BURTON RANDALL

WADE -- Burton W. Randall, 32, died early Saturday morning in Washburn as the result of gunshot wounds received an incident which remains under investigation by State Police.

He was born at Perham July 25, 1935, the son of George and Frances (Butterfield) Randall

Randall is survived by his widow. Charlene (Pike) Randall of Wade; four daughters, Sheila Dawn, Lilly Mae, Karen and Georgia. all of Wade: his parents of Etna; his maternal grandmother, Mrs. Lydia Butterfield of Limestone; his paternal grandmother, Mrs. Eva Randall of Washburn; two brothers, Clifford and Eugene both of Etna; six sisters, Mrs. Lorraine Donovan of Beaver Dam, Wisc., Mrs. Lydia Sperrey of Washburn, Mrs. Georgina Graves Miss Abbie Randall, Miss Jacqucline and Miss Jessica Randall, all of Etna.

Friends may call at the Graves Funeral Home in Presque Isle Monday from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p. m.

Funeral services will be held in the funeral home Tuesday at 2 p. m. with the Rev. Kenneth MacDonald, pastor of the Washburn Pentecostal Church, officiating.

Burial will be in Riverside Extension Cemetery in Washburn.


Police Press Death Probe At Washburn

WASHBURN -- State Police investigating the shooting death of a Washburn man and the wounding of another early Saturday morning said Sunday no arrests have been made in the

case and an investigation into the incident is continuing.

On Parsons Road

A man, identified by State Police as Burton Randall, 32, at Wade, was shot and killed on the Parsons Road about a mile and one-half southeast of here between 1:30 and 2 a. m. Saturday. Another man also was wounded during the incident, police said.

State Police Detective Ronald Reardon of Houlton said the results of an autopsy performed on Randall Saturday afternoon revealed Randall died of compound skull fracture as the result of a gunshot wound in the back of the head. County Medical Examiner Dr. Samuel Rideout of Fort Fairfield performed the post mortem

The wounded man, identified as Emery Dow, 34, of Presque Isle, was admitted as a patient at A. R. Gould Memorial Hospital, Presque Isle. Police said he had a gunshot wound in the stomach and was in satisfactory condition after undergoing surgery for the removal of a bullet.

Jackson Brown, hospital administrator, would acknowledged only that Dow was alive. He said police had requested no information regarding Dow be released.

The detective declined to confirm an earlier report that the incident stemmed from an argument between the two men over a 33-year-old woman. He did say that there was a woman at the scene but would not reveal her identity. It was indicated that she was not injured

Taken From Scene

The victim and the wounded man were transported from the scene of the shooting, which was in the vicinity of the Dupram farm on the Parsons Road, to the hospital at Presque Isle by private car, police said. The driver of the car was not identified.

State police officials at Augusta said that ballistics expert Lt. Emery Jordan of the state's Identification Bureau at Augusta was present at the autopsy and will do the ballistics work in the case.

Funeral services for Randall, who leaves his widow, Charlene Pike Randall and four daughters of Wade, will be held in Presque Isle Tuesday at the Graves Funeral Home.

Burial will be in Washburn.

[October 21, 1967]


Police Question Nameless Woman In Shooting Death

WASHBURN -- An unidentified woman was questioned Randall in connection with a shooting incident here early Saturday morning which claimed the life of a 32-year-old Wade man who was reportedly shot in the back of the head while parked in a car on the Parsons Road.

The victim was identified by Police as Burton Randall.

Richard Cohen, head of the Criminal Division of the attorney general's office at Augusta said Monday that State Police Sgt. Det. Russell Bruton was dispatched to the area from Augusta to conduct the questioning. Cohen declined to identify the woman at this time.

Randall was reported to have died from a compound skull fracture to the back of the head as the result of a gunshot wound, according to investigating State Police Detective Ronald Reardon of Houlton. Reardon said the cause of death was learned as the result of an autopsy performed by County Medical Examiner Dr. Samuel Rideout of Fort Fairfield Saturday.

Another man, identified as Emery Dow, 34, of Presque Isle, was admitted to the hospital Saturday suffering from gunshot wound in the stomach. It was indicated by officials Monday that Dow was in satisfactory condition.

Cohen said that no evidence has been presented to date to connect Dow's injuries and Randall's death. Cohen also said that Dow has not been questioned by Sgt. Bruton as yet.

Cohen also denied reports that he had said that an arrest was imminent as soon as the details of the case were completed.

The unidentified woman is slated for more questioning Tuesday, Cohen said. He also indicated that several other persons may be questioned in connection with the shooting.

A check of both the Presque Isle and Caribou District Courts late Monday afternoon indicated that no complaints had been signed concerning the Washburn shooting.

Officials declined to confirm a report that the shooting incidents stemmed from an argument between Dow and Randall over a woman. Police did confirm that there was a woman at the scene of the shooting which reportedly took, place between 1:30 and 2 a.m. Saturday.

[October 24, 1967]


Police Still Probing Death Case

WASHBURN -- State Police Tuesday continued their investigation into the death of 32-year-old Burton Randall of Wade.

Randall was shot in the back of the head while parked in a car on the Parsons Road here during the early morning hours of Saturday, according to State Police. Authorities said Randall died of a compound skull fracture as the result of a gunshot wound.

State Police Sgt. Det. Russell Bruton said Tuesday that several persons, including an unidentified woman who was reportedly at the scene of the incident, had been interrogated Tuesday.

Bruton said that no formal complaints had been signed in the case.

