American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1873-01-18
A Real Life Romance.

A De Witt. n. Y. correspondent of the
New Y DIRK World, mentions the return to
that village OF an old farmer named
Blodgett. who, it was supposed, on strong
| clrcumstantial evidence. had been brutal
| ly murdered by unknown assassins one
night about five years ago. The circum-
| stances attending the case are eXtraordi-
| nary, and seem more like fictitious tale
than ungarnished truth:
FIVE years ago he left home one Friday
| evening to go to COllamcr, where he was
| to get a considerable sum of money to
pay number of workmen the next
| night who were constructing building
for him. He did not return that night
nor the next day, and his family became
alarmed; messenger was sent to Cola
| mer to ascertain if possible his " herea-
bouts. The messenger went TO the place
where MIR. Blodgett was to get his money,
and was informed that the old farmer had
drawn the money and departed, apparent
ly for home. The news was carried to
the family of the missing man, and it was
at once suspected that he had been MUIR
dtred. The suppOsitiOn that he was MUIR
dered became almost a certainty by the
story of Mrs. Joseph Breed. living near
the village OF Collamer, on the road to
BlOl gett's, and at a lonely point. Mrs.
Breed, when she heard day or so after
ward of the disappearance of Mr.. Blod-
gett, stated to the family that somewhere
about ten or eleven O'Clock on Friday
night, about the time the old man would
naturally be passing her house on his
way home, he having left COllamer at a
late hour, she was awakened by noise
in the road. directly in front of her house.
Listening, she became convinced that it
was caused by party of men struggling
in the road. She heard a voice which she
did not recognize say, "Knock him in the
head quick" She then heard shrill,
loud cry of ''Murder ~ ending in sort
of gurgle, as if some one was being stran-
gled. Shortly afterward the footsteps of
two or three men, as if running in the
direction of Collamer, were heard, and
then all was silent. She was afraid to go
out to the scene of the struggle at the
time, but went out in the morning and
discovered evidence of a severe contest.
There was no blood on the ground nor
anything to lead to a knowledge of who
the contestants were. She was confident,
however, that murder had been commit
ted, and when she heard of the sudden
disappearance of Mr.. Blodgett. there was
no doubt in her mind that he was the VIC
tim. Diligent search was made for the
body of the murdered man, and traces of
the murderers were sought on every
hand, but all to no purpose.
One of the men who was suspected as
being leader in the supposed murder
of Mr.. BlOdgett was bad character
named Carey. Some time after the disap-
pearance of Mr.. Blodgett, Carey was ar
rested en- suspicion of being the murderer
of one johnson, in Collamer. He was
convicted of the crime, and sentenced to
be hanged, which sentence was committed
to Imprisonment for life i'll the Penitentia-
~ at Auburn. This strengthened the be-
lief that he was the murderer Of the old
farmer.
A year or two after the supposed muir
IL OIL rtc Of n, h,rn
skeleton were found on the shore of Onei-
da Lake, on the upper boundary of this
county. This was believed to be part of
the remains of MIR. Blodgett, it being
thought that he had been thrown into
that body of water, or a stream emptying
into it, in order that his murder, rs might
battle detection. If there remained the
shadow of doubt that Blodgett was
dead this dispelled it, and the heirs of the
old farmer petitiOned the Courts for the
appointment OF administrators of his es-
tate. They were appointed, and the
property remaining after the settlement
of the old mans affairs was divided among
the children.
The establishment of the BlOdgett fami-
ly may be imagined when they received a
letter some two weeks ago from man in
the oil regions pup 1rting to be the sup
posed murdered man, detailing the cir
cusustances of his disappearance and re-
questlng sum OF money to be sent to
him in order that he might return home,
as he was peAniless and did not wish to
die away from home. One of the sons
was sent to Pennsylvania to make per-
sOnal investigation, and after considerable
search found the writer. and he turned
out to be Mr.. Blodgett. Although he
was greatly changed the son found no
difficulty in recognizing him, and he last
week returned with the old man to the
farm. Blodgett says that no attempt was
ever made on his life, but gives no reason
for his unceremonious going away, or no
account of his life during the five years he
was absent. The affairs of the family are
somewhat mixed up by the appearance Of
the old farmer. His property had been
divided among the heirs, and they were
in possession of their respective shares.