Courthouse History

The Windsor County Courthouse has a very dramatic history. The stately brick edifice with a distinctive cupola was built in 1855, the year after a fire destroyed its predecessor on July 4. The first floor served as the Town Hall; the second floor housed the courtroom. The Town Hall was the site of Town Meeting, and served as a theater, playhouse and gathering place. The original ticket window remains in the lobby.

The exterior of the original block has seen few changes over the years, but an addition was constructed at the rear of the building in 2014 to allow for handicapped accessibility. The cupola, trim and quoins on the building were painted white in the early 1900s, a result of the Colonial Revival movement in architecture.

The interior has changed as the uses of the building changed. In 1899 Woodstock constructed a new Town Hall and this allowed the entire building to be dedicated to court business, and it was renovated with that in mind. The level of the first floor was raised in the area beyond the entry way, and the space was carved into offices. Another major renovation took place in 1946 to create offices for the Grand Jury upstairs, with the exception of the tin ceiling, the interior of the court room has changed very little from the mid-nineteenth century. Some original furnishings remain in use in the building.

An anecdote:

The Windsor County Courthouse was the scene of a murder trial in 1926, and the verdict of guilty brought the nationally famed defense attorney Clarence Darrow into the case. The horrific crime in Windsor, November 7. Cecilia S. Gullivan, a 40-year old employee of Cone Blanchard Machine Company in Windsor, had been brutally beaten to death and found by police the next day in her bed. The speedy verdict of guilty seemed destined to send the accused, John C. Winters, to the electric chair. Sentencing was postponed to give the defense time to respond, which they did, filing an appeal.

At this point in the legal proceedings, in stepped Darrow. The circumstances of his involvement can be traced back to 1904 when his son Paul Darrow was a student at Dartmouth College. Out for a ride in a carriage in Hanover, Paul’s horse bolted at the sound of a train and he was unable to control the animal, resulting in the death of the 5-year old son of Mrs. Harry Cooley. Troubled by the tragic death of the little boy, Paul promised the Cooley family that if ever they needed anything, he and his family would help them. Twenty-four years later, Mrs. Cooley called on Clarence Darrow. As the aunt of Winters, she got word to the attorney and requested he help Winters escape the death penalty.

By the late 1920s, Darrow had built a reputation in the U.S. for his legal defense tactics and eloquence. He is best known for his role in the Scopes Trial (also known as the Monkey Trial) in Tennessee where he defended a teacher accused of violating the law against teaching about the evolution of humankind. On the opposing side of that case was the famous William Jennings Bryan. Darrow also had a reputation for successfully defending the seemingly indefensible, such as the McNamara brothers who were charged with the bombing the Los Angeles Times building that killed 21 people. He believed criminals tended to be poor, uneducated people and he was strongly opposed to the death penalty.

The trial of Winters had been dramatic, attracting crowds that filled the Windsor County Courthouse. One of the more riveting scenes in the courtroom was Bessie Pandjiris identifying him as the perpetrator of the assault on her in her bedroom the same night as the murder. The prosecution linked the two crimes to Winters, citing evidence such as burrs, sand, dirt and coal dust found at both scenes and on his clothing. Also noteworthy was the sheriff’s reconstruction of the purported state of Gullivan’s bedroom in the courtroom with items such as bedding.

Darrow, age 71, came out of retirement, to argue the case in the Vermont Supreme Court in Montpelier. He made a series of points, all but one of which were rejected by the court. The one that satisfied the court was Darrow’s contention that the court should not have excluded the testimony regarding the blood on Winter’s clothing, since this left open the possibility the blood could have been there before the murder.

The court ruled Winters a reprieve in the form of a re-trial. But though this was a temporary reprieve for him, he stood the chance of a re-conviction in a second trial. In 1929, he was brought back to Windsor County Courthouse, where clerk George Brockway asked him if he wanted to change his plea. Winters did, to guilty, resulting in a life sentence. This change in plea meant no re-trial so Darrow never came to Woodstock. He had kept his son’s promise to the Cooleys and he had upheld his own belief that the death penalty was wrong.