buell and Catherine; they did not speak; he said when he spoke to them and fooled with them they could not get along, but went and told the folks; there were two girls at home; he said he did not speak to them because they got along better that way; Catharine told me that Buell asked her to go with him and no one else; she then told him that she had a fellow at the Center that she liked better than him; he went to the house crying and the girls used to put their hands to their face to tease him; Mrs. Richards and he were on speaking terms; have not known Buell to speak to the girls since I was there; he never made any threats; he said he thought as much of them as ever.

Myron A. Buell testified; I will be 21 the twelfth of next September; I have been to Mr. Richards' a year last April; my father, Egbert Buell lies in this town; the day of Catharine's death we fixed the fence; In the afternoon we hoed hops; he went a little first; I went to turn the other horse out; Mrs. Richards went to Winfield with the other; I turned out the  sorrel colt; she drove the brown mare "Fanny;" Dan hitched up the colt; when eating dinner, she said she wanted Fanny hitched to the buggy; I did not see Mrs. R. Start; I came back to the house; I put the halter in the barn and went to the field by the path that afternoon; cannot tell how many rows we hoed in the afternoon; did not stay in the hopfield all the afternoon; I had on my rubber boots; we had a late dinner; do not know now many rows we hoed; I left the hopfield about half-past three; it might not have been as late; I went up to get on my leather boots in the cheese house; we keep our clothes there; I met John Davis going up to the house, this side toward the buildings half way up the hill; he was going toward the  hop yard; he was coming from toward the garden, the east; he came where I was; we had some talk; he wanted to see if he could get Richards' horse hoe; told him John Griffiths had it; we then went into the barns were the calves and the bull were; we talked about ten minutes; I changed hats after I went into the stable; the bull was stanchioned then; everything was all right; the west stable was hooked; the manure doors were closed; I might have noticed the doors were closed, I would have been apt to; Mr. Davis started toward John Griffith's;' I started into the cheese house and staid long enough to change my boots; this girl and Hannah Jones were in the house that afternoon; after that I went directly back toward the hop yard and got to the top of the hill; the mare with the colt had just jumped over into the meadow; Richards has six horses with the colt; there were three horses in the field; the colt mule never gets over the fence; the mare got over the fence a few lengths east of the southwest corner; one "rider" was off; the stakes were low; the fence was low; the mare jumped back when I got there; the mare was eating; after turning the mare out I walked below the head of the stream; I left the meadow west of the straw stack and then went into the hop yard by the maple tree; I did not see Catherine Mary when I was about the barn; I did not see her after dinner; I saw John Davis; did not hear Davis; after I got back I told Bowen that I had been and got the horse or horses out of the meadow; he did not ask me where I had been so long; I did not tell him I was going to be gone any length of time; I have been frequently called time and time again to get the horses out; I took my boots off and hoed a spell bare-footed.

Hannah Jones testified that she was acquainted with Catherine M. Richards; she was apparently well in the forenoon; Buell came to the house and said "For God's sake did you know that Catharine is dead?" I followed him to the barn and started immediately for Mr. Griffith; when I returned they had carried her into the house; I hadn't seen either Buell or Bowen since Mrs. Richards went away; saw no one else except John L. Davis; he came and asked for the boys and Mrs. Richards and then went away; afterwards I saw him go through the yard towards the road; after he went out of the yard Catherine went out with the kittens; think it was half or three-quarters of an hour after Mr. Davis was at the house before I saw him go through the yard; the boys were both very much excited; it couldn't have been more than five or ten minutes after Davis passed through the yard before Catherine went out.  Catherine was in the house when Davis came to the house, and when he passed through the yard.

John L. Davis testified:  Was at Mr. Richards' Tuesday last about three o'clock; went into the house and saw Miss Jones and Catherine; I asked for Mr. and Mrs. Richards and Myron Buell; I went out the back door and around the cheese house; met Buell a short distance about the cheese house; we went out of the barn together; Buell went into the cheese house and I went down by the house to the road and then went toward Griffiths;' I saw John Pugh at Griffiths' lot and talked with him about the horse hoe; Pugh looked at his watch and said it was 3:15 o'clock; while I was there with Pugh I was the mare and colt down in Richard's pasture and talked with Pugh about it; I then went across to Richards' hop yard; stayed there perhaps about five minutes; went from there down the path past Richards' stable and into the road and then home; I saw the bull in the stable, in the stanchion; didn't meet or see anybody when I was coming home.

