Androscoggin's Secret
Based on the 1900 murder of Jessie Cobb in Lewiston, Maine
A day that changed everything
Did you ever wake up one morning, look out the window, see the same familiar view and think "this is the start of another typical day..."? By nightfall, you crawl into that very same bed thinking "this certainly was NOT an ordinary day," still not fully realizing that this day was the start of something that would dramatically alter your world.
Today was that kind of day.
The truth is, before today, I had never even heard of Jessie Cobb. With time, I would grow to know her intimately; and yet, there would always be something mysterious about her. Something I never would understand. The grip she had on me was incredibly powerful. That gal completely changed my life!
The cast of a real historical case
Family, friends, employers, officials, witnesses, and suspects connected to Jessie Cobb and the investigation.
- Ivory Cobb - Jessie's father
- Eunice Hannah (Cobb) French - Jessie's sister
- Gertrude Florence (Cobb) Chesnel - Jessie's sister
- Grace (Cobb) Robinson Philbrick Parker - Jessie's sister
- Joseph William Cobb - Jessie's brother
- Katie Josephine (Chaplin) Cobb - Jessie's step-mother
- Fred Brooks - the man most near and dear to Jessie
- Fred Chase and Lillian (Furbush) Chase - Jessie worked for them 2 years prior to her death
- Dr. Edson Selden Cummings
- Mrs. Amanda (Cox) Damon - Jessie stayed at her house the night before she was murdered
- Charles W. Davis and Frances M. (Perkins) Davis - Jessie visited Mrs. Davis the day she was murdered
- Walter Moody Davis - conductor on electric road, last known person to have seen Jessie alive
- Matthew W. Fahey - saw Jessie in Lewistion, accompanied by James J. McKenna, the Saturday evening before she disappeared
- The "Farmer" - stopped in at the Theinert home in Sabattus looking for Jessie, also possibly seen with Jessie on the night of the murder in Lewiston
- Frank Fuller - a male companion of Jessie's who accompanied her to the Cobb home in East Poland
- Dr. William Henry Hawkins
- Daniel W. Hill, Jr. - found Jessie's satchel on the banks of the river after she was murdered
- Mrs. Persis M. (Churchill) Hodgdon - owned and operated the boarding house in Lewiston where Jean B. Jacques resided
- Orville R. Jones and Mabel L. (Butler) Jones - Jessie worked for the Jones' family just months before her murder
- George Edward McCann - county attorney at the time of the murder
- James J. McKenna, Jr. - seen on the streets of Lewiston with Jessie the Saturday evening before her death
- Frederick Leighton Odlin - city marshal of Lewiston at the time of the murder
- Henry Plummer and Lydia Jane (Verrill) Plummer – Jessie's aunt and uncle
- Edwin Percival Samson - coroner
- Dr. William Bryant Small
- William Theinert and Alice (Barker) Theinert – Jessie's employers
- Kate D. (True) Horton - Jessie's friend and neighbor
- James Frank Williams - Jessie's ex-lover, in state prison in Thomaston, Maine at the time of the murder
- Jean B. Jacques ('John York')- close "friend" of Jessie Cobb - spent the Saturday night before the murder with Jessie at the home of Mrs. Amanda Damon
Jessie Cobb & the historical record
Table of Contents
- Young Reporter
- The Androscoggin
- She's Dead!
- Welcome to Lewiston
- Identification
- Still a Mystery – All Clues Have Failed
- Was It Murder?
- I Will Kill You!
- Her Last Hours
- Surely a Murder – Where is the Man, Brooks?
- A Clue, At Last!
- Jessie's Farmer
- In Water Four Days
- Twenty Witnesses - Behind Closed Doors
- Williams Talks
- Who and Where is Fred Brooks?
- Williams Talks Again
- Oh, Alice...
- Startling Theory!
- The Coroner's Verdict
- An Arrest Before Long?
- Aftermath
- Old Reporter
We'd love to hear from you.
Ask about Androscoggin's Secret, Jessie Cobb, or the historical research behind the story.