The Shocking and Harrowing Case Of Mariette Ball

Brief Case

Use my link https://signupfreecash.com/briefcase to try Freecash and get $10 bonus after completing your first offer  The case of Mariette Ball that shocked a small Vermont village in the second part of the 19th Century  Join this channel to get access to perks: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXNVw0S9_LZHhWTr-skizhg/join  Please remember to subscribe and hit the bell icon as well as leave a like and a comment for more videos every week!  Brief Case is a True Crime Channel focusing on old or lost cases that have been forgotten to history. If you have any recommendations for future cases that you would like to bring to light, feel free to reach out to me to: briefcaseuk@gmail.com  Music Credits Music by Myuu https://www.youtube.com/user/myuuji  Music by CO.AG Music https://www.youtube.com/@co.agmusic  “Cicada” by Kevin MacLeod https://incompetech.com/    Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Transcript

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01:3319th century

01:34usa mariette ball was born on the 15th of june 1854 in st albans franklin county vermont she was one

01:45of

01:45seven children born to george ball and his wife emily however tragedy struck early in mariette's life

01:52as when she was eight years old her mother died a few years later two of her brothers moved to

01:58california in search of better opportunities although st albans was growing and becoming increasingly

02:03prosperous during the 1860s opportunities were still largely connected to agriculture local trade

02:10and the expanding railway california by contrast offered the possibility of greater economic

02:16opportunities especially in rapidly developing towns and industries and like many young men at the

02:21time mariette's brothers were drawn west by the prospects of finding work and building a more

02:26prosperous future during this period st albans was also growing it was a village that had been

02:31incorporated in 1859 and its location in the northwest of the states close to the canadian border

02:38made it an important center for trade and transport by the early 1870s there were still many local

02:44farms raising cattle sheep and horses and producing dairy products but the local economy was being

02:49transformed by the expansion of the railway the central vermont railroad established major workshops

02:56and offices at st albans which brought employment and encouraged the growth of local business

03:01its railway connections linked the village with boston montreal and other important cities

03:06which further increased its importance mariette attended the local school and was a very good

03:12student she was a very cheerful girl although somewhat modest and reserved and her teacher had

03:17noted that she possessed a strong sense of purpose and deeply held principles when she was a teenager

03:23she was once harassed and chased by a man across a parsonsville bridge after she had completed an errand

03:29on main street mariette managed to escape by running home as fast as she was able and following the

03:35incident her family and friends urged her to be more cautious mariette however refused to allow fear to

03:41control her life and continued to walk alone and run errands for people when questioned as to why she

03:47continued to do this she would always reply who should i fear i haven't hurt anyone and i have nothing

03:53anyone would want when mariette was 19 years old she began teaching at district number two school east of

03:59st auburn's village the school stood on a high wooded hill about half a mile east of the village

04:05two main roads crossed in front of it the fairfield road which led up from the southern end of the

04:10park

04:11and another road leading from congress street on the eastern side of the hill was a sparsely settled

04:17farming district and a little used road ran north between the two main roads mariette lived with her

04:23father but usually spent sundays with the family of mr foster a page to reach the page home mariette

04:29had to travel across uneven ground and through a stretch of broken timber although the area was

04:35within a few miles of st albans parts of the routes were isolated and rarely used on the afternoon of

04:40friday the 24th of july 1874 mariette dismissed her pupils and set out along the road towards a page home

04:48as she passed the house of mr john collins she waved to mrs collins and her children

04:52before continuing on her way she was carrying a bundle containing a nightdress and some unironed

04:58clothes however she did not arrive at the home of mr and mrs page

05:05at first there was no immediate concern mr and mrs page thought that she must have decided to return

05:11home that evening and would come to their house in the morning but when she had still not arrived by

05:15her saturday afternoon mrs page started to worry mariette always spent the weekends at their home

05:21and was a great friend of mr and mrs page's son and daughter mrs page decided to go to the

05:26home of

05:27mr and mrs collins to ask if they had seen mariette but she was taken aback when mrs collins said

