TESTIMONY OF ANNA STATTLER
Questioned by District Attorney Applebach January 15, 1894

This is the existing testimony of Anna Stattler, given at the trial of Wallace Burt, slightly edited for redundancies, and with topic headings added for ease in reference.

I live in Northampton Township, Bucks County. I am the wife of Frank Stattler. We live about 200 yards from where Samuel Rightly lived. We live from his place ever towards Newtown. My husband farmed Mr. Rightly's place. Mr. Rightly's place had about 43 acres in it, I think. I worked for the old couple six years, and I was married from there.

The Rightly family was composed of himself and his wife. Her name was Leanah Rightly. Only those two were in the family. Mr. Rightly was 83 years old and his wife was 80. There was nobody living in the house at the time of the murder besides the old man and his wife. There was no one [else] in their family [living in the house] at the time of the murder; there was no one [else] there.

Along the Newtown side of the Rightly house there is a lane leading from the public road to the buildings. On the other side of the lane there is a wagon-house. On the other side the graveyard makes the other side of the lane. The graveyard is an old family graveyard; people are buried there, it is full of graves. Old Mr. Rightly took care of that graveyard, or tried to—he had got so that he was not able to take care of it any more. He took care of it as long as he could.

The Rightly house was a stone house two stories high, and it had five rooms and an out-kitchen. On the first floor I think there are five rooms and an outkitchen, and I think there are six rooms on the second floor. The Rightly family occupied the West end of the house. They occupied two rooms upstairs and three rooms downstairs, including the outkitchen. They occupied the middle of the house downstairs as their bedroom. From the bedroom you went into the dining room. There was a door between the two rooms. From the dining room you go to the outkitchen. The outkitchen was a frame attachment to the house, of one story. In the outkitchen there was a door leading from the outkitchen into the dining room and another door leading outdoors, and there were also two windows in the outkitchen. There was also a window between the outkitchen and the dining room; it was a common-sized window. One of the other windows of the outkitchen opened out into the lot and the other opened out into the yard. There was a window on each side of the outkitchen. One door from the outkitchen led out into the yard. The old people generally ate in the dining room and not in the outkitchen. Once in awhile they ate in the outkitchen but not all the time.

This summer and fall the condition of Mr. Rightly's health was very poorly. He thought he had consumption. He was sick for a week or so. At the time of the murder he was so that he could be about again. He was up and about at the time this murder happened. The old lady was not very well, but she waited on the old man and took care of him. but she was not so well herself.

He did not chew tobacco; he never chewed tobacco to my knowledge. He was a great smoker, but he never chewed tobacco that I know of. It was smoking tobacco that he used; it was tobacco in papers that he used. He never chewed tobacco that I know of.

How did these old people live? What was their means of support? If you know, of your own knowledge, where did they get their support from? Well, they sold a little once in a while from the truck patch, and people helped them some too, and they had the rent from the farm. We paid them rent. Their means of support was the rent from the farm, and what people helped them, and what little they sold from the truck patch. I paid them $2.50 the day before the murder in money. I paid them the money on Friday morning the 22nd. I could not say whether they had any other money besides what I paid them, I don't know about that. I have made purchases for them. I got groceries for them and took the groceries to them and they paid us, but I do not remember whether they gave us the money the last time or not that we got groceries for them.

What did you do for these old people? Did you exercise a sort of supervision over them and help to take care of them? Well, I looked after that, and I was there every day, and sometimes two or three times a day, just as my own business would allow me to go, and I mostly took the milk over myself. I generally took the milk over every morning. If I knew they had enough left to last them to the next morning I would not take it over that day until the afternoon.

