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Hollis C. Pinkham was born in Chichester, New Hampshire in 1836 son of Hollis and Julia Sanborn Pinkham. He married
Caroline Pinkham of Boston. They had one daughter, Florence, who was born at home on 219 Chelsea Street in Boston
on November 7, 1868. Hollis Pinkham enlisted with the 1 Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry on November 14,
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1862. He mustered into the 2 Regiment Calvary and he was promoted 2 lieutenant in December 1862, 1 lieutenant
nd
st
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March 1864 and mustered out on July 20, 1865. Chief Constable Edward J. Jones appointed Hollis C. Pinkham as a state
police deputy constable in 1869 and he served until 1875. In 1875, when the State Detectives were established, he was
appointed a detective and served from1875 to 1879. In 1873, Chief Constable George Washington Boynton assigned
Detective Pinkham and State Detective Chase Philbrick to investigate the murder of a young Irish girl, Bridget Landergan, in
Uphams Corner in Dorchester in December of 1873. Both detectives traveled on a Cunard steamer to Dublin and then to
London to secure the arrest and extradition of the suspect in the case. In 1874, State Police Constables Pinkham, George
C. Pratt and Chase Philbrick were the lead investigators in a triple murder in Halifax, Massachusetts. They arrested William
E. Sturtevant for the murder of his two granduncles and a female domestic working in the house. Sturtevant was found
guilty and hanged on May 7, 1875 in the Plymouth County Jail. Pinkham also worked with State Police Constables Napoleon
Bonaparte Furnald, Chase Philbrick, Christopher Bailey and Chief Constable George Washington Boynton to solve the 1874
murder of Julia Hawkes, a domestic in the Howard House Hotel on the corner of Broadway and Washington Streets in
Hanover, MA. James Henry Costley, the hotel manager, was found guilty of the murder, committed in Weymouth Landing
and the body dumped in the Monatiquot River. Costley was hanged in the Norfolk County Jail on Village Avenue in Dedham.
He was the last person executed in the Dedham Jail on June 25, 1875. Chief Constable Boynton and state detective Chase
Philbrick attended the execution. In the 1870 Census Hollis Pinkham was living in East Boston and gave his occupation as
“state police.” Hollis C. Pinkham died on January 10, 1905 while living at 5 Cross Street in North Andover, MA. The cause of
death was influenza and he is buried in the Ridgewood Cemetery in North Andover.

Chase Philbrick was born on March 18, 1823 in Sanbornton,
New Hampshire son of Joseph and Polly Chase Philbrick. In 1846 he
married Susan Harwood in New Hampshire. After the early death of
his first wife, he married Maria Louisa Johnson in 1856 at Wentworth,
New Hampshire. On August 1,1861 Chase mustered into service with
Company H, of the 15th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry as a Captain,
being credited to the quota of Northbridge, Massachusetts. On April
29, 1862 Philbrick was promoted to Major, and in November that year
he was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel. Chase Philbrick was wounded
at Fredericksburg, Virginia on December 13, 1862 and was Honorable
Discharged on April 16, 1863. He took up residence in Lawrence,
Massachusetts and resided at 35 Abbott Street. Chase Philbrick served
as City Marshall (Police Chief) in Lawrence, Massachusetts from 1864 to
1870 and from 1871 to 1873. In 1873 Chase Philbrick was appointed a
state police deputy constable for the county of Essex. When the state
police detective force was formed in 1875 he served for five additional
years and was later appointed to the state district police in 1879 and
served until 1882. In 1874, State Police Constables Philbrick, Napoleon
Bonaparte Furnald, and Hollis C. Pinkham were the lead investigators
in a triple murder in Halifax, Massachusetts. They arrested William E.
Sturtevant for the murder of his uncle, brother and a female domestic
working in the house. Sturtevant was found guilty and hanged on
May 7, 1875 in the Plymouth County Jail. He worked on many other
major cases for the state police including the murder of Julia Hawkes
in 1874. Chase Philbrick died on November 30, 1893 at the age of 70
and is buried in the Bellevue Cemetery in Lawrence, Massachusetts.
(Lawrence yesterday and today) (Roster 15 Mass Volunteer
th
Infantry) (Family Search) (Manual for the General Court) (Soldiers
& Sailors of Massachusetts) (Find A Grave)

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