Weekend Link Dump

This week's Link Dump is hosted by Kiddo, the feline who inspired those historic words, "Roy, come and get this goddamn cat!"

Watch out for those stone-throwing Yowies!

A brief look at cat folklore.

The notorious Black Hole of Calcutta.

The president and the mystery disease.

When medieval peasants weren't busy dying of plague, they liked to wrestle.

The two lives of Lawrence Bader.

How the Slinky was accidentally invented.

Henry Johnson, one-man army.

Another one for the "We don't know jack about human history" file.

The world's largest occult library is now online.

A case of medieval tax evasion.

The kind of thing that happens when you have Google Earth and way too much spare time on your hands.

The man with the concrete enema.  And guess what?  This isn't a Thomas Morris link.

Hairdressing for the dead.

A hiker's strange death.

Why the letter "Q" was once illegal in Turkey.

As if mining wasn't dangerous enough already, you also have phantom black dogs to worry about.

Yet another indicted witch.

The people who make it difficult for you to fake your own death.

The first American play.  It didn't go so well.

A tooth leads to an Ice Age whodunit.

An early 20th century theater censor.

That time a railway hired a baboon.

Jane Austen's forgotten brother.

An Inuit in early 19th century London.

The mystery of the Croatian elongated skulls.

The Ballad of the Taverners.

The life of a medieval executioner.

A 16th century case of reattaching a severed nose.

More, perhaps, than you ever wanted to know about the digestive woes of Lewis & Clark.

Demonic gardening.

The famed moving coffins of Barbados.

The sad end of a Revolutionary War soldier.

Murder and a voodoo cult.

A 19th century celebrity stalker.

Shorter version: yeah, we're all doomed.

A brief look at ship's cats.

Why historians care about whether or not James Buchanan was gay.

The last person hanged in Britain for attempted murder.

Something weird just happened on an Essex beach.

Single mothers in the early 20th century.

A medieval German beer still made today.

The radioactive Boy Scout.

The poltergeist of Humpty Doo.

The UFO of Carlingford.

The execution of Eustace the Monk.

A truck driver's strange end.

Have pity on the playwrights.

The face of a 2,000 year old Druid.

One footnote:  I've realized that, for the past few weeks, my feed reader has not been providing updates on certain blogs I follow.  In other words, some new blog posts are simply not showing up on my Inoreader subscriptions.  (I contacted Inoreader about the problem, and they essentially told me, "We dunno.")   So, if you have a blog that I usually link to, but I haven't recently, that's why.  Ergh.

So that's that for this week.  See you on Monday, when we'll look at a scandalous murder in early 20th century Denver. In the meantime, here's another of our songs of summer.

Newspaper Clipping of the Day

Via Newspapers.com

In which we meet the Dancing Stove Lids of Ontario. The "Windsor Star," January 14, 1935:

Strange tales began to reach Perth yesterday of ghostly happenings in Burgess Township. At the little farm home of John Quinn, on the shores of Black Lake, about 16 miles south of Perth, inanimate objects had been suddenly imbued with life, James Kinloch, of Perth, writes in a signed article in the Mail and Empire.

Stones thrown by no human hands, the stories said, had been breaking windows. Pieces of firewood had been leaping out of the kitchen woodbox. The tea kettle wouldn't stay on the stove. A mirror had been shattered by some unseen force. A foot-long beef bone repeatedly flew through one of the windows and would not stay outside the house.

By evening the "ghost of Burgess" was the one topic of discussion in Perth. In shops, on the streets, in the post office, and in every home John Quinn's uncanny visitor had supplanted all the news. Skeptics had gone to Black Lake and Joined the crowd of 60 or 70 persons milling about the Quinn's home. They had heard window panes breaking and had seen the stones which had shattered them, but had no explanation.

With others this reporter spent all last night at the allegedly haunted house but has no uncanny personal experience to report. He arrived at the Quinn home at 9 o'clock. It is a story and a half log structure. No lights showed because every window blind was down and the gaping panes were stuffed with bags and blankets. There were 10 windows in the house and every pane in every window was broken. Inside were Mr. and Mrs. Quinn and their two small sons, Michael and Stanley, and about a dozen men.

The room was lighted by a kerosene lamp. The men were in small groups, all talking in low voices as at a funeral. Provincial Police Inspector Sidney Oliver of Perth was also there because the whole countryside was alarmed at the stories of "goblins and ghosties and things that go bump in the night." Nothing had gone bump that evening, however. The last manifestation had been at 5 o'clock when a piece of firewood came from no one knew where, and with a thump was there in the middle of the kitchen floor.

Mr. Quinn, who came to Burgess two and one-half years ago from Detroit, told me that he could offer no explanation for the things which have disrupted his home life. Things started to go wrong a couple of weeks ago. he said. Pieces of beef which had been cut up and placed in a closed barrel had been found strewn around the barn floor. Then last Wednesday night about 11 o'clock a window pane had gone with a crash. He had got up and looked all around the house but had seen no one. He had not thought it particularly unusual, however, until the incident was repeated on Thursday night. Then on Friday things had "started slinging around."

Andrew Burke, a neighboring farmer, said he had seen the windows break and the stones drop with a queer thud as if there were no human force behind them, just inside the window sill. He said dishes had jumped, and a bone, thrown out of the house time and time again, had each time returned to the house in some mysterious manner. Apparently no one had been near the objects affected, he said.

William Cordick. another neighbor, came into the house later in the evening. He said he had been there when three flatirons had come down the staircase one step at a time. Just like someone walking. Mr. Cordick was considerably perturbed.

Throughout the evening people came and went. Men and women huddled around the stoves in the two downstairs rooms. Between 10 and 12 o'clock there were never less than 25 persons in the house, all talking in whispers and looking at broken crockery and the scattered mirror and the broken monkey wrench which had reputedly spun around on a nail on the wall propelled by unseen hands.

Rev. Father Whelan of Stanleyville, whose parish includes the Quinn home, came in during the evening. He said he had been there earlier in the day when lie had heard a window shatter and had seen one of the stones. From what he had been told by his parishioners. Father Whelan said, he had no explanation to offer. None of the stones was available. Souvenir hunters had picked them up. It was generally agreed that they were common field stones. Some had been dry, others had had ice on them.