Myron A. Buell was recalled.  He was shown the boots he testified that he wore on the day of Catherine's death.  Drops of blood were shown on the lower part of the upper of the left boot.  Buell - I can't explain how that blood came on there, unless it dropped when I carried the body into the house - unless it got on last night when I had the nosebleed while milking; I held my head to one side and kept on milking; I thought nothing of it at the time; Morris O. Williams, Wm. Pugh or someone else was there milking and I spoke of the nose bleed; do not know how blood drops came on the vest.

Morris O. Williams said he was milking with Buell; but did not hear him speak of the nosebleed.

William Pugh testified: I assisted in milking at Richards' Wednesday night.  I knew that Mr. Buell had the nosebleed while milking; I saw the blood drop; he said he had been in the habit of having the nosebleed; he bled while milking two cows; it was quite early, between five and six o'clock.

Jedediah Gorton testified:  I have been to Mr. Richards' barn tonight; I have just examined the floor of the barn and find blood at the point where Mr. Pugh said he saw Buell bleeding;  Mr. Wood scraped away some dirt and there seemed to be blood there; I was satisfied that it was blood; the two points were near together, the blood marks could be made while sitting at one cow.

G.M. Aylesworth testified:  in the stable back of where the bull stood, Mr. Brown picked up a milking stool, three-legged; it was in a box; there was blood found on the corner of the stool; Dr. Huntley took it off for microscopic examination.  I measured the mark on Catherine's neck, marking it with my knife; in the same box with the stool, was this strap (strap exhibited) it is about three feet long and three-quarters of an inch wide; I examined for a track of footprints over the points where Buell said he had passed when he saw John L. Davis, but could fine none; I cannot say that I see any blood on the milking stool now.

Mrs. Margaret Richards, aunt of the deceased testified:  Talked with Catherine two weeks ago last Sunday; It was in her father's house; she said she was afraid that Myron would kill her some time or another; a week before that her mother told me about what the boy did; I told her to go home and turn that boy off or he would kill her some day; Catherine said he had been insulting her; but did not say what it was; I know Mr. Buell; never heard him say anything about it; Catherine said; "I am afraid Myron will kill me;" she said Myron acted kind of crazy after she told him she like Lewis Davis better than she did him.

On Saturday the coroner had not completed the examination and it was adjourned until Monday forenoon.

On Monday the body of the murdered girl was disinterred and a further examination of it was made by the physicians making the first autopsy, assisted by Dr. Bassett of this village.  The evidence obtained is reserved for the grand jury.  What verdict has been rendered by the coroner's jury, if any, we have not learned.

Buell, to whom the evidence pointed as the one guilty of the atrocious crime, was arrested on Friday evening at West Winfield by constable Main of Plainfield, on a warrant issued by Esquire Williamson on complaint of the father of the girl.  He was kept in custody of the constable until his examination, which was commenced on Monday afternoon following.  Justice Williamson called his court and H.M. Aylesworth appeared for the People and S.S. Morgan for the prisoner.

John Pugh, referred to in the testimony before the coroner was sworn and testified to remarks made by Buell in relation to the girl.  John L. Davis was sworn and his testimony went to show that Buell's statements before the coroner as to his movements when absent from the hop yard were not true.

Daniel G. Bowen's testimony was more full than it was before the coroner, particularly as to means which might be used and which evidently were used.  In this case to accomplish his hellish purposes and which resulted in the death of his victim.  He testified as follows:

I had a conversation with him about a cousin of his a week ago last Saturday night; he said there were some young girls from 14 to 15 who didn't know any better; he said the way his cousin accomplished his purposes was to take a strap and buckle around their necks so they could not scream; then he could carry out his designs; he asked my opinion about it, and I told him I would be afraid it would choke them to death.  "Oh no," said he, "not draw it too tight and then it wouldn't."  Had a previous conversation during that week in relation to this subject; he expressed a desire to indulge his passions; had a conversation the next morning after the murder about it; he said he was afraid it would go pretty hard with him because he had been away from the lot, and asked how long I supposed it was before he came back after Davis left; I told him I didn't know; he told me to make the time short as I could, not to make it over five minutes.

After the close of the examination of this witness, the case was adjourned till 9 o'clock Tuesday.  the proceedings on Tuesday resulted in the commitment of the prisoner to jail to await the action of the Grand Jury and about 4 o'clock of that day Constable Main delivered him to the custody of the Sheriff who placed him in confinement.  The feeling against the prisoner is intense, scarcely one in a hundred expressing any sympathy for the wretch who could commit so base a crime.