[What happened on] Sunday morning, the 24th of September?
Well, I took the milk over that morning at about half past seven o'clock, and I went to the outkitchen door, as I always did, and opened it, and it was full of smoke, and I backed out and went around to the dining room door at the other side of the house and went to open that, and it was fast, and I stepped to the bedroom window and called and got no answer, and I could see the smoke oozing out around the window, and I went around to the first door again and pushed it open and put my hands out and held my breath and shut my eyes and went through and went to the out door and pushed it open, and then I got breath and went back to the bedroom and opened that and then I went out and got my breath and then I could see the fire, and I went to the outkitchen and got water out of a stone jar and took it in and threw it on the fire, and I went the second time and got water and threw it on the fire and then I went out and hollered.

The fire was on the bed. The bed was in the middle of the room and the head of the bed stood next to the road, not next to the lane. The bed was burning all across the head and foot; the bed was on fire at the head of the bed and at the foot of the bed, and I threw water wherever the fire was blazing, and then I ran out and hollered, and kept on hollering until somebody came, and then Harry Stattler, my son, came, and Mrs. Cornell, who lives in the house with us, and she came, and our hired man came, and we all threw water on the fire. And then I sent Harry for Mr. McNair and sent the hired man for Mr. Taylor's folks, and we got the fire out. And then went for Dr. Pownall, and he came.

What was the condition of the room at the time?
Oh, the room was all black, and was all burned to a crisp; all covered with smoke and soot. The bed-clothing was all burned. The top of the bed-clothing was all burned, and the carpet and the bedstead was burned in half. One piece of it was burned in half, and the bed cord was all burned off, and they went through to the floor. We found the bodies lying on the floor.

At that time, what was the condition of their faces? Could you tell?
Yes, we could tell their faces, and from their waists up they were not burned. It was smoked but the fire had not got there.

How about the lower portions of their bodies?
Mrs. Rightly was burned black, and Mr. Rightly was not burned so much. Mr. Rightly occupied the side of the bed next to the wall. The side of the bed stood next to the wall, and the head of the bed that way. He slept next to the wall. There was a passageway between the wall and the bed.

Where did the old people keep their money?
In that bed, under Mr. Rightly's pillow, in a box. This bedroom where they slept is downstairs. They did not occupy the upper rooms at all.

How many times was the doctor there that day?
Twice.

Did you make any examination of the bodies?
The doctor made an examination, I did not.

Were you there when he made the examination?
I was there, yes.

What did you find between the bodies?
A lamp. It was a little night lamp that Mrs. Rightly used to run about with at night, and it was bursted. There was no oil in it, and the chimney was out in the outkitchen, lying on the table in the outkitchen.

The lamp was not broken, was it?
Well, it fell apart when it was picked up afterwards; there was no oil in it any more when it was picked up. The lamp was found between the old couple a little more towards the foot of the bed than the head. It was not quite in the middle of the bed, but a little more towards the foot. The lamp laid on the side. I never saw her use that lamp without its chimney.

What kind of lamp had they in their room?
That was a small lamp, but larger than the one in the bed.

Where was that lamp?
That stood in the bedroom window.

There were windows in that bedroom?
Yes, sir.

What was their condition?
Well, they were all smoked black. There were curtains in the windows. The curtains were down when I came there. They were all smoked black. The furniture and everything in the room was all smoked black.

What was the condition of the faces of those old people when you were there? Well, I could see that something had run down their faces, and we thought that it was smoky water. After we had thrown the water on, but it turned out to be blood.

Was the lamp standing in the window burning?
No. No lamp could burn in that room on account of the smoke. That lamp on the window was not burning.

Do you know whether that lamp was kept burning at night?
It was kept burning since old Mr. Rightly has been sick.

I mean the lamp that stood on the window.
Yes, sir.

Was there anything disturbed anywhere else in the house?
Not that we could see anywhere.

Did you find money in the bed?
No, sir.

Or in this box in which they kept their money?
I did not see the bodies after they were moved and I could not tell. There was not any money found that I know of. There was 26 cents found in the clock, and that was all that was found that I know of.

How about the box containing the money?
That never was found—never seen it.

