Clarence Adams

Clarence A. Adams (November 18, 1857 – February 26, 1904) was an American politician and serial burglar. He is believed to be responsible for a series of burglaries that took place in Chester, Vermont between 1886 and 1902 and pled guilty to eight of them. During the crime spree, Adams served on Chester's board of selectmen and represented the town in the Vermont House of Representatives. As a selectman, he took a leading role into the investigation of the burglaries he was later believed to have committed.

Early life Adams was born in Cavendish, Vermont on November 18, 1857, to Washington Adams and Dene H. (Walker) Hagar. His only sibling, Marcellus, died during infancy. In 1860, the family moved to a 270-acre farm in Chester, Vermont. He also was deacon at the local church, a founding trustee of the Whiting Library, a village lister, and an incorporator of the Chester Savings Bank.

Arrest Around 9:30 pm on July 29, 1902, Adams was shot in the leg by a shotgun. He arrived home about a half-hour later and asked his housekeeper to send for a doctor.

Gardner Waterman, the son of Charles Waterman, had heard the gunshot and believed it came from a spring-gun he and his father had set up at their mill. He went to town and got his father and a constable. The trio went to the mill where the window had been broken, the gun had been set off, and bloody shards of glass had been left behind. The constable was summoned to Adams' home for the reported robbery. Town treasurer A. D. T. Herrick, who believed that Adams was suffering from temporary insanity during the burglary, furnished his bond. However, once more evidence came out, Herrick withdrew the bond.

On August 3, 1902, Adams confessed to several burglaries over the past six years. He stated that he had committed the robberies because "there was too much fun in it. I never robbed because I needed money, but simply because robbing and afterward listening to the comments of the people amused me".

On August 12, he was placed in jail at Woodstock, Vermont. Due to his injuries, he had to be transported on a mattress placed in a wagon. On August 13, Adams appeared before Judge Seneca Haselton for his arraignment. Adams pled guilty to all eight counts and his attorneys, Frank Plumley and W. B. C. Stickney, asked for clemency due to Adams' high standing in the community and because the 100-year sentence he was facing was too harsh. Haselton sentenced him to 9 to 10 years in state prison.

Death Eighteen months into his sentence, Adams fell ill during a pneumonia outbreak at the Vermont State Prison and died four days later on February 26, 1904.