As the hands of the clock standing beside a mysteriously broken jug on the kitchen bureau crept towards midnight, the small crowd grew a little tense, and sat or stood around saying little, waiting for they knew not what. Nothing happened, and shortly after 12 o'clock Mrs. Quinn and her two sons went to bed. At one several others left the house. At two only a dozen were left. Mr. Quinn went to bed. Finally Inspector Oliver and this reporter were the only ones left in one of the downstairs rooms. Two neighbors of the Quinn family kept watch in the other. Outside the house the mercury slipped below zero, and the little house with the broken windows was very cold. Still nothing happened and in the morning we returned to Perth.

Today literally hundreds of people motored over the rough township roads through a snow storm to the Quinn home. They came from Perth, Smiths Falls and the countryside for miles around. No inexplicable occurrences were reported today, but the goings-on in Burgess remain the paramount interest of the whole district.

The "Brooklyn Eagle," January 23, 1935. Note that this article gives the farmer's name as "Joseph," which appears to be incorrect.

Stanleyville, Ontario, Jan. 22.--One of the most baffling mysteries ever to confront the Canadian police is under investigation at Black Lake, three miles from here, where detectives are attempting to discover the cause of the flying stones, walking flatirons, falling pictures and jumping teapots that have disturbed the farmhouse of Joseph Quinn.

The house, a four-room log cabin affair on a windswept hill, has been the Mecca of sightseers for the past two weeks, ever since it came into the public eye with its strange tale of events that can seemingly be caused by no human hand.

The first hint of mystery came Jan. 9 when Farmer Quinn, his wife and two sons, Michael, 11, and Stanley, 13, were aroused by a heavy stone falling on the roof. Upon investigation, Quinn was unable to find any reason for the noise.

On Jan. 11 events even more strange occurred. At breakfast a cup and saucer left the table side by side and sailed through the window. Every so often Quinn and his family were sent ducking by the arrival through the shattered glass of a well-aimed stone. And when they went to bed they were beset by sticks and debris that made a complete ruin of the 10 windows in the cabin. Besides this, the occupants were on the verge of a bad case of jitters as the result of pictures dropping with a terrific clatter in the midst of a meal or while the farmer and his family sat reading.

A representative of The Eagle visited the Quinn home today and found the house in a deplorable condition. Pillows were jammed into the broken panes to keep out the biting northern blasts and the land around the house was tracked and crushed from the hundreds of feet that have prowled and gaped around it during the period since the mysterious happenings began.

William Cordick, who spent the weekend of the noises in the Quinn home, acted as guide. He told of the first Saturday, when he sat in the Quinn kitchen and saw the lids from the stove rise from their sockets and go out the window.

"As I approached the house," he said, "I heard the noise of flying stones and sticks, things I never saw or believed In before. When I entered the house and was getting warmed near the stove, the lids jumped off somehow and spun around on the floor, finally sailing out. Several stones came through the windows, shattering the panes. While I was in the kitchen with Mrs. Quinn, we heard a noise in the adjoining room and when we got there, the globe from a large lamp lay in pieces on the floor, where it had been hurled by some uncanny force."

The story of the walking flatirons is even more bizarre. While Cordick and Mrs. Quinn sat in the kitchen, they heard a noise on the stairway, caused as they found by three flatirons.

"They were hopping down the stairway just as though they were walking," explained Cordick in the manner of a man who cares not whether the world believes him he knows, for he has seen with his own eyes.

"About this time," he went on, "I decided to go home. I'd seen enough!"

The Quinn home has two rooms downstairs and two upstairs. The stones and sticks that caused the trouble are gone, taken by a souvenir-mad throng that has jammed around the little hill in the hope of seeing more of the phenomena.

Many of the visitors were not disappointed. A stick from the wood box jumped out in the midst of a crowd a week ago, clattered around a bit, and finally came to rest. It held no clue.

No explanation has been discovered for the startling series of events. The police have been hampered by the fact that every stone or stick that has figured in the mystery has been sequestered by the mob as a souvenir, and the tracked, muddy ground offers no possible chance, of divulging the secret be hind the puzzle. In the meantime the noises and stone - throwing have ceased as mysteriously as they began, leaving the Quinns wondering If they have been the victims of practical jokers or the humorous twist of some playful pixie.

Two months later, a "solution" was offered for the mystery when the police rounded up one of the usual suspects. The Saskatoon "Star-Phoenix," March 20:

The ghost of Burgess Township, who last January was responsible for mysteriously breaking windows, walking flatirons and bouncing crockery in the home of John Quinn on the shore of Black Lake, was in the custody of Ontario Provincial Police tonight. Stripped of his nether-world shroud, the ghost turned out to be a 13-year-old Burgess boy who is held also on a charge of arson in connection with the fire which destroyed a barn on the farm of Michael McFarland, a neighbor of bis parents.

Investigations by Provincial Constable Robert Wanncll, following the fire, led to the arrest of the boy today. He was taken to headquarters here and questioned by Inspector Sidney Oliver. He is said to have admitted setting fire to the barn, and also to have told of being responsible for the mysterious goings on at the Black Lake farmhouse, which drew hundreds of curious visitors to the plane, and baffled police and newspaper reporters. Police turned the boy over to the superintendent of Lanark County Children's Aid Society until Friday, when he will be arraigned in Juvenile Court.

So that was that. Or was it?

Presuming that the mayhem at the Quinn farm was described accurately, this boy had a stellar career as a magician ahead of him.

The Vengeful Ghost of Galdenoch

Galdenoch Castle, via canmore.org.uk

In most poltergeist accounts, households and individuals are targeted for no discernible reasons whatsoever. The spectral attacks begin and end seemingly at random. However, there are a few cases where the paranormal entity makes it clear it is seeking revenge over some perceived slight or injustice.

The most famous of the latter cases is probably the 17th century "Drummer of Tedworth." A less well-known, but equally interesting, example of ghostly payback took place in Galloway, Scotland during the time of the Covenanters and the Scottish Civil War.

Galdenoch Tower, in the parish of Leswalt, had once been a grand castle owned by the Agnew clan. However, the family eventually fell on hard times, and by the close of the 17th century, Galdenoch had been converted into a mere farmhouse. When a farmer and his family took possession of the property, they learned they would be getting an extra bonus: a ghost.

The story behind that particular haunting was this: One of the Agnew men fought for the cause of the Covenant, but unfortunately for him, his army was thoroughly defeated by Montrose. After the battle, the exhausted Agnew sought shelter at nearby farm. The farmer, described as a "rough and blustering man,"allowed the fugitive to share the family dinner and spend the night.