05:33that

05:33the young lady had passed their house once school had finished the previous day mrs page now became quite

05:39concerned she hurried home to tell her husband and he immediately set out to look for mariette

05:45he walked along the road leading from north fairfax to brainards mill and gathered assistants along the

05:51way the men looked in an area between the page house and the house of mr collins as that is

05:56where

05:56mariette had last been seen the road between the houses was quite remote and surrounded by trees and

06:02woodland nearby a crossroads connected several roads including the road leading to the school

06:08where mariette taught in district number two it did not take long for the searchers to find a parasol

06:13it was close to a dry brook channel that could be crossed by a narrow bridge without railings

06:18nearby there was a small clump of bushes where it appeared that someone had prepared a hiding place

06:24one branch had been cut away while another had been twisted and positioned upright to make concealment

06:30easier the ground around the bushes was heavily trodden and pieces of a makeshift mask were found

06:35scattered nearby there was also a fence rail behind the bushes which showed signs that had been

06:41deliberately cut while someone waited there it was strange it was as if someone knew that mariette

06:47walked that way every friday and had been waiting for her the search party continued through the nights

06:52carrying lanterns as they moved through the darkness at around four o'clock on sunday morning frank

06:58harris a young black man discovered mariette's body he found her on the eastern side of a large felled

07:05birch tree approximately 250 feet from the road it was obvious that she had been subjected to a violent

07:11attack although the person responsible had taken some care in arranging her body mariette had been

07:18laid down with her skirt carefully arranged her clothing placed over her and her overskirt wrapped

07:23around her head to conceal the terrible injuries she had suffered her garments lay beside her while

07:29her bag had been filled with leaves she had suffered one or more blows to the left side of her

07:34head

07:34and her arms were bruised which indicated to the searchers that she had tried to protect herself

07:39from the attacker as they looked more closely they saw a trail of blood leading through the undergrowth

07:45back towards the road mr page thought it best not to disturb the body until the authorities had been

07:51contacted so one of the men ran to st albans while the rest of the party remained there to keep

07:56watch

07:57it was daylight before the police arrived

08:02mariette had been a young attractive and physically strong young woman and investigators

08:06believed that she would not have been easily overcome her footprints and those of the man were

08:11plainly visible the evidence suggested that when the attacker had emerged from his hiding place

08:16mariette must have seen him and attempted to escape she had obviously run but was caught near the bridge

08:23where an attempt appeared to have been made to drag her away from the road the gravel in the dry

08:28brook

08:28channel had been disturbed and a piece of material from the attacker's mask was found there the mask

08:34itself was later discovered between the fence and the roadway just north of the bridge it had been made

08:40from a piece of carpet that had been fastened together with pieces of wire with openings cut out for the

08:45eyes and mouth nearby mariette's hair ribbon was found along with a stone that appeared to have a spot of

08:51blood upon it the grass and the underbush were also broken and trampled and it was there that the

08:57authorities believed that the first part of the attack had taken place drops of blood continued along

09:02the trail until they reached a small fallen tree where a larger amount of dried blood lay upon the trunk

09:08this suggested to the authorities that the attacker had stopped there later that day mariette's watch was found

09:15it had stopped at 4 20 and her broken neck chain lay beside it however the bundle that contained the

09:22nightdress and unironed linen had not been recovered the evidence indicated that the purpose of the crime

09:27had been an assault upon mariette after examining the area the body was taken to the house of mr page

09:34later that day a post-mortem was undertaken by doctors facet and hall that revealed an opening

09:40above the left ear and loose fractures across the entire left side of the skull together with lacerations

09:46on her head and deep cuts near her eye there was also extensive bruising across her body a more

09:52detailed examination of the scalp suggested that she had been pulled or dragged by her hair there were

09:58bruises on her left forearm and right inner thigh which left no doubt that the perpetrator had taken her

10:04virtue justice farmsworth then summoned an inquest but with only the doctors who conducted the post-mortem

10:11and mrs collins's witnesses the outcome was that mariette ball had been murdered by a person or persons unknown