Chenango Union, Norwich, NY, March 6, 1879

Buell to Hang

The trial of Myron A. Buell for the murder of Catharine M. Richards, of Plainfield, Otsego County, was closed on Thursday evening of last week, at Cooperstown by the verdict of guilty, rendered by the jury.  On Friday morning he was brought into Court, when Judge Murray sentenced him to be hung on Friday, April 18th.  When sentence was pronounced, the prisoner, who had up to this time conducted himself with remarkable coolness, broke down completely, and wept bitterly, while many in the audience were moved to tears.  Immediate steps will be taken by the prisoner's counsel to obtain a stay of execution, pending an application to be made to the General Term for a new trial under a writ of error.  It is probable that the stay will be granted, that the case may come before the higher court, which convenes in May.

On the trial it was shown that the unfortunate girl was ravished and murdered, and there exists scarcely a doubt in the community as to the guilt of Buell.

Chenango Union, Norwich, NY, November 20, 1879

Execution of Myron A. Buell

Myron A. Buell was executed at Cooperstown on Friday last for the murder of Catharine Mary Richards on the 25th of June 1878.  The gallows used was the same used for the execution of McCann.

At 10:30 the death warrant was read to the prisoner in the cell by Sheriff James F. Clark, who then asked the prisoner if he wished to say anything on the scaffold and Buell answered that he did not.  Prayer was offered by Rev. Mr. Hiller, and the procession started for the enclosure.  Rev. Messrs. Wells and Hiller led and were followed by Sheriff James F. Clark and the prisoner, supported by deputies John Kelly and Charles N. Merrills.  Buell was very pallid and seemed to take no notice of anything.  He was dressed in a black coat and vest, dark cashmere pants and wore a pair of carpet slippers on his feet.  He took his position on the platform and turned his eyes heavenward and kept them wide open in a fixed stare, uttering no sound and remaining motionless until the black cap was put over his head.  His lips were moving constantly in inaudible prayer.  At 10:39 the sheriff asked Buell again if he had anything to say, and being answered no, at 10:39-1/2 pulled the cord which dropped the weight.  Buell sprang into the air and settled back with scarcely a perceptible tremor.  At 10:53 he was pronounced dead by the physicians, Drs. G.A. Westlake and L.H. Hills, just thirteen and a half minutes from the springing of the trap.  The corpse was taken down at 11:05 and examined by the physicians who pronounced the neck broken. The body was then placed in the casket and removed to a room in the jailer's residence, where it was viewed by a few persons and Buell's father and mother, two sisters and a younger brother took their last leave of the remains.  A prayer was offered, when the coffin was quickly placed in a hearse and followed by the Buell family in an open wagon started for the cemetery in Clarksville, where Myron, at his own request, was buried by the side of his brother.

Buell's Confessions

Buell has made confession at four different times.  One of these was made to the Rev. Mr. Wells in July last.  In September he told the story of his crime to the Rev. Mr. Cassler and on Tuesday last to Rev. Mr. Hiller.  On Tuesday night he made a formal confession to his counsel, J.A. Lynes, and three clergymen aforementioned.  The unpublishable portion of the story cannot of course be printed in the newspapers.  Barring these details, Buell's story is as follows:  "On the afternoon of June 25th, I left the hop field where I was at work with Daniel G. Bowen.  I intended to kill Catherine Mary if she resisted me.  I found her in the cow stable.  I threw a hame strap over her head and choked her till nearly dead, and then committed the other crime which has been charged against me.  When I was about to leave her, I was afraid she would tell of me, and then I struck her on the temple with a three-legged milking stool which lay at hand in the stable.  I then dragged the body where the bull was standing and unhitched the bull and let him out so that it would appear that the girl had been gored by the bull.  I determined to kill Catharine Mary because she had before this told her parents that I had repeatedly tried to run her."

This is the substance of the story which Buell told to the clergymen and his counsel.  From the known circumstances of the murder, there is no doubt that it is in every respect true.

Buell's Body Stolen

The remains of Buell, the murderer, who was hung in Cooperstown on Friday last, which were buried in the family lot in the cemetery at Clarksville, Otsego County, have been stolen.  A dispatch to the Utica Herald on Monday says the robbers got possession of the body during the night, enclosed them so as to avoid detection and they were shipped to Albany on the 6 A.M. coal train. The physicians at the execution were prepared and anxious to make a postmortem examination, which the family refused.  It is said that on the day of his execution $50 was offered for his body.