Jessie COBB
Jessie's Death

STILL A MYSTERY. Police Continue Investigations in Regard to Death of Jessie Cobb.
It still remains a mystery how Jessie Cobb of Sabattus met her death. The police officers were hard at work on the case all day yesterday but found no clue. The much wanted man, Brooks, has not yet been located but the Police Department is doing excellent work on the case and hope to reveal the entire mystery concerning the case within a few days. City Marshall Odlin told a Sun reporter yesterday that the case would be followed up and all the clues carefully worked out. During the interview Mr. Odlin was very guarded in what he said in relation to the case yesterday afternoon.

His long experience as a detective has taught him that in order to make good progress in a matter of this time it is best not to give it too much publicity. He therefore declined to go into details of the sad story. he stated however that no arrests had been made during the day.

THe report stating that the body of Jessie Cobb, when taking from the water was in bad state of decomposition and taken to Mr. Samson's undertaking roms [sic] was incorreect [sic]. The body was placed in a receiving tomb where it has since remained. The woman's clothes were left at Mr. Samson's undertaking rooms, and it was through them that Mr. Ivory Cobb of East Poland, identified his daughter.

There is a great deal of interest taken in the case and it was the chief subject of conversation in this city yesterday.


The Lewiston Daily Sun
Lewiston, Maine
Sept. 20, 1900


LOOKS LIKE MURDER - Suspicious Circumstances Connected WIth Death of Jessie Cobb
There are practically no new developments in the Jessie Cobb case. City Marshal Odlin says little and looks wise, and indications are that he has got onto a pretty warm clue and it would not be surprising if an arrest was made any hour.

As near as it can be learned from what ought to be authentic sources, the report that Miss Cobb's death was either due to suicide or alcoholism, is without any foundation whatever. An examination of the body has been made, and it is understood that her death was caused by asphyxiation.

The postmortem examination which was held Saturday, as stated in Monday's Sun, revealed some rather sensational facts, which are not easily accounted for to the satisfaction of the marshal. Marshal Odlin, however, does not care to discuss these matters pertaining to the case, publicly as in his opinion it is not for the best interest of the case.

The report was circulated on the streets last evening that convincing evidence had been found and that without the shade of a doubt, Miss Cobb was murdered. The foundation of this report is not known, but it is generally believed.

Fred Brooks seems to be the man much wanted by the police department. Not that he is suspected of having figured in the case, but it is hoped that as he was one of the girl's acquaintances, he may be able to furnish some valuable information which will throw some light on the matter.

At a late hour last night no arrest had been made.

The Lewiston Daily Sun
Lewiston, Maine
October 3, 1900


TALK OF INDICTMENT IN COBB CASE. Police Officials "Admit" That it "May Be" Forthcoming at the January Term.

It would appear that time is dealing gently with the Jessie Cobb case. Nearly three months have passed since the girl was murdered and her body thrown into the river, yet the complexion of the case is but slightly changed with each succeeding week. Within 24 hours after the body was found, the newspapers said murder, and the people of the two cities were aghast; some days later the police echoed murder, and everybody waited with supplessed [sic] excitement the denouement. Time passed and a few days ago a coroner's jury announced that Jessie Cobb had been murdered, and people paused a moment over the announcement and asked themselves who this Jessie Cobb might be. For no event, not even the murder of a helpless girl, makes an impression upon the public mind too deep for time to efface. But next month, the grand jury sits in Auburn and a timely query is whether they will have to consider this mysterious case.

A Journal reporter was surprised when informed to-day by a member of the police department that the chances are considerably more than even that the grand jury will be asked to find a true bill against certain parties for the murder of Jessie Cobb. The officer who gave the reporter this tip allowed it was a State secret and when the latter brought it to the attention of City Marshal Odlin, that worthy declined at first, to consider the proposition. Then he admitted that recent developments in the case warranted the hope that an indictment for murder might be brought in next month.

"Which means," ventured the reporter, "that you have been working up the case, after all." And the marshal admitted he had made one or two moves without informing the press. And he admitted nothing further.

The public will be grateful for some sort of move in this case. They have scarcely relished official treatment of it from the first. The county and city have done nothing, the latter ignoring a request from the coroner for an appropriation to prosecute the investigation, and the whole responsibility was shouldered upon the city marshal who had trouble enough of his own before the thing occurred.

The city marshal located a score of relatives and friends of the dead girl and put them on the rack. From them he learned the habits of the girl and her movements up to late in the evening on the day on which she is supposed to have been murdered, and nothing more. A satchel she carried when last seen was found a couple of miles out of town. In course of time a coroner's inquest was held which developed nothing new, and finally brought in a verdict of murder by a party or parties unknown.

This, boiled down, is the official side of the case, as known to the public and to whom the confident assertion of an indictment comes as an agreeable surprise. There is but one deduction and that is City Marshal Odlin has run across some new evidence of a most conclusive nature. Naturally he is not giving out an inkling of what such evidence may be.

It may be stated however on the best of authority that when the blow falls, if fall it does, it will be right at home, although not necessarily upon any of those who have been brought into the case already. The writer has learned of one or two names associated now with this case for the first time. One of these parties is in the city and the other is not. The police do not know just where the latter is.

A member of the police department who has done a little work on the case said this morning he would not be surprised to see the matter brought to the attention of the January grand jury, admitting at the same time his ignorance of any startling developments in the case. He thinks that a persistent investigation of clues brought out at the very first, has so strengthened the chain of evidence then laid as to warrant decisive action.

According to the Journal's informant more than one was directly mixed up in the death, which was not a premeditated murder. The police have always held that the girl was killed in the open and as the result of a sudden disagreement, or struggle from some other cause. It is understood this opinion still holds good.

As we said above, time has dealt gently with the case. Two events of more than passing interest have come into public view. One of the witnesses at the coroner's inquest has died. Mrs. Ivory C. Cobb, step-mother to the murdered girl. Another has had his named changed, Jean B. Jacques, the sewing machine agent and intimate friend of Jessie's. His name is now York, a name he always preferred to Jacques, and by which he was often called. The change was regular and legal and Mr. York at once informed the city marshal of it.

And now the public as well as those nearer the dead girl hope the authorities were not over confident when they talked of an indictment from the January grand jury.



Lewiston Evening Journal
Lewiston, Maine
December 10, 1900



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