Did you see the prisoner on this farm at any time?
I saw him mowing the graveyard. It was about the middle of August as near as I can tell that I saw him mowing the graveyard.

What kind of money did you pay the Rightlys?
I paid her silver, two dollars and a half.

What was the condition of the pillow on which Mr. Rightly's head lay when you found it? It did not look to be burned.

Didn't you find any money there?
No, sir.

Was there any search made by you or anyone in your presence for the money? I think Mrs. Cornell put her hands under the pillow, but I didn't.

Were you there?
I did not see her.

But there was money found there and you were right there during the whole of this time? Yes, there was no money found that I have heard of.

Did you help to remove the bedclothes?
No, sir. I could not tell you who removed them. I went home before they were moved and I could not say. I do not know what kind of a box it was where they kept their money. Outside of the two dollars and a half I don't know at all how much money they had.

Is ther anything else that you know that I have not asked you in relation to the case? I think that is all.

(Cross-examined by Mr. Ryan)
I have known the Rightlys for about 20 years. I was at one time a member of the Rightly family. I was there for six years, all but three months. I was not married there, but from there. My husband and I lived where we now live for five or six years.

You have described this house as being a stone house standing hear the road leading from Richboro to Newtown. Yes, sir. Our house is towards Newtown from the Rightly house. Our house sets further back from the road than the Rightly house. There is a footpath down across the meadow which leads directly from the Rightly house to our house. When I came to the Rightly house on this occasion I was alone. I had some there for the purpose of bringing milk to the old people as was my cus- tom in the morning. I first went to the outkitchen door. It was the out-door of the outkitchen. That door was closed but not locked. I did not notice anything wrong until I opened the door and saw the smoke. The door between the kitchen and the sitting room is immediately opposite the out-door of the kitchen. the door between the kitchen and the sitting room was partly open. There is a window looking from the kitchen into the sitting room. That window is immediately alongside of the door going into the sitting room. At the right and left hand side as you enter the kitchen there are windows.

Under which of those windows did you see the marks upon the weather boards which the district attorney referred to in his opening to the jury? That would be on the left side of the kitchen as you go in.

Does that window look in the direction of your house?
Yes, sir.

Was it the custom of the Rightly people to leave that window open at night?
They left that window shutter open at night, and if anything happened they would set a light on the table and that would throw a light over to our place. A light in the window was a signal to us that they required attention.

How long had that been their custom to leave that window open?
Well, this summer, since they have been living by themselves since the first of May, prior to the first of May they did not live by themselves; Bart Rightly lived with them prior to that time. Bart Rightly is their nephew. He is a married man, and he, with his family, occupied a part of the Rightly premises. He moved away from Rightly's on the first of May.

Is there a closet in this kitchen?
There is a cupboard back of the door just as you go in. It is back of the out- kitchen door, to the right as you go in. There was a table in the kitchen. That table usually stood under that window on the right as you go in. The table stood just beyond the closet or cupboard.

Was there anything in front of the other window?
She used to have a table in front of that window, too. There was a table there at the time of the murder.

Had there been a screen in that window?
Yes, sir.

Where was the screen?
Under the settle. A little settle stood under the other window, and the screen was on that.

I understood you to say that there was a table under that window?
The table was in front of the window that went in the dining room.

Was the window up or down?
The window was down.

When you found smoke in the room, you went out, as I understand you, of the door through which you had entered, and went around the house? Yes, went around the house in front of the house and called at the window of the bedroom in which Mr. and Mrs. Rightly slept. That window was down. There were shutters to that window. The shutters were not closed, they were open.

Then you speak of entering the room by another door. Was that a door lead- ing from the sitting room out doors? Well, I went in the out-door from the dining room or sitting room, whatever it is—it is both dining room and sitting room, I suppose—it went in off of the porch. There is a porch in front of the house towards the road, and a door leading from the dining room and sitting room opens on that porch.

You came, then, through that door?
No, I went in the outkitchen door first.

