Charles Alonzo Briggs (1860)

Born 17 Feb 1860 in Savoy, Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States

Ancestors

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Ellen Smith [send private message]

Biography

Charles Alonzo Briggs was the son of Noble Alonzo Briggs and Eliza (Leonard) Briggs, born in Savoy, Berkshire County, Massachusetts, on 17 February 1860. The birth record indicates that the father was born in Shutesbury, Massachusetts, and worked as a laborer; and the mother was born in Williamstown, Massachusetts.^[1] The 1865 Massachusetts Census and the 1870 U.S. Census found Charles Briggs (Charles A. Briggs in 1865) living in Savoy in the household of Noble Briggs; he was age 5 in 1865 and age 10 in 1870.^[2][3]

The 1880 U.S. Census recorded him as Charles Briggs, age 20, living in Enfield, Massachusetts, as a boarder in the household of William R. Glazier. By occupation he was a laborer.^[4]

Murder of Charles Stetson

On 12 April 1881 Charles Briggs murdered Charles Stetson at Adam Cole's cider mill in Pelham, Massachusetts. The Boston Post newspaper reported the event on 13 April 1881:^[5]

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. April 12. Charles Briggs, aged ??, shot and killed Charles Stetson, Monday night, during a dance at a cider mill in Pelham, a little town four miles from Amherst. Stetson had separated from his wife, partly because of Briggs' intimacy with her. Briggs took the woman to the dance, and in a quarrel between the men, Briggs put three balls into Stetson's brain, either of which would have been fatal. Briggs was committed to the Northampton Jail this morning. He claimed that Stetson assaulted him and he was forced to shoot. Stetson was highly respected, aged 23. Neither had been drinking.

An 1893 study entitled "Murders in Massachusetts," includes this description of the incident:^[6]

Charles A. Briggs, 21 years old, killed Charles Stetson with a pistol April 12, 1881, at Pelham. Both were country boys of American stock. Briggs paid attentions to Stetson's wife, who had left her husband. The three met at a "country dance" in a cider mill to which Briggs had escorted Stetson's wife. There was a quarrel over the woman at the dance resulting in the murder. Like many country boys of his loose character, Briggs carried a pistol.

Charles A. Briggs received a life sentence for the murder. In his annual report for 1881, the Massachusetts Attorney General reported on the case: ^[7]

IN THE COUNTY OF HAMPSHIRE

An indictment against Charles A. Briggs for the murder of Charles Stetson at Pelham by shooting. He was arraigned on the nineteenth day of September, and pleaded not guilty; and Messrs. Charles Delano and Charles N. Clark were assigned as his counsel. At the time fixed for his trial, he offered through his counsel to retract his plea, and to plead guilty of murder in the second degree. I was entirely satisfied that this result would be consistent with public justice; and I consented, and accepted the plea which was tendered. The defendant was then sentenced to imprisonment in State Prison for life.

Governor's Pardon

Charles Briggs received a pardon from Massachusetts Governor William Russell on Thanksgiving Day, 1891. The Governor's message to the General Court of Massachusetts (the state legislature) stated:^[8]

Charles A. Briggs. Convicted of murder, second degree supreme judicial court, Hampshire county, Dec. 6, 1881. Sentenced to state prison for life. Pardoned Nov. 26, 1891, as an act of executive clemency for thanksgiving day. Briggs had never violated a single rule of the prison. His deportment had been perfect during the ten years of his imprisonment. There was every reason to believe that he would l become a good citizen and a worthy member of society. The pardon was recommended by warden Lovering and ex-wardens Usher and Russell.

The pardon was criticized in western Massachusetts. The Fitchburg Sentinel newspaper stated that when they received the news, "we remarked that, to those who knew the circumstances attending the crime committed by Briggs, this pardon made a farce of justice," and quoted more extensive criticism from the Amherst Record:^[9]

In accordance with a time-honored custom. Gov. Russell signalized the advent of Thanksgiving day by the pardon of two criminals confined in state prison. One of these criminals was Charles A. Briggs, who in December, 1881, plead guilty to murder in the second degree and was sentenced to state prison for life. The crime which Briggs confessed was the killing of his friend Charles Stetson at a dance at Adam Cole's cider-mill, on Pelham Hill, April 11, 1881. ... For some reason that has never been explained, Attorney General Manton accepted his plea of guilty of murder in the second degree. [The evidence presented] showed it to be one of the most coldblooded on record; and Briggs was considered fortunate to have escaped hanging. Of course, as is the common case in most of these hill-town tragedies, there was a woman at the bottom of the affair, and that woman was the wife of Charles Stetson, who had left her husband and was living apart from him on account of family troubles caused by her relations with other men, notably Briggs. Briggs had been at one time in the employ of Stetson and had lived in his family, and the testimony went to show that he had been intimate with Stetson's wife, and that Stetson had been informed of the fact. At all events there had been trouble between the men on this account, and several witnesses testified that Briggs had threatened to kill Stetson if the latter interfered with him. Two nights before be had bought a box of cartridges at East Amherst, and on his way home had fired his revolver two or three times as if to test it. At the dance he had spoken of Stetson to a friend, at the same time showing him the handle of the revolver. Both of the men had been drinking, but not sufficiently to render either intoxicated. Two or three times while the dance was in progress the men had met in a hall way and words passed between them. The testimony as to the shooting was to the effect that Briggs followed Stetson out into a hallway, and after a few words, standing within three or four feet of him. pulled his revolver and fired three shots at him point blank, two of the balls striking him in the head and one in the neck, either of the first two wounds inflicted being sufficient to cause death. Stetson was unarmed at the time, and seemed anxious to avoid a quarrel. In view of this testimony. and a great deal more to the same general effect that was brought out at the hearing, it would seem that if ever a cowardly murder was committed such was the crime of Charles A. Briggs, and if ever capital punishment ought to be inflicted it should have been in this case...

