As soon as Swanback and Bird reached Mapleton that morning of the murders and told the bloody story, the word spread quickly and groups of men begin to gather. A local constable, Ben Hughes, was informed of the tragedy and made the decision to form a small posse and hunt down Cullen. He deputized a small handful of hardy men and directed them to ride to Presque Isle and onwards to the Spragueville Road. The idea was that perhaps Cullen could escape by taking his shortcut route back to Canada; the posse would then grab him somewhere along the Spragueville Road. As the small group of deputized men on horseback passed through Presque Isle, the men told the story and quickly the word spread throughout the village. As the Hughes' posse organized in Mapleton, Sheriff James Phair of Presque Isle also began to gather his own men; they would ride to Mapleton and aid in the capture of Cullen, after all, this was by far the worst tragedy the village had ever heard and nothing could stop their efforts to bring the murderer to justice. Among the group of locals who would ride with Sheriff Phair to Mapleton were Dr. Parker, newspaper man; Cyrus Hayden, brother of Granville; Fred Barker, store owner, and a few others. It was hoped that the capture would be fairly peaceful, but nothing was certain in that regard knowing, of course, Cullen's rough and tough nature.
Cyrus Hayden was the brother of Granville and still lived on the home farm just a few miles out on the Easton Road, but it's not certain where his brother, Granville, maintained his home. Upon hearing that his brother had been killed, Cyrus obtained a box in which caskets arrived and placed it on a wagon....it would be used to bring back the body of his slain brother. Dr. Parker was a physician who also owned a local newspaper, "The North Star". He lived on the corner of Church and Second Sts. (site of the Christie house) just a few houses down from Phair's home across Second from Hall St... Fred Barker was a local store keeper whose store was just around the corner of State and Main towards the bridge on the south side.
A certain Mr. Dorsey from Fort Fairfield was said to have been in town on this day and volunteered to provide a high wagon with a healthy team of horses. Phair, Dorsey and Barker rode together in Dorsey's wagon. Hayden and Parker sped to Mapleton in Hayden's sleigh. There the Presque Isle men joined up with Constable Hughes' band of armed villagers. Ellis reports that perhaps upward of 30 angry men had gathered to join Hughes' posse, some with shoves, others with small pickaxes and still others with hunting rifles; all were ready and eager to grab Cullen and take him into custody. They headed for the home which Cullen and his wife (the status of their relationship is questionable; it's not known if they had married or even that she was divorced from her husband, Mr. Twist) occupied together just across the line in Castle
Hill. It was a safe bet that if Cullen hadn't hightailed it to Canada through Spragueville, then the home which he shared with Mrs. Twist was a good place with which to begin the search.
Twist's place was about a mile outside of town. I spoke with Winfield Sawyer who grew up in Mapleton and whose grandfather took part in the hunt for Cullen. He states with certainty that Twist's home still stands, although many times renovated through the years, and is today occupied by a Michaud family. Voscar has an old photo of that house as it probably appeared back before the turn of the century.
As the group of men approached Twist's house (remember that, ironically, the rightful owner of that house was William Hubbard and his mother), the grounds were carefully inspected for signs of Cullen and, sure enough, fresh, large footprints were discovered....enough evidence to make the posse believe that Cullen was probably holed up in the house. Hughes led the charge and didn't knock, but simply pushed the door open. Twist was standing handy to the door. He called for Cullen to come out, not acknowledging Twist. She shouted that Jim wasn't here and had gone to Canada yesterday to visit family. Hughes and company forced their way into the home and demanded to know where Cullen was hiding and at the same time calling Twist a liar.
At this point it must be told that there are two slightly different versions of what transpired at this time. One version tells that Twist, having been told what her husband had done and, rather than incur the wrath of the armed men for any length of time, pointed downward to a trap door in the floor indicating that Cullen was hiding in the cellar. The other story is that as the men began to search the house, one tripped on a heavy iron ring indicating a trap door. Regardless of the truth, it doesn't matter, either version leads the angry mob to Cullen. As the trap door was lifted, a ladder was seen leading down to the dark, dank hiding place. Winfield Sawyer also relates that it was his grandfather who first pointed a rifle in Cullen's direction in order to coax Cullen up from the cellar. As he scrambled up onto the floor, Hughes started to apply the handcuffs (reference will be made to these handcuffs later in the story) when Cullen began to get rough. At this point Lew Griffin, Sawyer's grandfather, stuck the muzzle of his rifle
into the face of Cullen and warned him to be quiet or else. Cullen settled down and the cuffs were applied. They searched the pockets of Cullen for money which Hayden and Hubbard were thought to have had, but found nothing. They, however, did find a jackknife, which belonged to one of the murdered sheriffs, in the possession of Cullen's little child. There was no doubt now that Cullen had killed Hayden and Hubbard.
