European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - February 12, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse By Nancy Shulins associated pressm Ike and Harry Dutchburn of Montgomery vt.,-shared a life As predictable As january s blizzards and july s blackberries. Awake by 4 and asleep by 9. Off to the barn at 4, 2 and 5. Errands once a week St. Albans for parts Newport for fertilizer John Deuso s store at the Crossroads for potatoes hot dogs and bread. In a weather beaten farmhouse on a lonely stretch of Highway 10 Miles from Canada the Brothers passed their evenings in unmatched armchairs in a Kitchen papered with sailing ships and maps of the world. The wallpaper was Hung by a sister years ago. Mike 77, and Harry 79, Likely would have chosen pictures of cows Over maps of a world they be had precious Little to do with until it burst in on them one january night. Anyone in town can Point out the Dutchburn place with its blistered White paint and drawn shades. Surrounded by open Fields House and barn sit near the Road on a curve that s unexpectedly Tricky. Mike and Harry have lost track of the cars they be pulled from the mud Over the years a habit of helpfulness that was to Cost them. From their Kitchen window they can see their Hillside Birthplace the Only other Home they be Ever known. They still remember moving Day june 15,1915, just As they do every journey away from Home Ever since their brother s funeral in Massachusetts in 1944 Mike s trip to their sister s in Michigan in 1960 the 65-mile drive with their Niece Sandra Lyon to Burlington vt., a year and a half ago. Harry had t been there for 40 years. Except for pies and cookies from grandma s bakery in Richford the dutch Burns list of indulgences is Shorter than the list of their trips an aborted attempt at Cigar smoking in 1940 Harry and two chug a lugged bottles of Gin in 1939 Mike. We Don t owe anybody says Mike. We pay Cash or we do without. We go right along. That s our the dutch Burns ways modesty hard work and Thrift were common knowledge on the frugal Little farms of Franklin county so was their habit of carrying Large sums of Cash. On the last Day of january 1986, the ways of the world violence cruelty and greed were brought Home to the dutch Burns by two strangers who called them by name. Legac Yop fear in Rural Vermont they pretended to be out of Gas. The dutch Burns did t have any but Mike climbed out of his narrow Iron bed in the Middle of the night. By the time he d walked the few Steps to the Kitchen the two men had kicked in the door. You should t be Here Mike told them. He got hit in the face. Harry who had $7,000 in his shirt pocket walked in right behind him and got hit in the head with the thick Maple Cane he used to prod cows. Mike put up a fight but it was Over in less than five minutes. Afterwards Mike says the Kitchen looked like you d Cut a Bunch of hens Heads off and let pm five minutes was All it took to teach two old men about fear. The fear never left them not even after the robbers went to jail. I Don t sleep anymore. I hear the cars All night. You Don t forget it says Mike. He Only has to look at his brother to remember. Harry s right Eye hangs like a crooked picture in his face. It swells and weeps in the cold since the beating he no longer goes out to do chores. The Cane hanging on its Peg is another reminder. So Are the dents it left in the old Kelvin Tor in the Kitchen. They could have taken the Money Mike says. There s no sense beating a person he rubs the dents gently. It s the people in the world that s changed he says. They Don t care who they take detective sgt. Bill Northrup an 18-year Veteran of the Vermont state police Calls it As brutal As any homicide i be Ever except that it was t a homicide. The dutch Burns survived. They just did t recover. Mike Dutchburn Lay for 3va hours on the Kitchen floor after the beating afraid to move. Harry was unconscious. When Mike saw a Light go on next door at Dawn he crawled out to his Chevy pickup and drove half a mile to the neighbor s. When their Niece got word at 5 30 that morning she drove straight to Montgomery. At the farmhouse where she d spent childhood vacations petting calves and eating ice Cream Sandy Lyon found two state police troopers in a Kitchen spattered with blood. In her uncles Hospital room she says i did t recognize either one of Lyon a Bank Teller with three grown children has the manners of a sunday school teacher until she talks about the beating. Then she starts saying hell a lot. She remembers two Strong handsome men who teased and spoiled her. They were easygoing. They took you for who you were. Mike pulled my pigtails. Harry was the perfect image of my dad who died when i was 17." since the beating she says Harry has been to the barn once. Mostly he sits there and broods. They re withdrawn now. They have that constant fear. Any Little noise on the porch and they re Harry lets Mike take him to the Barber but outings Are rare. He has trouble climbing into the truck his Back like his brother a is Bent from years of work in the Low Ceil need barn. The Money Harry