The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1877-05-03
LEE SINGLETON'S CRIME.
A Confession Six Yenrs After Throwing
Fellow Laborer into n Furnace.

Fellow I.abOrer into Furnace.
The Eureka Sentinel contains the fol-
lowing At the head of Culver canyon,
about thirteen miles from Eureka, in
desolate and forbidden country, is a
tumble down shanty, evidently built by
some coal burners. Some four months
ago, q man in search of stray stock hap
pened to look into the shanty, and found
the body of man dead in q rude bunk
against the side of the cabin.
A week ago, James Thornton, while
out hunting, sought shelter under the
roof of the shanty, and found book
from which the following is transcribed
NOVEMBER II, 1876.
My name is Lee Singleton. 1 was
born in Litchfeld county, Maryland, in
1841. lived there until the breaking
out of the war, when 1 enlisted in the
Southern army, and served until the
close of the war. was wounded twice,
once at Yorktown, and again at the
siege of Petersburg. Both my parents
died, and after the war was over l came
West and followed the Union Pacific
railroad until it was completed. then
went to White Pine, and in 1871 to Eu
reka, where / went 10 work as a feeder
at the - furnace My companion,
John Murphy, was very overbearing, and
insulted me on several occasions, but as
he was much stronger man than my
self took no notice of it until one day
he struck me. He did not know that he
signed his death warrant with that blow.
but he did.
While feeding the furnace the thought
often came to me that it would be an
easy matter to stun him with blow and
throw him into the stack, and I knew
that if it was once accomplished no one
could ever detect any traces of the crime
The principal difficulty was the continued
presence of the ore wheelers, but as they
worked ten hours and quit at six o'clock,
there was an interval of an hour, during
which me and Murphy were alone, save
the occasional visit of the night boss. I
had to wait nearly two weeks before the
shifts changed, SO that we came on at the
same time. When the opportunity final
ly presented itself stepped behind him
and struck him blow on the head with
my shovel as he WIS stopping to get a
scoopful of charcoal. To drag him to
the feed hole and throw him ON the
charge was but a moments work. 1 do
not know whether he was dead OF only
stunned, but it made little difference, as
the fumes would have sllffocated him in
a moment. By working hard succeed
ed in covering the body with ore and
charcoal, and as the charge in the fur
mace sunk he was soon out of sight.
I went into the charcoal business,
and, forming copartnership with two
other men, built the cabin in which sit
writing this statement. We burned coal
here for two years, when the wood be-
coming exhausted, / took my share of
the profits, 1000, and went East, but
after four years wandering, returned to
Eureka.
AS soon as finish this I shall take the
poison, and lay down in the bunk. 1
don't suppose that any one ever passes
this way, and shall probably lay here
and rot, or the vermin will feast ON me-
1 cannot go to a worse hell than what 1
have been in for the last six years. If
any one finds this statement they can
verify the truth of it by looking over the
books of the smelling company, and
they will find mine and John Murphy S
name on the pay roll, and if r. M. Wal
lis is still in Eureka, he will remember
the fact of Johns disappearance, for he
was the night foreman at that time.
LEE SINGLETON.
We have inquired into the matter, and
find that John Murphy mysteriously dis
appeared about the time mentioned. Mr..
says that when Murphy disappeared he
had eighteen days wages due him, aid
the money was never called for.