10:17the inquest did however recommend a second post-mortem which was to be conducted by dr facets

10:23and dr janeway an eminent surgeon from the bellevue hospital in new york city

10:30after the murder saint albans was completely on edge and the villagers grew distrustful of strangers

10:36and neighbors alike anyone seen walking around without a clear reason suddenly looked suspicious

10:42and women and children no longer went out alone the murder had followed closely after the killing of a

10:47local man named mr elwood which had left the community very worried and now mariette's murder

10:53caused further outrage there were threats for the vigilance committee would be formed as men who

10:58lived in the village declared that they would not rest until the person responsible was found and

11:03brought to justice the police tried to calm the situation and reassured the local people that they

11:08would soon find the person responsible for this terrible crime mrs page told the authorities that

11:14she had been with mariette the previous monday and remembered seeing a man on the same road and

11:19said that she mentioned to mariette that his behavior seemed suspicious her recollection was noted by the

11:25investigators as they worked to establish who had been in the area for days before mariette's disappearance

11:30and whether anyone had noticed anything unusual on the sunday the 26th of july just two days after

11:37mariette ball had been murdered the police arrested frank harris the black man who had assisted in the

11:43search and who had found the body rumors had spread about his whereabouts on the friday afternoon and

11:49it was claimed that a hair from mariette's head had been found upon his clothing it was also said that

11:54he had changed his clothes in the early evening that day however none of these rumors were well founded

11:59in the morning and early afternoon of the day that mariette was murdered he had been raking hay in his

12:04fields and seen by many witnesses and at three o'clock he had gone to mr pages where he worked

12:10until the

12:11evening to commit this crime he would have to have been gone for at least an hour probably more and

12:16at the very time when he was in the full sight of mr page and other workers nevertheless the

12:22authorities searched his house but did not find anything to link him with the horrible crime however

12:27it was not until mr page told officers that frank harris was an excellent worker with an impeccable

12:32character that he was released from police custody the following day the police picked up a french

12:38canadian in swanton which is a town about 10 miles north of st albans the man's name was joseph

12:43lepage and he had been arrested after a man named george lang told investigators that mr

12:49lepage had asked him about the departure time of a train and that he noticed that he had scratches on

12:54his face when mr lepage was questioned by sheriffs newton and swift he denied that he knew anything

13:00about the murder and with no evidence linking him to the crime he was released it was discovered

13:05that a few days before the killing marriott had disciplined a student named revoir and this had

13:10upset the boys families so much that they pulled their children out of class the sheriff sent deputies

13:16to bring in two members of the revoir family one whom had reportedly been seen recently hunting in

13:22the local woods however once again nothing came of this many people spoke of other recent crimes such

13:29as the assault on dr branch and all the burglaries that have recently happened in the area people

13:35started to believe that there was a gang living in the woods over the next few days many men searched

13:41the area but they found no signs that anyone was living there the murder was now being discussed

13:46constantly with so little known about who was responsible anyone who appeared even slightly

13:52suspicious could become the subject of speculation as people tried to make sense of what had happened

13:57stories were repeated embellished and passed from one person to another with suspicion spreading

14:04through the community attention eventually turned to a young man named george gregory smith he was a

14:0929 year old attorney and the eldest son of the former governor and railway tycoon j gregory smith

14:16it was claimed that george and mariette had argued at the bakersfield hotel dance and this had

14:22allegedly provoked the crime in st albans there was some resentment towards the wealthy

14:27elites and this rumor against the young man spread quickly with many believing that the powerful smith

14:33family was bribing and intimidating local officers to cover up the murder this hysteria was further

14:39fueled by a witness who claimed to have seen an elegant horse and carriage leaving the village on

14:44the day of the crime lariat's father mr george ball also believed that george gregory smith had murdered

14:50his daughter and remembered a previous incident where a stranger had chased his daughter through the village

14:55and he also knew of the argument between mr smith and mariette mr ball shared his fears with dr john