Early the next morning, young Agnew began to leave, but was stopped by his now extremely unfriendly host. The farmer was a Royalist, and had begun to entertain suspicions that his guest had fought on the wrong side. Fearing that he would be taken prisoner and handed over to his enemies, Agnew drew out his pistol and shot his host dead. He then rushed to the stables, saddled his horse, and fled home to Galdenoch.

Agnew arrived safely at the castle, but that night, as he settled down to bed, he was greeted by a most disconcerting visitor: the ghost of the farmer he had just slain. And this was a very angry ghost, anxious to make Agnew's remaining earthly days a torment. According to tradition, not only did the spirit do just that, it continued to pester all successive occupants of the castle. By the time Galdenoch was converted to a farmhouse, some time around 1697, the ghost's exploits had become stranger and more disruptive than ever.

One winter night, as the tenant farmer and his family sought warmth around the kitchen fire, they played a popular game which involved passing a burning stick from hand to hand while chanting, "About wi' that! about wi' that! Keep alive the priest-cat!" Whoever was holding the stick when the flame went out had to pay a forfeit, which usually involved having to do some curious and humiliating action.

Well, that night, the entire family paid the penalty. When the stick's spark was extinguished, one of the party gazed at the blazing hearth and commented, in that impossible-to-translate Scots fashion, "It wadna be hannie to steal a coal the noo." As soon as he spoke, a glowing peat suddenly disappeared, leaving a hole in the middle of the fire.

"That beats a'," the family observed.

Not quite. A few minutes later, the dreaded cry of "Fire!" was heard. The entire farm-steading was in flames. That "cube of fire" which had vanished from the kitchen hearth had been inserted into the barn. Fortunately, after a great deal of effort, the farm buildings were saved from entire destruction.

Things only got weirder. A short time after this incident, the farmer's mother was sitting quietly at her spinning-wheel when an invisible force carried her off, mumbling, "I'll dip thee, I'll draw thee." True to its word, the entity repeatedly dunked her in a nearby stream until the poor old woman was unconscious and half-drowned. When it came time for dinner, the rest of the family realized "grandmamma" was missing. When a search of the farm buildings failed to find her, the tenants became seriously alarmed. When the children of the household ran about the place, frantically asking each other, "Where's granny?" A spectral voice intoned, "I've washed granny in the burn, and laid her on the dyke to dry!" And, indeed, "granny" was found on the dyke, in a most pitiful condition.

The family had quite enough of this nonsense. Several of the local clergymen were summoned to "lay the ghost," but all their efforts were in vain. Whenever they tried singing hymns, the ghost would simply sing along, drowning out their voices. One minister, who had a reputation for being able to banish any ghost in existence, was so offended by the spirit's booming voice and "sharp retorts" that he stalked off, angrily vowing that he would never come back. The ghost called after the minister, begging him to return. It promised that if he would, the entity would tell him something which he had never heard before.

The minister was intrigued enough to swallow his pride and re-enter the farmhouse. He was greeted by the increasingly obnoxious voice chortling, "Ha! ha! I hae gotten the minister to tell a lee!"

Of all the different types of ghosts, the smart-mouthed ones are undoubtedly the worst.

Things went from bad to worse for the beleaguered family. Spinning thread was snapped into shreds. Peat clods were thrown into the porridge, and worse things still dumped into the kail-pot. Finally, after some years of this, a newly-ordained young man, the Reverend Mr. Marshall of Kirkcolm, volunteered to test his godly powers against the Galdenoch pest. Upon arrival at the farm, Marshall hung up his hat, recited a psalm, and began to sing. As always, the ghost began to sing along, drowning out all in the company except the determined Reverend. Marshall's voice rose louder and louder, belting out his song until the "witching hour" of midnight, when he convinced the exhausted family to join in again. The din lasted until dawn, when the ghost, its voice now weak and husky, gasped, "Roar awa, Marshall, I can roar nae mair! I can roar nae mair!" And, sure enough, the spirit was never heard from again.

Marshall went on to gain lasting fame for both his prosecutions of witches and his stentorian voice (we are told that when he preached on a calm day, he could be heard for miles around,) but it was always considered his greatest achievement to have shouted down the Ghost of Galdenoch.

Weekend Link Dump

Welcome to this Friday's Link Dump.

It's showtime!

What the hell is the Ghost Light of Chinati Mountain?

Watch out for those killer bathing machines!

Watch out for those fairy dinner parties!

Watch out for the Gurning Man of Glasgow!

The bones of Old London.

Comparing how a murder was covered in US and UK newpapers.

The site that has gone from Caesar's murder to a cat haven.

Mungo Man goes back to his 42,000 year old home.

A French poet who started life riding a swan and just got weirder from there.

The legend of Blubber Town.

A New York witch and her coin-laden pets.

The legendary Nine Unknown Men.

Mesoamerican saunas.

An 18th century guide book to London's prostitutes.

An 18th century debate between the sexes.

Taking it with you.

This week in Russian Weird: their 15th century DIY roller coasters were just as terrifying as you might think.

And there is also this Russian cat:



The Mount Holly tragedy.

A "horrible record of diabolism."

A cursed town in California.   Not uncommon in these parts, actually.

The origins of "do no harm."

The Gorbals Vampire.

The banshee of Hillstock road.

If you're ever in a gas-lit room, here's how to dress.

The ghost of Tamnadeese.

In search of buried soup in the Arctic.

There's still a whole lot to discover in Pompeii.

A Michelangelo patron goes to the scaffold.

How Rock Hudson came to star in the world's bleakest movie.

That time guillotine haircuts were all the rage.  Yes, we're talking about the French.

That time your library book could kill you.

The mystery of the Roopkund Lake skeletons just got even weirder.  [Another article on this topic here.]

A terrible "crime of passion."

Murder on an Indian train.

A Welsh orphan's tragic life.

The days of the scold's bridle.  Nowadays, if a woman talks too much, it's the Twitter mob she has to fear.

That time Elizabeth Taylor was hanged for burglary.  No, really.

Thus ends yet another Link Dump.  See you on Monday, when we'll hang out with a very rude Scottish poltergeist.  In the meantime, here's another vintage song of summer.  Much as I hate to call a song "vintage" when I remember when it was brand new.

Newspaper Clipping of the Day

Via Newspapers.com

In which we meet Mr. H. Wilson, Juror From Hell. The "London Standard," January 3, 1838:

 Benjamin Dickenson was indicted, charged with having committed an assault on an officer of the County Court.

