The Evening Spider

Special Dispatch to the
New-York Times
.

HARTFORD, Sept. 5, 1878—The dead body of Mary E. Stannard, 22 years old, was found at Durham, near the border of Madison, on Tuesday night. She had been living with her father, and on Tuesday left home to go, as she said, into the woods half a mile away after berries. As she did not return, a search was made and she was found dead in the woods, lying in a by-path on her back, with her hands folded across her breast. On the left side of her neck was a puncture wound, apparently made by a pointed knife, which had severed the carotid artery and jugular vein and larynx. There was also a hole through her scalp, and a severe contusion on the back of her right hand. At a Coroner's inquest a sister of the girl told this story:

“Mary returned from Guilford Sunday last, bringing with her her 2-year-old illegitimate child—the cause of
her having to leave the house where she had been at service. She was very low-spirited, and said she was pregnant, and that Rev. H. H. Hayden, who lives in Rockland and preaches in the Methodist Church in Madison, was the father of the unborn child. She said further that she had informed the clergyman of her condition, and he had promised to stand by her. He called at the house at 11 o'clock on that day, and made an appointment to meet her at a large rock, where the body was found. The deceased left at the time appointed to fulfill the engagement with him.”

The post-mortem examination disclosed the fact that she was not in the condition alleged. Nor was there any evidence that her person had been violated, the latter fact being important in connection with a theory that she might have been outraged by a tramp and then murdered. The testimony of a woman who was passing by the woods where the body was found and heard shrieks seems to indicate an assault. The story of the sister implicating the clergyman looks like an invention, and possibly was told by the deceased while in a distracted state of mind. It is said that insanity runs in the family, and the mother died insane.

A special dispatch from Madison tonight says that Rev. Mr. Hayden's name has not been reproachfully mentioned there, and that nothing has been heard of any movement to arrest him. The scene of the tragedy is remote from thickly settled places, away from railroads and telegraph, and much that is heard comes by rumor.