Later Life

Charles A. Briggs married Annie F. Mulhall in Boston, Massachusetts, on 27 June 1893. He was 33 years old, a machinist, born in Savoy, Massachusetts, to parents Noble A. and Mary E. Briggs. Annie was 24, a waitress, born in New York, New York, to parents Lawrence (or Laurence) and Margaret Mulhall. It was the first marriage for both parties. The marriage officiant was John W. F. Barnes, Chaplain of the Massachusetts State Prison.^[10][11]

The 1910 U.S. Census recorded Charles A. Briggs, age 50, in Boston, Ward 5. He was born in Massachusetts to a father born in Massachusetts and a mother born in Vermont. and worked in a machine shop as a machinist. His wife Annie F. was 40, she was born in New York to parents from Ireland. They had been married 16 years and Annie had had three children, all living. Their children in the household were Gladys B., 15; Myrtle E, 13; and Gertrude L., 11; all had attended school that year.^[12]

The 1930 U.S. Census recorded Charles A. Briggs, age 70, in Medford, Massachusetts, with wife Frances A. Briggs, 61, and daughter Gladys B. Briggs, 34. Gladys was the only household member with an occupation; she was a bookkeeper for a plumber.^[13]

Sources

1. ↑ Town of Savoy, Births for the Year 1860. Massachusetts Vital Records, 1840–1911. New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, Massachusetts. Accessed on Ancestry.com at https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/5062/images/41262_B139095-00074
2. ↑ "Massachusetts State Census, 1865", database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MQHN-RYM : 22 February 2021), Charles A Briggs in entry for Noble Briggs, 1865.
3. ↑ "United States Census, 1870", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MDSV-HZX : 29 May 2021), Charles Briggs in entry for Noble Briggs, 1870.
4. ↑ United States Census, 1880. Enumeration sheet for Enfield, Hampshire, Massachusetts; Roll: 537; Page: 55D; Enumeration District: 325, accessed on Ancestry.com at https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/6742/images/4241714-00114
5. ↑ Accessed at http://www.myheritage.com/research/collection-10025/newspaper-archive?s=240385321&itemId=695574980&indId=individual-240385321-2000112&action=showRecord&siteId=240385321 .
6. ↑ Cook, "Murders in Massachusetts." Page 18 of the original, page 374 in the compilation volume.
7. ↑ Public Documents of Massachusetts, Volume 3, 1882. Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Attorney General's Report, Jan. 18, 1882, Page 6.
8. ↑ Acts and Resolves Passed by the General Court of Massachusetts. Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 1893. page 622.
9. ↑ Fitchburg Sentinel (Fitchburg, Massachusetts), Saturday, December 5, 1891, Page 4. http://www.newspapers.com/newspage/66451226/ . Note: This partial quotation is from OCR text, some of which was seriously garbled.
10. ↑ "Massachusetts Marriages, 1841-1915," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:N475-HJ8 : 10 March 2021), Charles A. Briggs and Annie F. Mulhall, 27 Jun 1893; citing Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts, United States, State Archives, Boston; FHL microfilm 1,651,238. Also at: Massachusetts Vital Records, 1840–1911. New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, Massachusetts. Accessed on Ancestry.com at https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/2511/images/41262_b139397-00152
11. ↑ "Massachusetts, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1626-2001," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-L979-Q9S1-B?cc=2061550&wc=Q4D4-MNG%3A353350401%2C353366201%2C354983501 : 18 February 2020), Suffolk > Boston > Marriages 1893 no 1501-3000 > image 1272 of 1558; citing Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth, Boston. Note: This document identifies the marriage officiant as the state prison chaplain.
12. ↑ "United States Census, 1910," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9RJT-SB9?cc=1727033&wc=QZZ7-FVM%3A133638101%2C141688201%2C142009001%2C1589219638 : 24 June 2017), Massachusetts > Suffolk > Boston Ward 15 > ED 1477 > image 25 of 40; citing NARA microfilm publication T624 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
13. ↑ "United States Census, 1930," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9RHC-HCD?cc=1810731&wc=QZF3-LMB%3A648804401%2C649619901%2C649471901%2C1589285991 : 8 December 2015), Massachusetts > Middlesex > Medford > ED 320 > image 28 of 48; citing NARA microfilm publication T626 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2002).

• "United States Census, 1910," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M2KY-JWR : accessed 19 June 2021), Charles A Briggs, Boston Ward 15, Suffolk, Massachusetts, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 1477, sheet 13A, family 236, NARA microfilm publication T624 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1982), roll 619; FHL microfilm 1,374,632.
• "United States Census, 1920", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MXBK-2LY : 1 February 2021), Charles Briggs, 1920.
• "United States Census, 1930," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XQPX-X9N : accessed 19 June 2021), Charles A Briggs, Medford, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 320, sheet 14B, line 59, family 314, NARA microfilm publication T626 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2002), roll 925; FHL microfilm 2,340,660.