1. "Trefethen Case"
Posted by njwolfe on Apr-15th-03 at 8:22 PM

Has anyone heard of this case? In trying to research the
drownings of the children next door I came upon mention of
this case but no details at all, hush hush.

Nancie --
Found this little snippet on a genealogical site.

"1. Commonwealth (of Massachusetts) v. Trefethen: 157 Mass. 180, 31 N.E. 961. Supreme Court of Mass. Decided Oct. 19, 1892. James A. Trefethen tried for murder.
Convicted and appealed to Supreme Court of Mass. This Court reversed his conviction. The woman whom he was accused of killing had been 5 months pregnant and the lower court had not allowed evidence that she had been depressed and told other people she was thinking of committing suicide. The Supreme Court of Mass. said the lower court SHOULD have allowed the evidence that the woman was thinking of committing suicide. The opinion doesn't say WHY Trefethen was accused; was he the father of the woman's unborn son? (the opinion does say that the unborn baby was a son)."

And Charles C. Davis mentions it very briefly, with no details given, as though it had some relevance to Lizzie's trial.  (His series of articles on the Borden case are accessible on this website).

That's all I could come up with -- not too helpful, I'm afraid.

That is helpful Diana, the date of October 1892 is interesting,
I wonder what connection he had to the Lizzie case?  Thanks,
now I'm even more curious...