Then you went into the sitting room and opened the back door?
Yes. I felt my way across and opened it and went out and then went to the bed- room door.

Was the bedroom door open or closed?
It was partly open.

Were you the first person on the ground that morning, so far as you know?
I was not the first person on the ground.

Who was?
The man that took the cows up the road and turned them in the field belonging to that place came through the lane. He came through the land and put a har- row in the harrow house.

Who was the man?
I cannot tell you his name. It is a funny name. He is a German but he lives with us. He took the cows out and up the lane and came back through their lane and he saw the harrow standing out and he put that harrow in the harrow house and came on home.

How long after he was there did you get there?
i stood at the gate waiting for him to come, and I had medicine ready to give to the horses, and I went up with him and helped him give the medicine to the horse, and then I got the milk and went over to the Rightlys.

Did you find the money that was found in the clock?
My husband found it. I did not find it.

Were you with him when he found it?
No, sir, I was not.

But you were present when a search was made for money?
Yes, sir.

And you saw no money under the bed?
No, sir.

You say that you saw the prisoner, Wallace Burt, now in the graveyard about the middle of August. How do you fix that time? Well, our men went and put on a load of hay, and he knew what time he had to serve this hay at the stables in town, and he put on a load of hay, and there is where we know the time. I thought it was about the middle of August. About the 11th or 12th of August.

You speak of a window in the bedroom to which you went to call. That win- dow looks out towards the road leading from Richboro to Newtown? Yes, sir.

With reference to that window, how did the head of the bed stand?
The head of the bed stood towards the window.

Was it against the wall in which the window is?
Yes, the head of the bed is against the wall. There is a partition between the sitting room and the bedroom.

Where is the door which leads from the sitting room into the bedroom. Is it towards the front or the back of the house? It is towards the back of the house. It is toward one side of the partition. There is one door and one window looking from the bedroom out of the back of the house. That door and window were not used much by Mr. and Mrs. Rightly. Once in a while she opened the door to air the room.

Were they open or closed on this morning?
They were closed, and the shutter was closed. She always kept that shutter closed.

Do you remember whether that gate was opened or closed?
That gate was open that morning.

Do you remember what time in the morning this was that you went to the house? Half past seven.

The covers of the bed had burned off and the bodies were let down between the rails upon the floor, weren't they? Yes.

Can you indicate how much of a space in the floor had been burned?
No, I cannot, but there was a good big space burned in the floor.

Was it a square space? Was it as large as that small table over there with the book upon it? I think it was, at the head of the bed.

Was there more than one space?
At the side of the bed and at the foot it had burned through.

In two or three spaces?
Three spaces.

Was the rail burned?
Yes.

How much was it burned?
Clear through.

Which rail was it? It was the rail under their heads, was it not?
I believe—I cannot tell whether it was the head or the foot of the bed.

Do you remember whether the other three rails were intact, that is, not burned through, but only scorched? I think the foot was burned through the worst.

The bed, as I understand you, was against the wall of the house, the front wall of the house. Was it against the partition wall between the bedroom and the adjoining room? Yes, sir.

Was it against the wall or out from the wall?
It was out from the wall so that he could get back there.

And it was on that side of the bed that Samuel Rightly usually slept?
Yes, sir.

After you had put out the fire and called for help, who came first to the scene? My son Harry was there first, and then Mrs. Cornell and the hired man.

Did anybody else from the neighborhood come?
Yes. Mr. McNair and Mr. Taylor's folks. Mr. McNair lives right the next house to the Rightly house, on the corner towards Richboro.

Is there or is there not a barn standing near Mr. McNair's house on the other side of the road? Yes, there is.

How far from the Rightly house?
Oh, I cannot tell you how far, but it is not a great ways.

Is it nearer the Rightly house than Mr. McNair's?
I do not think it is nearer than Mr. McNair's.

Then it was the foot that was burned through, and not the head?
Yes, sir.