As soon as the jury had been sworn to try the defendant, Mr. H. Wilson, one of the jury, addressing the Court, said, " I should like to know, Mr. Chairman, how I am to be indemnified for my loss of lime, and the trouble and inconvenience I am put to by coming here."

The Chairman (to the Deputy Clerk of the Peace) Go on with the case, let it proceed.

Mr. Wilson. Go on. Ay, ay, it's all very well to say go on, but I won't go on until I know who is to pay me for my loss of time.

The Chairman. You are summoned here, sir, for the purpose of discharging an exceedingly important and essential public duty, and every person who attends here for the same purpose does so at all times without receiving any remuneration for their service thus publicly rendered. All the gentlemen who are now on the bench with myself attend here without any fee or reward.

Mr. Wilson. Yes, yes, that is all very true; but it is very different in my case. Thus gentlemen seek the appointment as a matter of honour, whilst with me my attendance is a matter of compulsion I am forced to come here, and they come by their own inclination.

The Chairman. I believe it is universally admitted that trial by jury is one of the most beautiful parts of our admirable constitution, and it is a part of that constitution that in every criminal case the jury trying the prisoner shall do so without in compensation or remuneration for their services; and deeply indeed should I regret that any alteration of the law in that respect should take place: for if in criminal trials juries were to be paid for their attendance, parties would become candidates for the situation, instead of so great and important a public duty being, as is the fact now, performed by independent men.

Mr. Wilson. Ay, ay, that's all very well, I dare say; but other public servants are paid, ay, and very well paid too, and sometimes for doing little or nothing. I object, therefore, on principle to perform what is termed a public duty, and to being kept here all day without, like those other persons, being paid for my loss of time and trouble.

The Chairman. I must not hear any more of these observations. (To the Deputy Clerk of the Peace.) Let the case proceed.

The trial then went on. The case was one of a trivial nature.

The Chairman having summed up the evidence, The jury proceeded to the consideration thereof. After a short consultation,

The Foreman (addressing the Court said)--Sir, the juryman who has already addressed you says he will not agree to any verdict without he shall have been paid or obtain a promise of being paid for his attendance here to-day.

The Chairman I am sure I trust that that gentleman will not persist in such improper conduct.

Mr. Wilson. I shall though, for I do so with the view of obtaining redress for what I consider to be an extreme grievance, a great hardship upon tradesmen.

The Chairman. Very well, sir. I can only tell you that you and your brother jurymen will be locked up until yon agree in your verdict. Pray, sir, are you aware of the position in which you stand? You have taken a solemn oath on the Gospel that "you will well and truly try the prisoner at the bar, and a true verdict give." Now having heard the evidence in the present case, you are bound by the oath you have taken to give your verdict. Recollect, by your oath you have solemnly sworn to decide on the case.

Mr. Wilson (smiling). Yes, I know that; but you will remember that I did not swear when or at what time I would do so. I did not by my oath say at what time I would agree to a verdict.

The Chairman Let an officer be sworn, and let him take the jury into another room, and let him there lock them up, and keep them, as usual, without fire and candle, until they come to some determination in this case. They must agree as to a verdict.

Nearly the whole of the jury instantly expressed their objection to be locked up, in a case where the fact was so clear. They complained loudly that they should be locked op in consequence of the obstinacy of one only of their body, especially where the case did not admit of a doubt.

The Chairman. I cannot help you. I am very sorry that the conduct of one of your own body should render your being locked up a matter of necessity. However, I will take care that he shall not gain anything by his conduct.

Mr. Wilson. Can you prove, sir, that I am acting illegally, that's all? Only show me the law that says how long a jury is to be allowed to consider their verdict; only point out to me the law which states any particular time a jury are to take in the consideration of their verdict. That is what I want to see.

A Juryman (addressing Mr. Wilson). What is it that you want?

Mr. Wilson. I want nothing of you. I am defending here what I conceive to be a great public principle, and extremely glad am I at having the opportunity to do so. My position is this: I contend that if the performance of one species, one class of the public service is to be paid for, all the other classes, however humble the parties may be who perform the service, have an equal right to payment. The Court tells me I am summoned here to discharge a public duty, and I therefore insist, that that being the case, the public shall pay me. Let the Chairman, if he can, show me a law which proves that the conduct I am at this moment pursuing is illegal.

The Chairman. I can with the greatest truth state that I never witnessed a scene of this description upon any former occasion in a court of justice and I trust that I never shall again. Officer, you must remove the jury to the other room. I will not suffer such a disgraceful scene as this to continue in this court for a moment longer.

A Juryman (with much earnestness, addressing the Chairman). Surely, sir, you will not lock up the whole of us?

Mr. Wilson. No, no, that he won't, for I shall not leave this box.

A Juryman (addressing Mr. Wilson). What demand do you make for your services, pray?

Mr. Wilson. I tell you once more I don't want anything of you. I am merely doing what I regard to be a public duty. I am resolved upon pursuing the matter.

Several of the Jurymen. Oh, let us subscribe and pay him. What charge does he make?

The Chairman (to the officer). Officer, you must do your duty. Take the jury to the other room. Do your duty, sir; take the jury away, as I have told you. Let the other officers assist.

During the whole of this scene the greatest confusion prevailed throughout the court. Not a single party, whether magistrate, counsel, prosecutor. witness, or spectator, but was on his feet watching with the utmost anxiety the progress of the discussion, and the result to which it might chance to lead. As soon as the Chairman had issued his last commands, several of the police made their way towards the jury-box.

Mr. Wilson, who had sat himself down in a manner which induced a supposition that he would not quit the jury-box without the application of force, rose, and again addressing himself to the Chairman, said, "Sir, you have not shown me that I am acting illegally, and I shall not therefore leave this box. I will not quit it until you do."

The Chairman. I tell you, Sir, that you, are behaving not merely disgracefully, but illegally.

Mr. Wilson. Well, then, show me how, show mo the statute. I should wish to see that.

The Chairman. Officers, do your duty; clear that box instantly; I must put an end to this proceeding. The officers of the court now went up to the jury-box, when Mr. Wilson quietly walked out, and accompanied the others of the jury into the adjoining room.

After an absence of rather more than a quarter of an hour, the jury again entered the court, when they said that they had agreed to a verdict, which was that the defendant was Guilty.

The Chairman told the jury that they must remain in court until they were again called upon.

At the rising of the Court they were dismissed.

I'm genuinely surprised this court case didn't end with a lynching.

