A book in the works will disclose details of the murder of Clifford Mosher in his Gorham farmhouse during a snowstorm 125 years ago.

The long-gone Mosher house and barn were located on a portion of the 94-acre property where Amazon hopes to build a warehouse on Main Street. The first public hearing about the project received vocal opposition Monday, May 4.

The Gorham Historical Society is researching the murder with plans to publish a book as a fundraiser.

Kelly Dearborn, society archivist, said Monday that research for the book will be completed by the end of May.

“I have a (University of Southern Maine) history student also working on it as part of her history degree,” Dearborn said in a May 4 email.  “Hopefully I can get it all together this year.”

The murder on Jan. 12, 1901, was widely covered in newspapers.

According to print accounts, the 33-year-old Mosher sat in the kitchen while his elderly mother cooked their supper. A knock at the door came just before two men, Edward Graffam and an accomplice, smashed a window and jumped into the kitchen. Mosher was bludgeoned to death and the attack injured his mother, Martha Mosher, 74, who was described in one news account as a “deaf old lady.” She hid in the house from their assailants and was left for dead.

The attackers ate their victims’ supper before disappearing into the night.

The American Journal, in a 2001 anniversary story of the murder, reported that Martha Mosher later that night crawled through the snow to a neighbor’s house to report the crime.

Graffam, previously convicted of assault and an attempted sexual assault, had been released from prison in October 1900.

Graffam was convicted of murdering Mosher and returned to Maine State Prison in Thomaston with a life sentence of hard labor. His accomplice received a lesser sentence.

Dearborn’s extensive research for the book will reveal details of the murder case and the life of a killer. It appears the murder site will be preserved.

“There are archaeological and historic resources within the (Amazon) site, i.e. the Mosher farmstead, including the stone foundation of the house and possible barn,” according to a Gorham Planning Board document.

It also said Amazon will work with the Maine Historic Preservation Commission to protect the location of the farmstead and establish a buffer.