To Slip One's Wind: Murder of Alice "Mamie" Sterling

Sunday, April 10, 2022

Murder of Alice "Mamie" Sterling

Alice Sterling was the 5th of 6 children of George and Alice Sterling. She was named after her mother and went by Mamie. Their home was on 47 Savin Hill in Boston, Massachusetts. Around the corner on Dorchester George ran a barbershop and a laundry agency. Little Alice was known as popular inside and outside of her home.

April 10, 1895, it started out like any other day for the Sterlings.No one was home, The two oldest daughters (20, 17) were in Boston, their oldest boy (14) was selling newspaper and the other son (9) was in school and Mrs. Sterling went to Everett to spend time with her mother and took the youngest with her. Which left Alice with her father. That day like many days his daughter, 8-year-old Alice, was playing outside the barbershop while he worked. Around 1 pm Alice's brothers came by the shop picked up Alice and the house key. The three would eat lunch and then drop her back off at the shop.

On this day Angus Gilbert, a close friend of Mr. Sterlings, came by the shop like he had done many times before.

28-year-old Angus Gilbert was a native of Nova Scotia, in 1895 he was working as a chore man on the Emmons Estate of Dorchester. He would do things like chopping wood and carrying water in exchange for lodging in their barn that no longer had animals. At night he was an assistant station agent at the railroad depot.

Angus had been friends with George for the last 5 years and was very fond of little Alice. When he would see young Alice he would often hold her on his knee and kiss her. He told Mr. Sterling he was fond of the young girl. Sometimes he would joke saying she would be his bride when she grew up. He would talk and visit with George and leave.

Alice was playing in front of the shop up until 3, and then she went to the corner to play. People had seen her around 4. No one had realized that Alice was missing. A search was done, and at 5 police were notified of her disappearance. When Alice didn't return back home by the next morning, the police were notified again. Officer Perkins would begin to investigate and found that Alice was taken.

Police knew that a man dressed in dark clothing was seen walking with Alice at the time of her disappearance. A woman would soon come forward stating she saw Angus with the girl and had even greeted the two when she saw them. Another woman stated that she saw Angus with a young girl that day. He would soon be arrested.

On April 13th Angus was sleeping in his room he was arrested. The dirt cellar that was right beneath his room was searched and within hours a gruesome crime was discovered. There was a patch of loose dirt and when police officers stumbled upon a small foot. Alice's body was found and it was obvious she met a brutal end. She what seemed to be two wounds on her head one of which was from an Axe and they believed that she was sexually assaulted.

Nearby they found an Axe with a bloodstain and a piece of wood that was believed to have been used to hurt the girl. It was believed that when Alice was abducted that Angus brought him to the home the long way.

Angus would claim he had no knowledge of the crime. He stated that he was drunk on that Wednesday and had little knowledge of what he had done that day. He said he had remembered moments of the day and continued on like normal. He stated that he was the type of drunk to act normal, but have no idea what was going on. Like for example, he'd walk like he knew where he was going, but have no clue where he was. He was adamant that he did not walk away with the girl and he did not murder her that he would have remembered that if he did.

Angus would profess innocence till the end. It was suspected that even though there was so much evidence against him that he never admitted guilt for his sister's sake. Being prosecuted is one thing but admitting to it might have caused her even more grief.

On February 21, 1896, Angus would be executed for the murder. It would seem that he slept well, dressed, and ate a heavy breakfast. Shortly after 9 a.m., he would be taken from his cell. Religious services would be done to prepare him for the execution. At 10:49 he was hung until dead.