Cindy Weber's Final Escape

Photo of Cindy Weber in the "Red Deer Advocate," October 23, 1981, via Newspapers.com

Every missing-persons story is tragic, of course. However, I know of few such cases that are both as heart-breakingly sad and utterly peculiar as the following disappearance. It reads like a psychological horror movie, with an almost Fortean ending.

People inevitably called Cynthia "Cindy" Weber of Edmonton, Canada, "troubled." This seems an almost grotesque understatement. Her descent into an abyss began when she was only twelve. In April 1972, her father Arnott Weber died. Worse still was to come. Soon after Arnott's death, Cindy's brother Kenneth revealed to his mother Edna that he was gay. He said he was tired of living a lie.

Edna Weber was horrified. She was an extremely devout Mennonite who sincerely believed homosexuality was a grave sin. She felt that unless her son changed his ways, he was doomed. After consulting with her other sons--who were all as appalled as she was--they decided that they had no choice but to excommunicate Kenneth from the family. They would have nothing to do with him until he "repented," and agreed to renounce his sexual orientation.

After a year of being shunned by his relatives, Kenneth did indeed give in, but not in the way the Webers had hoped. One evening in November 1973, the twenty-four year-old walked into the family garage, turned on his car, and placed his face directly under the exhaust pipe. One of his brothers discovered his body some time later.

Cindy had been particularly close to both her father and Kenneth, and these twin blows were more than she could bear. She never recovered from them. She tried, as so many psychologically suffering people do, to numb the pain with drugs. During her teen years, drug overdoses sent her to the hospital some five or six times. She was placed in psychiatric facilities, which she loathed. She escaped institutionalization a number of times, but she was always caught and forced back for "help." Being confined in hospitals, instead of aiding her emotional torment, only exacerbated it.

When she was twenty, Cindy decided she had had enough of this life, and she hanged herself. When she was found and cut down, she was still alive.

This proved to be Fate's cruelest trick on her yet. The lack of oxygen to her brain left her severely physically disabled. She could not move unassisted. She could no longer speak, leaving an alphabet board as her only source of communication. She was left nearly blind. Unless she took medication every day, her body would shake uncontrollably. Although her mind remained completely lucid, she had to be fed, washed, and dressed like a helpless baby. This young woman who was desperate to avoid captivity found herself imprisoned by her own body.

For the next two years, Cindy was a patient in Edmonton's Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital. She was miserably unhappy there, but this time, it was impossible for her to flee. Understandably enough, she was a morose person who was described as impossible to get along with. No one outside her family ever visited her. Cindy's old friends never contacted her. She spent long, incredibly dull days on a ward full mostly of older people who had nothing in common with her. She often told her mother that she would "rather die" than remain at Glenrose. Her "citizen's advocate" at the hospital, Edna Shaffler, heard much the same thing. Shaffler later said, "She once spelled out for me on her alphabet board that all she wanted was to be around people her own age...I felt so sad for her because there was hardly anyone around to be with her." Shaffler also said that Cindy was so lonely, "She used to scream and yell when she knew I was about to leave. And it was difficult to calm her because she can't talk and express what she wants."

I have no mouth. And I must scream.

In the summer of 1981, Cindy's desperation increased when she learned that the hospital was canceling her speech classes.  She was making little progress, and they wanted to devote their resources to patients with more potential for improvement. In fact, Glenrose wanted to end all Cindy's therapy and discharge her from the hospital for good. Edna Weber fought with hospital officials over this, but the matter remained unresolved.

Cindy was devastated, realizing that the staff was telling her, in effect, "You will never get any better. You have no hope." Schaffler tried to console Cindy, suggesting that maybe they could work out something, but "Cindy just took a fit and tried to run away from her wheelchair. I never saw her like that before."

This was how matters stood on Saturday, July 18, 1981. Cindy was at home on a weekend visit. It had been a relatively good day for her. She spent the morning sitting outdoors enjoying the sun, and in the evening she and her mother took in a movie. Edna could not recall ever seeing her so happy. At about 10:30 p.m. Mrs. Weber put her daughter to bed, and then retired for the night herself.

At 6:45 the following morning, Edna Weber went to Cindy's bedroom and found that the impossible had happened. Cindy was gone. There was no sign of any struggle. Cindy's clothes, walking sticks, eyeglasses, even the medication to manage her shaking were all there. Everything was where it should be...except for Cindy.

When the police learned that a nearly-blind woman unable to walk without assistance vanished from her bed without anyone noticing, they were as baffled as Mrs. Weber. Where did she go? Why did she go? How did she go?

The only obvious explanation is that someone--with or without Cindy's consent--broke into the Weber home and carried her off, but who? Ever since she became disabled, she had no contact with anyone outside her immediate family and hospital staff, and none of them had any visible reason to kidnap her. Her whereabouts remained equally mysterious. Police dogs were used to search a wide area around her home. Neighbors, Cindy's former friends, and the staff at Glenrose were all questioned, and all passed lie detector tests.  Nobody had any idea where she might have gone. A week after her disappearance, a police spokesperson sighed, "Virtually every angle and theory has been looked into, but nothing factual has come up. We're still at the point where we're trying to get a good lead."

That "good lead" never appeared. Police continued their investigation, but after failing to find even one clue indicating what had become of Cindy, they had no choice but to suspend their inquiries. Edna Weber offered a $5,000 reward for any information about her daughter, and even consulted several psychics, with equally fruitless results. To date, we don't know any more about Cindy Weber's disappearance than anyone did on the morning she vanished: that is to say, we know absolutely nothing. It remains a uniquely puzzling mystery.

If one wants to get fanciful, it's almost as if a tormented young woman lay in bed one night, praying to God to end her misery. "I just want to cease to exist," she said.

So God obliged.

Weekend Link Dump

This week's Link Dump is hosted by Clark Gable.

And a cat.  Who frankly, my dear, doesn't give a damn.

The ghost of the Astor Library.

Illustrations of 1893 London.

Life in the Netherlands must be one big round of excitement.

The ghost of Black Hope Cemetery.

Yet another hitchhiking ghost.  No highway is complete without one!

The last person to be executed in New York.

The link between the Treaty of Versailles and a sultan's skull.

Today is the 200th anniversary of the Peterloo Massacre.

The Mean Monkey of the Megalong.

How old newspapers are used to study new tsunamis.

The witch who was found innocent...a bit too late.

The cat ghost of the Ansonia Hotel.

The many grifters of the literary world.

The fountain of youth may not be all that it's cracked up to be.