carried in and out of that barn the Money ripped out of his pocket helped Lead police to the attackers. You spend 20 hours a Day in a barn Northrup says and your Money will smell like a salesmen at Champlain Chevrolet in Ensberg knew that smell. It had lingered Long after Mike Dutchburn drove off in his new pickup truck. They finally tracked it to the Cash in the Safe. Northrup alerted All Vermont Banks and stores to be on the Lookout for Hundred Dollar Bills with a Strong barn that led to some of the dutch Burns Money. The Money led to one of the men. Judge Frank Mahady can still picture the two stooped figures in faded Green work clothes who shuffled into his Burlington courtroom As if from another Century to talk sorrowfully about Locking doors and distrusting strangers. Harry told of no longer being Able to work. The Best part of my life is gone now he said. Mahady listened patiently As the dutch Burns and their Niece tried to explain Why two years and eight months in jail the terms of a proposed plea agreement did t feel much like Justice. There is a very fundamental right the right to be simply left alone the judge said finally. It is so important and so Basic it does t have to be set Forth in any documents. That Basic fundamental right was taken away. That s Mahady in t known for rejecting plea bargains. To the hard right he says wryly i m known As the criminal s judge " he made an exception in the Case of Darrell Clark 39 and unemployed with a record of larceny and assault. In july 1987, Mahady gave Clark five to 10 years in jail. Another judge gave Louis Gilbeau 33, a Stainer at a furniture factory eight to 10 years with All but five suspended. Both men can expect to serve three years and nine months. A rope around the neck would be been better says Harry. He and Mike spent three Days in the Hospital after the beating then signed themselves out. The doctors wanted to keep them longer. The dutch Burns had had enough doctoring. They opened a checking account and had telephones installed in the House and barn. Then they shut themselves up behind new Deadbolt locks. The House still looks sealed. Vulnerable and exposed alongside the Highway it could be abandoned but for the truck in the driveway and the two figures sitting still As statues in the Kitchen. They Greet prolonged knocking with silence. Eventually they respond to introductions shouted through the locked door. The Gray sky is spitting Snow but inside an Mike Dutchburn left and his brother Harry whose isolated farm in Vermont is just 10 Miles from Canada were beaten and robbed. Ancient stove warms the Kitchen. Harry s Gold plaid chair is stationed by the Side window. Mike s Green Vinyl Recliner guards the door. A Holstein and her calf watch Over them from a Wall Calendar Courtesy of Eastern milk producers. A paper bag worn thin As tissue paper holds their memories. One ghostly snapshot shows two Hardy Young Farmers in Matching coveralls and Caps sharing a joke. Side by Side they Are Broad shouldered and handsome Heads tipped Back Mouths stretched wide eyes crinkled shut. Slowly stiffly Mike hands the picture to Harry. Out of their armchairs both men Are curved like question Marks fragile figures who Page 14 the stars and stripes Harry Dutchburn 79, walks with a Cane. Sunday february 12,1989 Hanry Dutchburn Points to the dents robbers made in his refrigerator. He s still fearful. Move gingerly about the Kitchen. All along the Valley in farmhouses much like the dutch Burn doors and windows left unlocked for decades were bolted and sealed that Winter and shotguns put away for next Hunting season were retrieved. Franklin county s 37,000 inhabitants had known crime but mostly of a different sort patches of marijuana tucked away in a Field or burglaries of unoccupied vacation Homes owned by out of state skiers. Not the sort of face to face crime that has people afraid to come to the door at night. There was talk of forming a posse. There was talk of Lynching and tarring and feathering an old fashioned killing party Sandy recalls. No Hole is deep enough no Rock big enough to hide scum like you neighbor James Mcgroarty wrote in a letter in the Franklin county courier. I Promise you Well find you and i Pray to god the police do before i or the other people in our town of Montgomery eventually things quieted Down. Two men went to jail and life went Back to Normal. Except for Mike and Harry. This month brings another reminder. A lawsuit they filed against their assailants goes before a District court jury. It s the principle Sandy says. My uncles Are never going to be better. Why should two innocent people have to live this Way the Prospect of once again facing their attackers weighs on the dutch Burns. They try to make Light of it. We be gotten used to going to court Harry says grinning faintly. There is no getting used to the locked doors. Or the fear. Not Long ago yet another Driver missed the curve by the dutch Burns and spun off the Road into the Field. He pounded on their door for a Long time but Mike and Harry sat very still. Eventually he went away. The stars and stripes Page 15
