This collection is made up of a letter book, stenographer's notes, and scrapbook pertaining to the trials of Clark W. Hatch of Boston, Massachusetts. Hatch was accused of murdering his uncle, Henry Hatch of Kit Carson County, Colorado, and, later, of defrauding his employer, the Travelers Insurance Company.
The letter book (102 pages) contains correspondence regarding Hatch's arrest and trial for the murder of his uncle, Henry Hatch. Most items are copies of letters by William J. Lewis, an acquaintance of Clark W. Hatch. Lewis requested information from officials involved in the case, including a local sheriff, and on at least one occasion provided information on Hatch's movements around the time of the murder (September 5, 1889). Lewis also affirmed his loyalty to Hatch and urged the accused to maintain a calm demeanor, lest he raise suspicions about the funding of his legal assistance (March 3, 1890). The letter book also includes letters from Hatch and other parties interested in the case; some of these are pasted onto the letter book's pages.
H. C. Hollister, the official stenographer for Clark W. Hatch's initial trial under Judge Lewis C. Greene in Burlington, Colorado, in May 1889, composed typed copies of witnesses' testimonies (189 pages). Witnesses included Henry Hatch's acquaintances, the boys who discovered his body, and several people who had seen Henry Hatch or Clark Hatch around the time of the murder. Clark W. Hatch and his father-in-law, Orrin Poppleton, also testified. The testimonies provide details about Henry Hatch's life, Clark W. Hatch's life and occupation, and their mutual histories.
A 70-page scrapbook contains newspaper clippings about Clark W. Hatch's murder trials and his later legal difficulties. Most clippings are from the Burlington Blade, the Burlington Boomerang, and the Rocky Mountain News. The editors of the Burlington papers wrote about the case and its background, and shared their stances regarding Hatch's guilt. The scrapbook also contains recapitulations of Hatch's arrests and trials. Later clippings detail a late investigation into the forgery charges against Clark W. Hatch. The final clipping, dated May 1891, pertains to Hatch's disappearance.
On April 28, 1889, two residents of Flagler, Colorado, discovered the body of Henry Hatch, who had moved to Colorado several years prior. Hatch's nephew, Clark W. Hatch, had visited shortly before the alleged murder and became the primary suspect in the presumed murder.
Clark W. Hatch was born in Nelson, New York, around 1848, and lived with his uncle in Michigan in the 1860s. On March 19, 1878, he married Ella Poppleton of Birmingham, Michigan, and in 1889 the couple lived in Boston, Massachusetts, where Hatch was an agent for the Travelers Insurance Company. Hatch was acquitted of Henry Hatch's murder at a preliminary trial in Burlington, Colorado, in May 1889, and at a jury trial in Colorado Springs, Colorado, in April 1890. In February 1891, his former employer charged him with forgery and fraud. He disappeared around May 27, 1891, shortly after being released from arrest.