The doctor and the chatty ghost.

How a Russian became a pioneer of Bengali theater.

The mystery of the two Madeleines.

The humans who lived on thin air and mole-rats.  Yum.

Victorian tattooed ladies.

Now you can smell like Cleopatra.

Botticelli's real-life Venus.

The Sorcerer's Toolbox of Pompeii.

The Monster With 21 Faces.

A look at the Fourth Queen's Own Hussars in India.

Pauline Cushman's journey from actress to Civil War spy.

Biddy Mason's journey from slave to real estate entrepreneur.

New images of King Tut's tomb.

The screaming schoolgirls of Malaysia.

I already wear outdated clothes for free.  I've been robbed!

The woman they couldn't hang.

The grave of the "real Snow White."

An unsolved murder on a shanty-boat.

The man who went to the gallows thanks to his pants.

So, let's talk cholera jokes.

The colonel and the pirate treasure.

A brief history of hair powder.

Finland's creepiest murder mystery.

And...that's it for this week! See you on Monday, when we'll look at one of the saddest, and strangest, missing-persons cases I've ever come across. In the meantime, here's one of the greatest of summer songs:

Newspaper Clipping of the Day

via Newspapers.com

This odd little tale appeared in the (Hazleton, Pennsylvania) "Plain Speaker" on July 25, 1932:

Hornell, N.Y., July 25. --A bullet hole through a clergyman's hat today added another chapter to the story at the minister's old and isolated hill top home. Several other tenants have fled from the dwelling in terror of what state troopers call a "phantom rifleman."

Lieutenant Gerald Vine of the state police said the rifleman, who has never been seen, apparently wanted to keep the house unoccupied, for some reason highly important to himself.

Reverend Herman Lee Henderson took it a short time ago as a summer home. In a note he found upon the well outside the house, weighted down by a rifle bullet of large caliber, the clergyman was warned to keep away from "the well."

Troopers say the writer meant the house, too. As he read the message, which carried a threat of death, a bullet sang through the air and lifted his hat from his head.

The rifle report was faint, he said, and Lieutenant Vaine suggested that the weapon had been fired from a considerable distance and sighted by an expert marksman. Later Reverend Henderson learn ed that at least five other tenants had been frightened from the premises by the "phantom." Lieutenant Vaine said he would stay on the case until the "mystery" surrounding the house is cleared up.

Two days later, the "Princeton Clarion" carried further information:

A phantom rifleman whose whining bullets have struck terror into residents in the hills near here was sought Monday night after his latest attack on the hilltop home where a clergyman now resides.

Convinced that the solution to the mystery lies at the bottom of a well on the property occupied by the Rev. Herman Lee Henderson, county authorities prepared to siphon the hole dry while the state police searched the hill sides for the elusive gunman.

The hill country secret leaked out for the first time yesterday when the clergyman appealed to state police for protection after being fired upon last week. He occupied the isolated farm house a short time ago as a summer home, learning later that three other tenants had been driven out by the mysterious rifleman.

He received his first warning in a note he found upon the well outside the house. The message told him to keep away from "the well" and carried a threat of death. As the clergyman hurried across the fields to a neighbor two miles away, a bullet plowed through his hat. The rifle report was faint, indicating the gunman was at a considerable distance.

Lieutenant Gerald Vine of the state police, who has taken over the investigation, said the Rev. Henderson had no known enemies and was at a loss to account for the attack. One theory held by authorities is that a still may be located in the woods near the farmhouse and its operators fear detection if the place is occupied. Another theory is that a treasure may be buried at the bottom of the well.

The "Elmira Star Gazette, July 29:

Hornell Sheriff Stanley T. Hoagland's office and State Police, under Sergeant Charles G. Burnett will not say for publication that they believe the story of the Rev. Herman Lee Henderson to be a hoax. They will not admit that they suspect such to be the case for publication, as intimated as coming from them in some newspapers. Both branches of these authorities state emphatically that they have not given up the search. They still seek to determine who has been firing a gun at the minister and the motive.

Rev. Henderson resides in an almost inaccessible place on the border line between Windem Hill and Oak Hill. He lives alone and claims to have received a warning to get out. Then he was shot at.

County officials in searching the the well have come across "some junk," but also enough evidence to warn them that "something was wrong." Objects found in the-well are being analyzed by chemists, while others are being studied by criminologists.

"We can't be expected to make everything public before we determine what is what, and thereby give our hand away," one officer said. County officers assured them selves of one thing Thursday and that was, "they have been shooting at Rev. Henderson."

Former Sheriff W. B. Page, who resides about five miles from where Rev. Henderson lives, says that he has personal knowledge that not only has the minister been bothered, but other tenants as well.

"If anyone expresses the belief that Rev. Henderson does not fear for his life and does not have good reasons for it, then they have no knowledge of crime."

One of the best known women in the city, and prominent, furnished county officers with one clue they are working on. She observed a figure slink through the woods, acting in a furtive manner, and saw him enter a home nearby with a rifle in his hands.

"No one had better make any effort to discredit me in the eyes of the public," Mr. Henderson said Thursday. It was learned that after first being shot at Rev. Henderson obtained counsel from an attorney, and at his direction visited Police Chief Clarence Bailey.

By the end of July, the police, unable to find any evidence leading them to the mysterious sniper--or even any evidence the sniper really existed--abandoned their investigation. The story subsequently disappeared from the newspapers, leaving the whole matter frustratingly unresolved. If, as some of the stories suggested, Rev. Henderson was pulling everyone's leg, he picked a damn strange way of doing so. It is hard to see what the Reverend--by all accounts a sober, respectable sort--would gain by inventing such a wild tale. On the other hand, who could have wanted the house vacated, and why?

Speculate away.

Denis Vrain-Lucas, Prince of Forgers

Denis Vrain-Lucas

"Collecting"--whether it be of stamps, historical documents, paintings, Betty Boop toothbrush holders, what have you--can lead a person into some very peculiar byways. In many cases, the increasing passion the collector feels to add to their stash of personal treasures warps their judgment and utterly clouds their intellect. It is a profound love, of a sort, and everyone knows love is blind.

One of the unlikeliest victims of this phenomenon was Michel Chasles. Chasles held the chair of geometry in the Imperial Polytechnic of Paris and was a member of the French Academy of Science. His distinguished career was built upon a talent for rigid logic and mathematical precision. Chasles was, in short, the last man you'd expect to see playing the role of dupe. Yet, duped he was, and in a manner that would have embarrassed a five-year-old.

