East Montpelier, Vermont: The 14-Hour Marriage That Ended in Murder

On September 5th, 1889, George Gould walked up the path to the Cutler farm in East Montpelier, Vermont, with his new wife Laura. They had been married for barely fourteen hours. By noon, George would be dead—shot in the face at point-blank range by a man who had waited twenty-two years for his chance.

The murder of George Gould sparked one of the strangest legal cases in Vermont history. What began as a simple crime of passion became a decades-long tragedy involving a scandalous courtroom confession, a wedding performed through prison bars, and a woman who could never escape the name of her husband's killer.

Timeline of Events:

- 1867 – Sherman Caswell begins working at the Cutler farm after returning from Civil War service

- September 4, 1889 – Laura Cutler and George Gould marry

- September 5, 1889 – Sherman Caswell shoots George Gould from an upstairs window

- March 1890 – Caswell convicted of second-degree murder, sentenced to life

- April 1890 – Laura marries Caswell through prison bars

- 1902 – Sherman Caswell pardoned after twelve years

- April 2, 1911 – Laura dies; death certificate lists her name as Laura Caswell

Sources: The Argus and Patriot newspaper (Montpelier, VT), Vermont Historical Society, VTDigger "Then Again" column.

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