15:02branch who had offered a three thousand dollar reward for information leading to the arrest and

15:08conviction of the murderer dr branch reported the suspicions to the police however when detective

15:13flanagan and local officers investigated mr smith provided a solid alibi he had been playing billiards

15:19with some friends at weldon house hotel at the same time that mariette was murdered and he had been seen

15:25by many witnesses authorities then announced that george gregory smith had not been responsible for the

15:31death of mariette ball and instead had been the victim of a baseless smear campaign driven by local

15:37railroad rivalries and public gossip at the end of 1874 the murder of mariette ball had still not been

15:46resolved and people in st albans had grown desperate for answers many had embraced wild rumors and

15:52falsely accused innocent residents like frank harris and george gregory smith as the months passed public

15:59suspicion shifted to the belief that the killer's identity would remain a permanent mystery unless

16:03perhaps a deathbed confession revealed the truth years later then on the 4th of october 1875 more than 14

16:12months since mariette had been killed a 17 year old woman named josie langmaid was ambushed attacked

16:18and murdered in the woods while walking to school in pembroke new hampshire a town 150 miles away from

16:24st albans this crime ignited intense public rage which led to an angry mob attempting to lynch an innocent

16:31suspect the police were unable to solve the crime but when mr wn abel a former st albans residence

16:38read about the murder he recognized the terrifying parallels between this and the unsolved murder of

16:44mariette ball both young women had been targeted along isolated wooded paths both had fought fiercely

16:50for their lives and both had been hit with heavy objects crucially mr abel realized that the new

16:57hampshire crime occurred near suncook a village just four miles from pembroke which was where joseph

17:03lepage had moved shortly after the murder of miss ball he also remembered that mr lepage had been

17:08questioned regarding the murder mr abel alerted justice farnsworth who then contacted the suncook

17:15police following this mr lepage was arrested and when the police looked into his background

17:21they became aware of his violent history of domestic abuse arson and attempted assaults

17:26he lived with his wife and four of their five children was from quebec in canada and only had

17:31a limited command of english his work involved cutting timber for firewood that was then sent to

17:37the pembroke mills pembroke's french community was outraged by his arrest and claimed that he had been

17:43targeted because of his nationality and because he was black a witness claimed that mr lepage had been

17:48with him cutting wood that day but mr lepage had already told police he had become lost in the woods

17:53that

17:54morning he denied having anything to do with the murder but after a thorough investigation which

17:59included bloodstained clothes being found at his house joseph lepage was arrested and charged with

18:05the murder of josie langmaid the trial opened on the 4th of january 1876 in concord in new hampshire

18:14amid intense public interest with joseph lepage already being sensationally portrayed in the press as

18:21the french monster the prosecution relied on circumstantial evidence but there were witnesses

18:27who claimed to have seen mr lepage carrying a club or an axe on the morning of the murder

18:32his sister-in-law julianne rus testified that five years earlier he had assaulted her wearing a homemade

18:38mask she said that the mask fell which enabled her to recognize him this was significant as a mask had

18:45been found at the scene following josie langmaid's murder joseph lepage was found guilty but his lawyer

18:51appealed arguing his sister-in-law's evidence was irrelevant the supreme court agreed and overturned

18:57the conviction he was then tried for a second time but the outcome was the same and the jury found

19:03him

19:03guilty as joseph lepage waited for his execution he was spoken to by catholic priests including father

19:11barry father millet and father druen following this he decided to unburden his soul he dropped to his knees

19:18and weeping he confessed to the murder but confessed not only to the murder of josie langmaid he also

19:25provided accurate details about the murder of mariette ball and confessed that it was him who had committed

19:30it the omission finally brought an end to the mystery that had remained unsolved for more than three years

19:37on the morning of the 15th of march 1878 joseph lepage was executed by hanging in concord the state

19:45capital of new hampshire he was then returned to sun cook for burial by his family although joseph

19:51lepage was convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of josie langmaid he was never brought

19:56for trial for the murder of mariette ball i would once again like to thank free cash for sponsoring

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