A man identified as Emery Dow, 34, of Presque Isle, who was treated at the A. R. Gould Memorial Hospital for a gunshot wound in the stomach Saturday has not been questioned as yet concerning the case, Bruton said. Dow was said by hospital officials to have still been hospitalized Tuesday.

[October 25, 1967]


Cause Found To Hold Dow For Jury

BY TED SYLVESTER

HOULTON -- Following the 45-minute testimony of a 33ˇyear-old former waitress and Washburn woman in District Court here Monday, probable cause was found for holding Emery Dow, 34, of Presque Isle on a murder charge for the Aroostook County grand jury.

Dow is charged by state police in the shooting death of Burton Randall, 32, of Wade, Oct. 21 in Washburn.

After a brief recess at the conclusion of Mrs. Lila Baker's testimony, Judge Robert L. Browne bound the case over to the November term of Aroostook County Superior Court for grand jury action. Dow was placed in the custody of Sheriff Darrell Crandall to await trial and was returned to the county jail, with no bail set.

Mrs. Baker, the hearing only witness, testified to the events prior to the death of Randall. On examination of Richard S. Cohen, who heads the criminal division of the Attorney General's office, and handled the case for the prosecution, the witness related that she had heard five shots fired on the night in question.

The witness testified that on Oct. 20 she was employed as a waitress at Ritchie's Cafe in Presque Isle. She said that she finished work that night between 9:30 and 9:45-p.m.

Sat With Him

The dark-haired waitress said that Dow came into the restaurant about 7 p.m. and that she waited on him He later returned to the restaurant, about 7:30 p.m. and sat in a booth with her while she was eating her evening meal, according to the state witness.

She testified that at this time Dow displayed a bullet and "tapped it lightly on the counter," Mrs. Baker said she asked Dow what he was going to do with it, and that he (Dow) shrugged his shoulders.

It was brought out later on cross examination of Defense Attorney Harold L. Stewart of Presque Isle that Dow had also shown Mrs. Baker a pistol or a revolver at this time. The witness testified, under Stewart's questioning that Dow told her he had been hunting that day.

Dow came into the restaurant again later and had a cup of coffee and left, Mrs. Baker recalled.

Randall Appears

Mrs. Baker then related that when she left the restaurant after work, she went down an alley at the rear of the J. J. Newberry Co. building where her car was parked. She said at this time Randall came into the alley behind her with his own car.

She said that Randall helped her get her car going. "The gears were locked and he freed them," she said. At this point the witness pointed out, Randall drove her car and she drove his from the parking lot to State St., and' out to the Parsons Road towards Washburn.

Mrs. Baker then testified that while she was following Randall "about four or five car lengths" in the vicinity of Robert's Market near the end of the Parson's Road, she heard two shots fired.

The witness testified that she couldn't pinpoint the spot where the shots came from, but that two shots were fired in the proximity of the Dow residence, between Robert's Market and the end of the Parsons Road.

Mrs. Baker said the two cars proceeded toward Washburn on the Parsons Road, with the witness driving Randall's car and Randall driving her car.

When the two cars were within two miles of Washburn, near Clayton Brook, Mrs. Baker said "Dow's car shot from a "little roadway behind the bushes" and got between the vehicles Randall and Mrs. Baker were operating.

Cars Bump

At this point, as the three cars were proceeding toward Washburn, Dow's car started bumping the car ahead of him (Randall's), forcing the car off the road into a sugar beet field, Mrs. Baker said. The Dow car also went into the field, according to the testimony given.

"I swung out around Dow's car and pulled abreast of my car," Mrs. Baker said. The witness told of calling for Randall to get in his car with her. She said that Randall didn't get in with her, but went diagonally across the field towards Dow's car, and that at this time she heard two shots fired.

Mrs. Baker said the two men engaged in an argrument and that she then heard a third shot, and that now sat down in the seat of his car after having gotten out.

After she heard the shot, Mrs. Baker said that Randall came back to the car she was in and told her that he had shot Dow. She said she had exclaimed "Oh, my God."

"We started to drive off and I heard an explosion and I heard an explosion and Randall slumped over the wheel Mrs. Baker testified. She said that Randall turned off the ignition. That she then pulled Randall to the middle of the seat, climbed over him, started the car, and drove to the A. R. Gould Memorial Hospital Presque Isle.

After she had reached the hospital and obtained aid for Randall, Mrs. Baker testified, Dow came into the hospital. She said he was put in a wheel chair and wheeled off and that was the last she had seen of him until Monday in court.

On cross - examination from Defense Attorney Stewart, it was brought out that Mrs. Baker had not seen any guns in Randall's possession from the time she had first seen Randall about 10 p.m. Oct. 20, until the time of the shooting, about 1:30 a.m., Saturday, Oct. 21.

It was also brought out that she had purchased a six-pack of beer for Randall, and that had drunk some of it.

Mrs. Baker said that she had had nothing to drink. Dow was released from Gould Hospital Monday and was transported to the county jail at Houlton by Deputy Sheriff Edward G. Green. He was detained at the jail for a little over an hour to await arraignment.

He was escorted to the courthouse by Sheriff Crandall, walking briskly along the walk that separated the two buildings. The defendant, wearing glasses, appeared in court wearing an open necked, blue and green shirt and dark slacks.

Dow sat almost expressionless and the only talking he did was to confer with attorneys, Stewart and Albert M. Stevens, both of Presque Isle. The only word Dow said in court here in answer to Judge Browne who asked if he had any questions on the hearing.

Dow answered with a "no".

[November 6, 1967] 1