Surrounded by the posse, Cullen was then escorted by foot down through the middle of the street, across the bridge to Dudley's store a short ways up on the left. He was cuffed to a post while sitting on a wooden crate. During the interrogation, Cullen several times admitted that the only thing he was sorry for was that he hadn't also killed Swanback and Bird who had escaped Cullen's bloody axe. Cyrus Hayden at this time attempted to strike at Cullen, but was held back by Constable Hughes.
Hayden, who had come to retrieve the body of his brother, after learning that his brother's body was burned to ashes, made the decision to ride to Swanback's camp, the scene of the crime. Since it was pretty much decided that only ashes and bones would be found, the large box Hayden had brought would be unnecessary. Along the way to Swanback on the Chapman Road, Hayden, seeing a certain Steve Wilcox, Phin Ellis' grandfather, outside his dwelling, stopped and inquired whether or not Wilcox had a small box which might accommodate the burned remains of his brother. The box was supplied and Hayden continued along his way. Upon their arrival (someone else had volunteered to accompany Hayden), only the smoking rubble of the camp was found. As they stirred the ashes, they discovered a set of keys, which belonged to Granville, buttons, metal buckles and charred bones. These objects along with the bones and surrounding ashes were placed into the borrowed box and the two men struck out to return to Mapleton. The distance, about 7 miles, would take 20 minutes or so. They arrived around supper time. Upon entering Dudley's store, Hayden slid the box open to show the remains to the others. Cullen remarked that he regretted the bones and ashes of
Swanback and Bird were missing. Hayden lunged at Cullen, but again was held back by Hughes.
It was dark, but Sheriff Phair, who would take charge of Cullen at this point, made the decision to transport Cullen back to Presque Isle despite the late hour. He dismissed most of the men and designated only a few to remain and accompany Cullen back to Presque Isle to be jailed. Two men were to be at Cullen's side at all times and the rest were ordered to go home and cause no trouble. The designated few included Parker, Barker and Dorsey whose wagon would be used to carry the prisoner back for safe keeping. Several of the men sat on the casket box Hayden had brought to bring back the body of his brother, but had gone unused.
Unbeknownst to the small, organized posse of men which Phair had gathered, a large, unruly band of vigilantes from Presque Isle had assembled. They had heard of the murders from the group of men which had been ordered to ride to Spragueville perhaps to cut off Cullen if he attempted to escape to Canada. It was said that 75 to 100 locals, each disguised in some manner, some with hoods, others with masks, assembled and were hell-bent-for-election to capture the murderer and to do whatever had to be done to bring justice to a cold-blooded killer who had done away with two good men. Each had sworn an oath of allegiance and never to discuss or divulge the identity of one another. Their intent was clear; they would take charge of the prisoner and hang him. A hanging rope had been prepared. They rode out toward Mapleton, some on horseback and others in wagons. Many were armed. It was late at night, but little mattered. Many of the angry men were pillars of local society....store keepers, professionals, blacksmiths....sworn to avenge the death of the two sheriffs and not leave it to authorities. They knew that what they were about to do was a high crime, but there was safety in numbers and relied on their sworn oath to each other that no one would be identified or discussed.
At this point there are two items I must mention. The first is that the photo of Sheriff Hayden and his wife, Irene, which appeared in installment #2, was actually submitted by Mary Niles of Presque Isle. Mary is a descendant of Irene through the Rose family. She has in her possession the tintype photo of Hayden which accompanied the article. She was not given credit for the photo.
The second item is an error which I made in the first installment. I incorrectly stated that Cullen's shortcut from Florenceville, N.B. to Swanback's camp was about 20 miles. Thanks to my good friend, Dale White of this city, I now know that it was more like 40 miles rather than 20, which I had mistakenly estimated. Dale, who sensed the error, actually rode out the shortcut and discovered that the distance was much closer to 40 miles. I'm deeply indebted.....I attempt to be as accurate as possible when writing about local history.
Next week....the hanging. Thanks for reading "Forgotten Times" and stay tuned for more of the lynching of Jim Cullen.