Murder of B,H, Welton - 1888

Brutally Murdered October 1, 1888

B.H. Welton receives Four Knife Wounds

A Tough Takes a Man's Life Without Provocation

Scenes of the Tragedy

 

The details of the brutal murder of B.H. Welton in Bainbridge, Chenango county [NY], last week, were given in the last issue of the Globe.  Mr. Welton, who was about 48 years old, was in the cigar store of Wilcox Brothers, soon after 7 o'clock Monday evening, and was engaged in conversation with one of the firm when William Gilbert, a cigarmaker, who had been employed by the Messrs. Wilcox, entered and passed to the rear of the store where the cigar shop is located.  He turned without entering the shop and approached to where Welton stood talking.  Without saying a word or giving any sign of his intention he thrust the blade of a jackknife into Welton's right side just below the ribs.  This was followed by three more tab wounds, when Welton knocked Gilbert down.  Everything was done for the wounded man, but he expired the Wednesday following.   

 

The store where Welton was murdered.

 

The deceased was well known and popular.  Previous to his death he made an anti-mortem statement saying that he was in Wilcox Bros.' cigar store when Gilbert cam in, passed to the back of the store, and turning ran towards him striking him with the knife as he passed.  Gilbert asked him to see if he bled any, and putting his hand on his hip he felt blood.  Gilbert wanted him to take off his coat and rest and look again and he did, but refused to take off his shirt as Gilbert ask him to do.  After Gilbert stabbed him in the bowels, he knocked his assailant down and walked to Pierce' grocery.

 

B.H. Welton, The Murdered Man

 

The assassin after he did the murderous work left the cigar store, met a constable and gave himself up.  He was handcuffed and placed in the lockup, where during the night he set fire to his cot while he yelled like a demon and came near to destroying the building. 

 

Handcuffing the Murderer

 

On the morning of the tragedy he worked for an hour or so in the cigar shop of Wilcox Brothers, and towards night went to the Central Hotel, kept by I.N. Wilsey, tried to borrow a dollar of the proprietor and to get a drink but was refused.  Afterwards he went to Wendell's hardware store and bought a knife, a two-bladed one, the large blade straight and three inches long.  He returned to the hotel barroom for a few minutes before going to the scene of his deadly attack.

 

George R. Wilcox

 

He was visited by several physicians on Tuesday to judge as to his insanity, which will be the plea when he is arraigned for trial.  His father, Eben Gilbert, a respected resident of Bainbridge, told a reporter that his son had shown signs of insanity on several occasions during the last few years. The father stated that on Monday his son acted strangely all day and did not eat his supper, but left the house suddenly.  It is said that Gilbert had read and brooded over the newspaper reports of the mysterious White Chapel murders in London and it is thought aspired to do something of the sort himself and tried to disembowel Welton after the manner of the foreign freak.  He was intoxicated at the time of making the assault.

 

Our Illustrations

 

The Globe's first illustration represents the cigar store where Welton was killed.  the letter "A" indicates the spot were Welton was standing when stabbed; "B" marks the position of Gilbert when he struck the first blow, and "C" shows where he stood in delivering the three last stabs.

 

Gilbert is 22 years of age and has been known as a "tough."  He was held for the grand jury, which meets next February.

 

George R. Wilcox whose portrait [is provided above], witnessed the murder, and at the time was standing on the opposite side of the counter engaged in conversation with poor Welton.

 

One who also saw the fatal stabs was Frank Aylesworth, being seated only a few feet from Welton.

 

 

Edward B. Kirby was seated beside young Aylesworth and will be an important witness in the coming trial.

 

 

H.D. Copley, the physician who attended the dying man, will be called upon in court to describe the wounds which caused death.

 

 

W.B. Matterson is the attorney who took charge of the case for the people, and he has been retained to assist the district attorney in the trial.

 

 

Master Wheeler is the Globe agent in Bainbridge, and although he will not be 10 years old till next April, he is a hustler.  He secured the portraits from which the Globe's illustrations are made, and he will sell 300 copies of this paper this week.

 

 



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Watertown Times, May 1, 1890

 



The trial of W.G. Gilbert, indicted for murder of B.H Welton at Bainbridge, Chenango county, is finished. in Norwich.  The jury returned a verdict of guilty of murder in the second degree, and the prisoner was sentenced to imprisonment for life at hard labor in Auburn.

 

Welton was an insurance man and a popular resident of Bainbridge.  On the night of Oct. 1, 1888, he was standing in a store when Gilbert came in, and without any provocation fatally stabbed him.  Gilbert is 24 years of age; the defense was insanity.  The jury found that Gilbert had been living a depraved life, drunk most of the time, and had a motive been found the verdict would have been murder in the first degree.