Newspaper Clipping of the Day

Via Newspapers.com

It's "Mini Mysteries" time again, where I present an intriguing crime case from the past that doesn't provide enough information for a full blog post.  The "Richmond Palladium-Item," April 21, 1910:

Hagerstown, Ind., April 21. Interest has been revived in an unsolved murder mystery by the discovery of a sign nailed to a telephone post near the place where the body of an unidentified man was found six years ago. 

The sign reads: "The man who was found dead in these woods six years ago was murdered in the Hindman Hotel." Another sign has been added, reading: "It won't do any good to tear this sign down, as it will be put back as often as it is torn down." Six years ago a body was found in a woods west of town and near the German Baptist church. It was so badly decomposed that identification was impossible. It was presumed by the coroner that death had resulted from a bullet wound in the head. The Hindman hotel was operated by Mr. and Mrs. Arch Hindman at the time the murder is alleged to have occurred there and the citizens of Hagerstown think they do not know anything about the case and that the posting of the signs is a hoax. The authorities are investigating.

The signs found on the telephone post near the German-Baptist church, west of Hagerstown, recalls one of the most mysterious murder cases in the criminal history of Indiana. The authorities have never been able to identify the victim, learn who his slayer was, or why the crime was committed.

The man, so the records of former coroner, Dr. S. C. Markley show, had been dead at least five months before the body was accidentally discovered by a young farmer's boy. Before the grewsome discovery people in the neighborhood had complained of an offensive odor.

It is thought that the man was shot, but the authorities were never able to substantiate this theory. The man's body, at his back near the spine, showed a puncture the size of a bean, but probes made for the bullet were fruitless. The outer shirt and the undershirt worn by the man were also punctured, but his coat had no hole in it.

When the body was found the flesh on the skull had nearly all dropped off.  There was one small patch of black hair remaining. The man apparently weighed about 135 pounds but owing to the badly decomposed condition of the body, his color or nationality could not be ascertained. He wore a dark suit of clothes. 

Deputy Prosecutor Sells at Hagerstown this morning stated he had inspected the signs and would make an investigation of the case but that he had no hopes of unraveling the mystery. He said that in his opinion the signs had been posted by some enemies of Mr. Hindman, one of the most respected citizens of Hagerstown and who, for years, managed the Hindman house. He said that Mr. Hindman was positive that no murder had ever been committed in his hotel. Mr. Hindman has also inspected the signs. 

From the coroner's report it is learned that the only papers found on the murdered man's person were some lottery tickets on a hotel in Florence, Italy, and a couple of letters which offered no clue as to the identity of the man on whom they were found. 

As far as I can tell, that was the last word on the mystery.