Samuel Green: The "Terror of New England"
Samuel Green was an early nineteenth-century American murderer, robber, burglar, counterfeiter, and habitual escapee whose crimes became notorious throughout New England. Born in Meredith, New Hampshire, in 1796, Green spent much of his short adult life moving between New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Maine, New York, and parts of Canada. Later accounts have frequently described him as one of the earliest American serial killers and as an early example of a widely hunted "public enemy." However, because his crimes occurred more than two centuries ago, many stories about his supposed victims survive only in later histories rather than complete court records. The murder that can be established most firmly is the killing of fellow prisoner Billy Williams in Massachusetts in 1821.
Early Criminal Life
Accounts of Green's youth describe a pattern of theft, destructive behavior, cruelty to animals, and retaliation against people who disciplined him. As a young man he drifted increasingly toward burglary and robbery. He eventually became associated with another criminal, William Ash. The pair were said to travel through New England stealing property, breaking into buildings, robbing travelers, and repeatedly escaping attempts to imprison them. Green was regarded as the more violent of the two.
Green also became involved in counterfeiting and apparently learned skills useful for burglary, including lock picking and the duplication of keys. His mobility made him particularly difficult for early nineteenth-century authorities to contain. Police organizations were local, communication between jurisdictions was slow, and there was no modern system for exchanging fingerprints, photographs, or centralized criminal records. A wanted man could therefore cross a state boundary and make identification considerably more difficult.
Murders Attributed to Green
Historical accounts attribute several killings to Green during his travels, although most of the supposed victims were never identified by name in surviving accounts. One commonly repeated story concerns a jewelry salesman encountered by Green and William Ash in Bath, New Hampshire. According to the story, the salesman allowed the men to examine his merchandise. Green and Ash later ambushed him while he was traveling, knocked him down, robbed him, and decided that he could not be allowed to identify them. Green was said to have killed the unconscious man with a club. The victim's name and exact date of death have not been reliably preserved, so an exact date should not be presented as established fact.
Another killing traditionally attributed to Green occurred near Middlebury, Vermont. Later biographies describe the victim as a wealthy French traveler whom Green robbed and shot. Again, surviving summaries do not provide a reliably verified name or exact date of death. Green was also accused in later accounts of killing men who pursued him following a robbery in Montreal. The number and identities of those alleged victims are uncertain. These stories contributed heavily to Green's later reputation as a serial killer, but they should be separated from the murder for which a surviving Massachusetts court decision clearly establishes his conviction.
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