Michel Chasles

After Chasles was elected to the Academy of Science in 1850, he began to research the history of science. His immersion in the old books and manuscripts awakened a desire to start his own collection of historical documents. Most unfortunately for him, one of the people who learned of this ambition was a man named Denis Vrain-Lucas.

One day in 1861, Vrain-Lucas introduced himself to Chasles, and made a most enticing proposition: He had for sale an immense collection of books, manuscripts, and autograph letters. They had been, he explained, the property of a Count Boisjourdain, who had drowned while sailing to America in 1791. The collection was now owned by an old man of Vrain-Lucas' acquaintance. He was naturally reluctant to part with any of it, but he badly needed money, so he was willing for Vrain-Lucas to act as his agent in gradually selling items from his stash. Vrain-Lucas said diffidently that he himself had no idea if anything in the collection was of any value, but as he had heard Chasles was an expert in such matters, he was willing to sell them for whatever Chasles thought they might be worth.

When Chasles learned of the treasures Vrain-Lucas was offering him, he could hardly believe his luck. Among the long-deceased Count's collection were letters personally written by Molière, Rabelais, and Racine. And his new-found benefactor was ready to part with them for the equivalent of less than one hundred dollars each!

It seemed too good to be true!

Chasles, of course, did not know anything about Vrain-Lucas and his mysteriously acquired documents--and was too dazzled and greedy to ask--but this "agent" was, to put it mildly, a dubious character. Vrain-Lucas was the son of a poor laborer. He had had little formal education, but after he obtained a clerking job, he had the opportunity to spend much time at the local library, where he became fascinated by old books and manuscripts. He eventually moved to Paris, where he got a job working for a genealogy firm. When this particular business had difficulty finding genuine documents for its clients, the employees worked around this problem by simply forging them. The firm was an excellent training ground for a young man who combined a lust for history with a handy lack of principles, and Vrain-Lucas soon became an experienced forger.

After the head of the genealogical firm retired, Vrain-Lucas set out on his own. By the time he and Chasles had their fateful meeting, he had a long and profitable career of selling highly dubious documents to credulous collectors all over Paris. Like all the great forgers, Vrain-Lucas combined a scholar's genuine love for and knowledge of historical artifacts with a con-man's thespian abilities. Like our old friend Joseph Cosey, Vrain-Lucas was very good at presenting himself as a humble, slightly witless fellow who was, in his ignorance, offering priceless artifacts at bargain rates.

Chasles knew his science. Chasles knew his higher mathematics. When it came to human nature, he was as innocent and gullible as a baby. He eagerly snapped up anything Vrain-Lucas so casually offered him, no questions asked.

The trouble began when Chasles began proudly shared his purchases with the world. In 1865, Florence, Italy, was holding an exhibition in honor of Dante. Chasles helpfully sent them a letter written by the great poet that he had recently purchased. The letter arrived too late for this exhibition, so it avoided any close examination. The next year, he presented to the Belgian Academy two letters written by Charles V to Rabelais. Although some archivists had their doubts about their authenticity, the Academy, much to its later embarrassment, published them.

In 1867, Chasles gifted the French Academy with two letters purportedly written by the poet Jean de Rotrou to Cardinal Richelieu. Again, even though some in the Academy privately muttered some skepticism about these letters, they were reprinted as genuine in the Proceedings of the Academy.

Things began to unravel in earnest the following year, when Chasles presented the Academy with a letter written by Pascal to Robert Boyle, detailing the principles of gravity years before Newton's discovery.

This upending of history raised a few eyebrows. Even more eyebrows were lifted when it was noted that the letter contained serious grammatical errors and jarring anachronisms. It was also noted that the handwriting of this letter differed considerably from assuredly genuine Pascal manuscripts. When Chasles, in an effort to defend the letter's authenticity, brought out more of his Pascal letters, the fat was truly in the fire. They included notes from Pascal to Isaac Newton--which, from the dates, would have been written when Newton was only eleven! There was a letter to Pascal from Newton's mother--where she signed herself by a name she had long ceased to use when the letter was purportedly written.

Chasles' meetings at the Academy became increasingly uncomfortable. Vrain-Lucas, however, was able to soothe all his doubts with various "new" letters which explained all the questions that had been raised about the previous documents. Scholars scoffed at the idea that Pascal would be discussing complex scientific discoveries with an eleven-year-old boy? Vrain-Lucas responded with a letter written by Newton's tutor, commenting on how his pupil had written to Pascal under his guidance. The letter written in French by Galileo in 1641 about his "eyestrain"--when history records the scientist went completely blind in 1637 and never wrote in French? The biographers, Vrain-Lucas assured Chasles, were simply in error. The fact that these letters contained so many previously unknown details only added to their value. And so on.

Before long, however, the long list of blatant textual errors and inauthentic handwritings found in these letters were unacceptable even to Chasles. Two of France's leading manuscript experts were brought in to finally make a thorough examination of Chasles' purchases. It was an impressive list: Over a period of less than ten years, Vrain-Lucas sold him a total of nearly 30,000 manuscripts, allegedly from over six hundred different people. Vrain-Lucas was a one-man forgery empire.

Fortunately for the interests of justice, he was as sloppy as he was prolific. He rarely bothered to even do plausible imitations of the genuine writing of his subjects, and usually merely copied passages out of old books, with little concern for historical accuracy. To add some much-needed verisimilitude to his handiwork, he occasionally sold Chasles some authentic vintage book or manuscript.

These rare examples of honest transactions constituted Vrain-Lucas' sole defense when he was put on trial in February of 1870. He claimed that the genuine items were worth more than the entire sum Chasles had spent on his collection.

It was a feeble argument. Chasles paid out about 140,000 francs for his now utterly-discredited "bargains," while the few authentic specimens were worth--at best--about 500 francs. Vrain-Lucas' attorneys then tried an even more novel argument. The defendant could only be guilty of fraud, they suggested, if his transactions were designed to deceive someone of normal intelligence. Who in their right minds, they argued, could believe they were buying a letter Cleopatra had written to Julius Caesar? Or from Mary Magdalene to Lazarus? Or Alexander the Great to Aristotle? Particularly since all of them were written in French?

