The Christie Warden Murder

On July 17, 1890, Andrew Warden, a farmer in the Hanover area, took on a hired hand who called himself Frank Almy.  Almy was actually a convicted felon named George Abbott who had escaped from prison in Winsdor, VT, three years before.  He began courting Christina, known as Christie, one of the Warden's daughters and exchanged several gifts with her.

In April the following spring, Almy was fired by the Wardens due to lack of work to be done on the farm.  He left the area for Boston, but returned in June obsessed with the idea of seeing Christie again.  He hid himself inside the Warden's barn and made several attempts to see her during the next month.  Finally, on July 17, 1891, he encountered Christie, her sister Fanny, her mother, and a friend walking home from a Grange meeting.  He pulled Christie from the group at gunpoint and dragged her off the road, where he shot her and then escaped.

After searching for a month, Almy was discovered hiding in the Warden's barn.  He was severely wounded and finally captured after a standoff of several hours and then taken to the Hanover Inn, where a crowd of 1500 demanded to see "the monster."  The photo above shows Almy lying on a cot during this event.  The photograph below is of the crowd outside the barn during his capture.

Almy was convicted of murder and hanged on May 16, 1893.

There are several sources of information about the murder.  Ask for the vertical and photo files labeled "Warden, Christie."  Newspaper clippings of the events can be found in a scrapbook compiled by Harold Gibson: DC Hist LD 1438.8 .G5  There is also a small collection of manuscript material: MS 761