The Case Against Wagner

Louis Wagner, a dory fisherman, had lived with the Hontvet family on Smuttynose Island in Maine the previous summer. He knew the house, the family, and the island intimately.
He was penniless, behind on his rent, and jealous of his former employer.
He knew that the three male fishermen of Smuttynose would have to remain in Portsmouth on the night of March 5, 1873 to bait their trawls because the train carrying the bait from Boston was late.
He knew the men had left their "pocketbooks" back on the island and believed that John Hontvet had saved up $600 for a new boat (three times Wagner's annual income) that he could steal without being discovered.
Wagner knew at least two defenseless women were alone on the island and would be sleeping.
Although Wagner agreed to return to help the men from Smuttynose bait trawls around midnight, he did not return. John searched the docks for Wagner and could not find him.
Wagner was missing for 11 hours until the following morning.
Wagner was a dory fisherman, powerfully built, 28 years old, and capable of rowing the 18-mile round-trip to the island.
He was last seen in a Portsmouth bar at 7:30 pm on March 5, 1873 and not one witness could support his elaborate alibi.
A fishing dory that Wagner had used previously was reported missing from Pickering's Wharf at 8:30 pm and reappeared abandoned in Little Harbor in New Castle a few miles away the following morning.
The thole pins (wooden oarlocks) that had recently been replaced on the dory were heavily worn when it was recovered as if someone had rowed heavily in the boat for hours.
Wagner's departure was timed to match the outgoing tide of the Piscataqua River, one of the swiftest of all navigable currents in North America.
In a recent test with a similar boat and tide, an amateur rower made the trip to Smuttynose from the same spot in two hours and 14 minutes.
John Hontvet testified that he had made the trip by rowboat from Smuttynose many times. It was a dangerous, but not an uncommon or astonishing feat.
The night of March 5, 1873 was calm, not frigid, and the moon was out, though not full.
A figure dressed like Wagner was seen at Little Harbor in New Castle by witnesses around 6:45 the following morning. He seemed to be getting his bearings and then began walking toward Portsmouth.
A series of witnesses saw a stranger dressed like Wagner walking from New Castle to the South End of Portsmouth early that morning. One witness knew him by name.
At a washed-out bridge, unwilling to wait for a ferry, Wagner hurriedly crossed the expanse by throwing over a plank of wood, assisted by two men who spoke to him and later testified in court.
Wagner was identified as disheveled, his pants wet and covered in ice and coming from New Castle. He declined to talk to people, hid his face, and hurried away.
Wagner uncharacteristically did not spend the night in the Portsmouth boarding house in a room that he shared with two other men.
His landlady Mrs. Johnson saw him approaching the boardinghouse around 7 a.m.
Wagner told the Johnsons that he had slept on a couch in the boardinghouse after coming in through the back door drunk and sick around 3 a.m., and then later went out for a walk early that morning.
Mrs. Johnson and her daughter Mary testified that they had locked the back door the previous midnight and that another man had been sleeping on the downstairs sofa that Wagner claimed he used.
That morning Wagner appeared distracted, wind-burned, his clothes were wet and spotted with blood, and his hands were badly scratched and blistered.
Mary Johnson testified that she saw Wagner carry a bundle under his arm from his room to the privy in the back yard
A torn and bloody shirt was later found in the vault of the Johnson house privy.
Mary Johnson identified the shirt from the privy as one she had often mended and laundered for Wagner.
Wagner told Mary that he had done something wrong and was about to be "taken."
Although he claimed he had been up sick all night, Wagner quickly left the boarding house and took the morning train to Boston, Massachusetts.
In Boston, Wagner had his beard shaved, and bought new clothes and boots, discarding his old clothing.
Wagner spent roughly $16 on his train ticket and clothing, the same amount of money stolen from the Hontvet House the night before in the same denominations.
Wagner made strange confessional statements to a Boston shopkeeper, to his former Boston landlady Mrs. Brown, and to a young prostitute who testified at his trial.
Upon apprehension by Boston police, Wagner did not even ask why he was being arrested.
A white button, reportedly matching one that had been in the murder victim's purse, was found in Wagner's pocket.
At trial the prosecution presented over 40 witnesses and Wagner's defense team was unable to offer a single witness to dispute their evidence.
Maren Hontvet, the surviving victim, testified that she heard her sister-in-law Anethe cry out "Louis! Louis! Louis!" as Anethe was about to be attacked with an ax on the night of the murder.
Maren had identified Wagner as the killer when she was first rescued from Smuttynose Island. If even one person had seen Wagner in the 11 hours he was missing, her accusation would have been wrong.
The murderer's size 11 boot prints were visible in the snow all over the island as he searched in vain for Maren.
The only unopened trunk in the house had belonged to Karen. This was the same trunk that had been in Wagner's room during the summer when he had lived with the family on the island, so he likely knew nothing was in it.
The killer washed up and left bloody towels at the island well, a small low ring of rocks that anyone unfamiliar with the island would not likely have seen even in the vague moonlight.
The killer knew not to leave his boat in the cove where it could be seen.
The killer was familiar enough with the Hontvet House after the murders to light the oil lamps, pull down the shades, make tea, and eat a meal before returning to the mainland with Anethe's body beside him.
Wagner's clothes were spotted with blood.
Wagner claimed he had been in a downtown bar, but could not name it. He claimed he had baited trawls for a fishing boat that night, but could not name the boat, the captain who paid him in cash, or the dock where he had worked. Wagner claimed he had fallen down sick for over an hour near a pump downtown, but police on their night beat testified that no one was there.
Wagner reportedly told a number of fishermen that he was broke, knew where there was money, but that he might have to commit murder to get it.
At no time did Wagner show any emotion over the death of the two women or compassion for the Hontvet family whom he called his "best friends." Instead he blamed the Hontvets for the murder.
Maren Hontvet named Louis Wagner as the killer from the moment she was rescued. Maren had been isolated on Smuttynose Island all night, shut off from contact with anyone except her two murdered relatives, and yet she managed to identify a person who could offer no evidence of his whereabouts for over 11 hours and who had, despite his testimony, been seen walking from New Castle to Portsmouth on the morning after the murders. He also mysteriously took a train ride to Boston having suddenly found $16 when, the day before, he had been broke and his rent overdue. Had Wagner been seen during those 11 missing hours by a single person, or had he slept in his bed, or had he returned to bait trawls with John Hontvet as he promised -- Maren's testimony would have been overturned. But she named the right man as the evidence later proved.