The most amazing part of this story is that Chasles evidently did. Even after Vrain-Lucas was found guilty and imprisoned for two years, Chasles refused to admit that he had been well and truly hoodwinked. To the end of his days, he clung to the belief that the mythical Count Boisjourdain and his magnificent manuscripts really existed, and that he had just acquired clumsy replicas of them. In an equally astounding touch, despite his well-demonstrated ability to be gulled, Chasles' reputation survived the scandal, and he remained a respected figure in the field of mathematics. A road in Paris is named after him, and the mathematician is among the 72 worthies whose names are engraved on the Eiffel Tower.

After Vrain-Lucas served his sentence, he promptly found a new victim: An elderly man whom he swindled out of his pitiful fortune and his few valuable books. For this latest escapade, he returned to jail for another three years. He then was nabbed for stealing rare books from a library, which earned him another four years in prison. Sources give varying years for when he died, but it was sometime between 1880 and 1882.

Chasles passed away in 1880, from choking on a marshmallow. Which somehow seems a fitting end to our tale.

Weekend Link Dump

This week's Link Dump is hosted by an array of musical cats!

What the hell was the Creature From Coffs Harbor?

Yes, we're still asking, "What the hell is the Shroud of Turin?"

Watch out for those cursed towns!

Watch out for those haunted lighthouses!

The guy was an accordion player.  Hanging really was too good for him.

Why you might want to avoid wearing bright colors the next time you go hiking.

It's rarely a good sign when a government agency won't say what the hell it's up to.

If you're having a cold drink this summer, make sure you're very careful about where the ice comes from.

Nathan Foster, killer of patriots and wives.

The ghosts of Gladstone Villa.

The Wyricks and the poltergeist.

A legendary fifth-century warrior king who was not named Arthur.

This week in Russian Weird:  Have a drink on Chernobyl!

The Magus of Delaware.

That time Jane Austen's aunt got arrested.

That time Mark Twain wanted to sell you a cheap watch.

That time summer ice-skating was all the rage.

That time a guy was hit in the face with a cow stomach.

The worst car ever made and the people who love it.

How a wife-murderer (and probably a son-murderer as well) was found out.

An unjustly forgotten Russian poet.

If you're worried about getting scurvy, here's an 18th century recipe for spruce beer.

The mummy of St. Botolph's

An indentured servant turns to murder.

Recreating the face of a vampire witch.

19th century catfishing.

A brief history of quackery.

Identifying a 19th century vampire.

The truth about the Ilkeston Witch.

The man who planned Washington D.C.

What it was like to be a 19th century domestic coachman.

The unsolved murder and the best-selling novel.

That wraps it up for this week! See you on Monday, when we'll look at a particularly weird forgery case. In the meantime, here's more of the songs of summer.

Newspaper Clipping of the Day

via Newspapers.com

The mystery around one very curious inventor was related in the (East Liverpool, Ohio) "Evening Review," July 18, 1940:

The murder of the "Flying Dutchman" 79 years ago remains one of East Liverpool's unsolved crimes.

The verdict of the jury, "We do find Christian Olsen met his death at the hands of a person or persons unknown" wrote the last chapter to the most intriguing story.

Christian Olsen, a Dane by birth came here early in 1861. He gave no explanation except that he wished to build a flying machine. Residents merely considered him eccentric and paid little attention to him until a large box of freight-bearing foreign shipping tags, arrived at the station.

The inventor rented an empty loft of a barn at Third and Broadway and, much to the amazement of the town people, began to build an ingenious machine which he called a "flying machine".

He became a man of mystery and was nicknamed "The Flying Dutchman." He didn't resent this appellation, in fact he rather liked it. Despite their amusement the people regarded him with awe and when they discovered he paid all his obligations with gold money, their awe became mixed with respect.

A few of the more intrepid villagers tried to break through the wall of reserve Olsen built about his activities, but to no avail. The barn became a mecca for curiosity seekers. After several unsuccessful attempts to question the Dane, no one dared intrude beyond the closed gate of the loft's door which opened on an outside staircase.

One chilly spring afternoon a group of school children came trooping down Broadway from the log school on Fourth st. It was their custom to stand and stare up at the loft where the flying machine was being built.

Some of the more daring boys even would venture up a step or two. This afternoon was no exception. The pupils were indulging in their usual game of speculation, when without warning, the gate of the loft swung open and Christian Olsen emerged on the platform and looked down at the children. He said nothing, but finally beckoned to one of the older boys to come up to the loft.

The boy, selected from the group, was an acknowledged leader of youth activities.

Despite his claims for courage his steps lagged noticeably as he climbed up to the loft. His legs grew weak and his heart pounded in an uncomfortable fashion. The Dane stood on the platform, a slight smile on his broad, pleasant face.

The children watched their comrade disappear into the cavernous depths of the loft. They were too frightened to talk. They waited breathlessly for his return and after what seemed to be an endless span of minutes some of the older boys decided to go after the boy's father and the village constable.

"Here he comes!" shouted one of the boys and a sigh of relief went up from the anxious waiters as their chum appeared, apparently unharmed.

From that day until the brutal murder of the inventor three months later the boy worked faithfully for Christian Olsen. He carried his meals to the inventor and was the only contact the Dane had with the village.

Months later, after the death of the "Flying Dutchman," June 4, 1861, the boy gave the only genuine account to be found of activities beyond that closed gate.

"I nearly was scared out of my wits," the lad related later, "when he closed and locked that gate. I nearly jumped out of the window. He asked me all kinds of questions and finally said he wanted a trustworthy boy who would get his meals, run errands for him and keep the loft clean. I was to hear nothing and tell nothing.

"Every week he paid me in gold. A number of strange men visited him. They were trying to get him to sell his machine which was one of the funniest things I ever saw. It seemed to have leather wings that worked with coils of springs which he wound up. He always seemed to be afraid of something happening to the machine and wouldn't trust anyone to touch it.

"Once in a while he left me in charge while he paid a short visit across the street at the home of Enoch Bullock. Then on the night of June 3. he said I might invite two of the boys to come in. The machine was completed. They came and he was excited and happy. He showed us how it worked.

"One or two strangers were there. He said they were his partners. After supper he cleared us out, locked up his shop and went down to the Black Bear tavern to celebrate. The next time I saw him he was in Doc Ogden's house. His body had been taken from the railroad track by Jackman, Frederick Mill (near the present Pennsylvania Railroad passenger station).

"He had been murdered in his shop and his body taken down and put on the tracks. I never saw the men who visited his shop again."

The murder caused a furor in the village, but no clues leading to his assailant ever were found. The machine was stored in an attic over Kefferts tin shop on Broadway and stayed there for 20 years. In 1892 it was destroyed partially by fire.