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| (Illustrated Police News, February 1, 1885) |
On Thursday, July 27, 1882, Sarah Proctor, of Salem, Massachusetts, heard groans coming from the cellar where her husband, George, was working. Downstairs, she found him lying on the floor between two barrels. She rushed toward him exclaiming, “Good God, what is the matter, George?”
There was no response, so she ran to a neighbor for help. He found George alive but unconscious. On the floor was a small pool of blood from a wound in the back of his head, believed to have been sustained when his head hit the barrel. A doctor was summoned, but there was little he could do. George remained unconscious but held on until 10:15 that night. The official cause of death was “paralysis of brain.”
On Saturday, Sarah’s young nephew, Benny, was playing in the cellar and found a seven-shot Robin Hood pistol under the stairwell. One shot had been fired. He gave it to Sarah, who passed it on to her father-in-law. He gave it to the police the following day. When Medical Examiner Carlton heard of the discovery, he deemed it necessary to examine the body. George’s funeral was being held at the First Universalist Church. Following the service, the body was taken back to the undertaker’s, where Carlton performed an autopsy.
The autopsy showed that the wound behind George’s left ear was a bullet wound. The bullet was still in the skull. It was removed and found to match the bullets in the pistol found under the cellar stairs.
Everyone’s first thought was that George Proctor had committed suicide. He was the owner of the Produce Exchange in Salem. In the week before his death, he made his will, paid his insurance assessments, settled his accounts, and installed his brother as manager of the Exchange. But from the position of the wound and the fact that the hairs around it were not singed, the Medical Examiner concluded the wound was not self-inflicted.
George Proctor was murdered in the cellar of his own home, but it was unclear who would benefit from his death. The Proctors lived comfortably, but they were not wealthy. Some of his business ventures had failed. The will left his insurance benefit in trust for his widow and children; his brother would remain manager of the Exchange, and net profits would be divided semi-annually between his wife and his brother.
On August 1, Judge Osgood held an informal hearing where Sarah Proctors and other witnesses testified as to the circumstances of the murder. The hearing lasted two days, but nothing was resolved.
The following February, at a spiritualist meeting, a medium named Mrs. S. Dick communicated with George Proctor. She received tidings from the spirit world, then she suddenly paused and said, “I cannot go any further until I tell something which is the message that I hear, ‘No woman had anything to do with my death. George K. Proctor.’”
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| (Illustrated Police News, February 1, 1885) |
The murder remained a mystery, and it gradually faded from public memory. However, the police did not forget the murder. District Officer Joseph E. Shaw of the State Force, together with Salem City Marshal Hart, continued to gather evidence. The investigation proceeded for another three years until February 1885, when, despite Mrs. Dick’s pronouncement, the Grand Jury of Essex County found an indictment against Sarah Proctor.
“Mrs. Proctor, I have a very painful duty to perform,” said Marshal Hart at Sarah Proctor's door.
“What is it, Mr. Hart?” she replied.
“I am instructed to arrest you, Mrs. Proctor, for causing the death of your husband, George K. Proctor.”
She fell back, as though stunned, and burst into tears. “You know I didn’t do that; you know I am innocent.”
The Marshal took her to jail in Lawrence.
Statements from people who knew the Proctors told the lawmen that their household was not a happy one. Sarah Proctor had a violent temper when aroused, and on more than one occasion, just before his death, George came to the police station and asked for protection. The City Marshal told him that he could obtain a warrant against his wife, but advised him not to bring public scandal on his family. George and his wife spent very little time together, and his friends advised him to get a legal separation.
Owing to trouble with her mother, their oldest daughter, Lilly, moved out of the house a year before Sarah’s arrest. Their other daughter was not on speaking terms with her mother and sued her for her share of the income from the Produce Exchange. She testified against her mother before the Grand Jury.
Sarah claimed that she had not heard a gunshot that morning, but the police conducted experiments that proved the shot would have been heard anywhere in the house. Her mother had sent Lilly out of town that day, and the younger sister was asleep. They also proved that the pistol could not have been thrown to the spot under the stairs where it was found. Other witnesses claimed there were towels saturated with blood at the house that morning, indicating that the bullet had bled more profusely than first thought. The police claimed to have additional evidence against Sarah that they did not make public.
Sarah Proctor remained in jail until May 12, 1885, when her case came before the Supreme Judicial Court. Attorney General Sherman moved that Sarah P. Proctor be arraigned on the charge of murder. However, he told the court that since the Grand Jury indictment, a number of important witnesses had changed their testimony and the evidence needed to be examined with more care.
“Since then, “ said the Attorney General, “I have, with the assistance of the district attorney and the officers, made a most thorough and searching examination of this important case, and I have come to the conclusion that I cannot expect or properly ask a jury to convict the prisoner on the evidence which we have at present.”
While the arraignment stayed in effect, Mrs. Proctor was released from custody. Public sympathy turned in her favor, and the suicide theory was revised, but the case remained unsolved.
Sources:
“The Celebrated Proctor Murder Case,” Daily Evening Bulletin, May 13, 1885.
“Clearing Up a Mystery,” GALENA INDUSTRIAL PRESS, February 19, 1885.
“More Murder,” BOSTON HERALD, February 3, 1885.
“Mrs. Sarah P. Proctor, the Alleged Husband Murderer,” Illustrated Police News, February 21, 1885.
“A Mysterious Tragedy At Salem,” Springfield Republican, July 31, 1882.
“Obituary,” Boston Daily Advertiser, July 28, 1882.
“The Proctor Mystery,” Worcester Evening Gazette, July 31, 1882.
“Salem,” Boston Daily Journal, September 5, 1882.
“Salem,” Boston Evening Journal, February 26, 1883.
“Salem,” Boston Daily Journal, October 19, 1883.
“The Salem Mystery,” Boston Evening Journal, May 13, 1885.
“A Salem Sensation,” Boston Evening Journal, February 3, 1885.
“The Salem Tragedy ,” Boston Daily Journal, August 2, 1882.
“Tragedy at Salem,” Boston Daily Journal, July 31, 1882.
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