Once Upon a Berlin Time

A Fatal Shot

Hello fellow Berlinites:

In November of 1999, I wrote about a shoot out at one of Berlin’s local establishments called "The Androscoggin House," which stood on Main Street when Berlin first became a city. This incident took place in April of 1898 and claimed the life of Mr. Telesphore Gagnon. After all was said and done, Assistant Marshall John Youngliss was wounded and John Picot was charged with murder. Three weeks later, the angry bullet of a murderer found another victim. Benjamin F. Deane, an honored citizen and a man who was instrumental in organizing the early hose companies of the Berlin Fire Dept. shot and killed his wife.

On Tuesday afternoon, May 3,1898 at 3:45PM, Mrs. Deane, Mrs. Shaver. And Mr. John Garland were sitting in a room at Mrs. Shaver’s house. Mr. Deane quietly entered and in approaching his wife, he said: "Lizzie, are you coming home with me?" She replied: "No Ben, never". Deane then stepped toward his wife, drawing a revolver. Mrs. Deane then cried out: "Oh God, don’t Ben, don’t". At this point Garland got up to stop Deane. Just as Garland got to Mr. Deane, a shot was fired and Elizabeth Deane fell on the lounge fatally wounded.

Mr. Garland was able to get the gun away from Deane and hold him captive until the police arrived. An old "Berlin Independent" stated that Mr. Deane didn’t even have the excuse of being drunk. He also told Mr. Garland that he "had done all that he wanted". This, the paper said, was a sure sign of premeditated murder.

The following day, a preliminary hearing was set for 9AM at the public building on Mechanic Street. The immediate area around Mechanic Street was packed with a jostling, curious crowd, eager to gain admission to the courtroom. Judge Rich called the case and read the complaint to the prisoner, in which he was charged with murder. Mr. Deane pleaded not guilty. J Howard Wight Esq. appeared for the state. The prisoner was not represented by council.

Three people were sworn in as witnesses and this was their testimony: Mrs. Maggie Shaver said that she lived on Main St. next door to Mr.and Mrs. Deane. The day of the shooting, Mrs. Deane came over to visit. Mr. Garland and her were there when she came in. Shaver said that Mrs. Deane was sitting in a chair, Mr. Garland was sitting in a lounge and she was standing in the kitchen, leading to the dining room with a loaf of bread in her hand. Mr. Deane entered the house and asked Mrs. Deane if she was coming home or not. Mrs. Deane answered: "No Ben, never". With that he walked up to where she was sitting and pulled out a revolver and shot her. Mr. Garland then jumped up and downed Mr. Deane. He wrestled him to the floor and got the revolver. Garland held him there until officers Morin and Christianson arrived.

The next person to be questioned was John Garland. Mr. Garland stated that he had made his home in Berlin for at least four years. He said that he was a woodsman and that he had boarded with the Deanes, when not working in the woods. Mr. Garland repeated basically the same story as Mrs. Shaver. Garland said that when Deane pulled out the gun, he (Garland) jumped up and threw an arm around Deane’s neck. Just as he did this, Deane shot his wife. He then took Deane down and twisted the revolver away from his hand. "I let him up and held him at bay with his revolver", said Garland. John told him not to move and Deane said that he had done all that he wanted to do. Mr. Garland said Deane blamed Mrs. Shaver for this whole tragedy. When police arrived Garland said he gave them the gun. Garland did say that there was one more person in the house with them. It was Mr. and Mrs. Deane’s four-year-old daughter.

The last witness to testify was Dr. Cobb. He said that in about the middle of that tragic afternoon, he received a message by telephone that Mrs. Deane had been shot. He went over immediately and was shown into the house by Mrs. Shaver. On arriving, Dr. Cobb saw that Mrs. Deane seemed to be dead. Upon examination of the body, he concluded that she was indeed deceased. The doctor stated that the bullet had entered the left side just under the shoulder.

With the assistance of Mrs. Shaver, Dr. Cobb removed the clothing on the left side of Mrs. Deane. With this, the doctor was able to conclude the location of the bullet wound. Without making any further investigation, the doctor had reason to believe that the bullet wound seen and described was the direct and immediate cause of Mrs. Deane’s death.

With this information Judge Rich held Benjamin F. Deane without bail. Maggie Shaver and John Garland were held in the sum of $200.00 to appear at the October term of Supreme Court. Mr. Deane was forty years of age and his wife was thirty-five. She was the daughter of Joseph Blodgett. They had five children.

I could never find the results of this trial. So therefore, I didn’t want to write about it. Not long ago, I spotted a piece in the March 7, 1907 Berlin Reporter, which said: "Governor grants pardon". Governor Floyd had granted a pardon to Mr. Deane and he was to be released immediately.

The paper said Benjamin F. Deane was a resident of Berlin for many years previous to the tragedy, which sent him to the state prison. His name often appears in connection with the affairs of the town of Berlin before it became a city. He was sentenced to prison in the 1899 April term of court in Lancaster. The whole term of which was to be 25 years, of which he served eight. He was pardoned because his health had become impaired by his confinement in prison. He was also released because of good behavior.

The murder of Mrs. Deane was the second murder in three weeks. The Temperance League was blaming the first murder on all the free flowing alcohol and bars that were in town. They could not though, connect the Deane murder in any way to intoxicants. The paper stated that this was an unhappy marriage, which resulted in a catastrophe. It still sounds too familiar today.