The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1871-12-30 00:00:00

STRANGE TRAGEDY.
(From Um Ndto York Tionder of Dee. 10.)

The sudden and mysterious death, two weeks ago, of a
young woman in iirangervlilc, Saratoga County, In this
State, created • deep impression. This was due not alone
to the NO event itself, but to the inexplicable nature of its
cause. No one cull thn,w any light a the matter, altlmugh
there was room fir a certain terrible Auspice.. Within a
few days of this poor girl's decease, or murder, another
tragic circumstance occurred, and the two are now in-
dissolubly connected together. Yet, to icy that the last
event proves anything definitely as to the character of the
lit at would be irrational. It simply renders a conjecture,
which was thought nit before, more plausible to some minds
and less sa, to others. Let us, however, briefly recite the
known facts

During the evening of Saturday. Nov. 25, two persons
were driving In a buggy on their way from a place called
Wilton, to Easton, Washington County. These two
people, now both dead, were one Frank Wilber, a
widower of thirty-five, and a Miss Sarah Deyoe, his house-
keeper. The girl had acted in this capacity fur some
y, ore. It is proper to say that soils of the accounts of the
I. oat press sin:gest that any improper relation was sep-
po,tal to exist between the two. Whatever may he in-
ferred from the wretched end of their earthly careers the
tongue of scandal was silent while they lived. Miss De) oe
haul been visiting at the house of her parents, awl
Wilber vet ut after her to fetch her home. Their intercourse,
so far as kilOWll, had always been ainivable, aunt nothing is
Cotton to have ha ; awned on this govations to reiVler it ell.er-
It appears that on the fatal Saturday night several
of snow lay on the ground, and the roads were very
1.4. At Gamgerville, place through which the buggy was
to vase on the journey named, there is a saw-null and abridge.
Now, according to Wilbees statement, a few rods before
the vehicle came to this bridge the axle broke. The
near wheel gut into a rut, and Mies layoe was Ming out,
striking on her head. There were marks In the snow tillYW-
Ing this, and also marks as if her companion had jumped
out. The wife of the miller, however. a Mrs. Proper, testifies
that she was lying in bell awake that night near an IMMlX-
tained window. Through this she saw a horse anti buggy
with a man—no woman -in it dash furiously by. 'the horse
was running away, the man trying, she thought, to check
him. In a moment the buggy turned and tare back in an
opposite direction. A few seconds later and the horse re•
appeared, flying again on his first course. This Mate he had
nothing but the thiM and the xxletree attached to him.
The body of the waggon was gone, hut the man was on foot
behind In pursuit. She alarmed her husband, who rose,
went out, suit confronted the man, who was Wilber. A Mn,
Snyder, who lives hard by, also came up, and afterwards a
Mr. Thong.

Ilere comes the Inexplicable part of the matter. The four
men hurried to find the missing girl. Wilber professed total
ignorance of her whereabouts or the extent of what had
happened to her. A reareh took place, which was for some
time unsuccessful. At last Sir. Proper saw a trace of blood
on the rail of the bridge. lie held his lantern over the side,
so ci to throw light below, and WSW tine body of the girl,
pat tly sulninerg.l, and lying ou her face in about two feet of
water. The Maly was lifted out, Winner helping quietly, and
carried to the mill. It was frightfully lacerated, alai tine
clothing, even to the under garments, torn tin shred..
Wilber showed no agitation, but was silent, its if dazed.
After the morns,: was placed in the until, Inc started back on
foot to tell Miss I)e3nne's parents of what had occurred; and
returned with the dead girl's father, after walking ton miles,
at about four in the mor ii 11l g. on the Slonday following
Wilber attended the fun, ral, and afterward returned to his
home. Now the question is, how did Miss Deyoe come by
her death `. The body coo found twin hundred feet from
where the walks in the inflow show the girl was thrown out.
The wounds on the corpse and the eionflition of the clothing
were totally incompatible with the theory of a single
fall and concussion. Besides thin, blood and bita of cloth-
ing were subsequently found between the twin places.
Vet MTS. Proper raw the buggy traverse just Unit intern-on.
log space with the man alone in it. Again, foot-prints
were found along the side of the read extending
front the snot where Miss Deyee pit hed out, or was stipposed
to have pitched nod, for about twelve feet. Then there was
a track, or trail, as if a body had been dragged under or
behind tine brag/. At the junction of twin roads, a little
further inn. a pile of lumber stands, and around this the
body of the girl most have heel], by the SigllS on the anew,
twice dragged. That the buggy was =Awl; ps Will.er
said, there mould be bo doabt. The facts spoke fir them-
selves. Rut there was, and is, a doubt whether mr mint he
ainated Miss lieyne first, and Vali amt.( out the ensuing
seolne iny way of accounting for her death. If we suppose, as
han been angetested, that the young cannon was caught by
some extraordinary accident and swung under the buggy
w it neat Whiner's knowledge, and the Icily became detaebed,
all bleeding and mutilated, at the bridge, how came it that
Slims Deyine could afterward. or should f terwart, warn- dint
tine rail and throw herrelf into the winter? The idea that she
cold have been kicked over by the inane is disintsred by those
is 11.1 innernobly-as einiply lnnijv.soihie. itehidefl,
/1,, is it that there w ere no SCI eamnno, and that Mrs. Proper
although One could see horse, man, and buggy so distinctly
and tim latter in two different eonditions, .w nothing of a
body clinging to It The improbability of Winner com-
mitting the murder rests on his previous good character,
and in the fact that no ISPi feeling xas ever known to exist
betwetu binewlf amid the deceased ; the probability that he
did commit tine crime Is founded 011 the apparent imposni-
Hay that the different things that happened could have
happened otherwise.

The last act of the dismal drama occurred two days after
Miss Depot was buried. on the Wedm sday succeeding that
Nonday,l,Wilber. was libusell found IlesA. His body was at
the bottom of his own welt, into which Ile had plunged head-
long. DLI he kill himself out of remorse, or because he
&new he was suspected, and the circumstantial evidence was
so strong agunist him Heaven only can tell, for there are
no other witnesses, and with Wilber's suicide the know-
], igeof tile secret passes away from the earth. Theories
there will be In plenty, and plausible conjectures without
end, but the real heart id the mystery will only be
known when we all meet at last, and the sea glees up its
dead.