The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1877-02-12
FAR sTRIyGrR THiN FICTION
A New Recital or "a Love Tragedy whose
Final Act l. Unwritten.

One cold night in the winter Of 1872. when
the inhabitants of the village of Huntington
were NJ n hastings. n party " masked men AS
sembied in the yard OF "a certain eminent dca-
con, and hid in the dark shadows of hedge
fence. awaiting the arrival of man to whom
they had sent dceqy letter That man was
Charles g. Kelsey. In response to the letter he
went to the house Of the woman whom he pms
sonatcly loved. and when about TO enter the
grounds surrounding 1t he was seized by the
masked men, gagged. bound. and dragged into
ladies' and gentlemen. he was stripped to- the
hun and paraded around. II was bitter cold
night and We poor lover asked n vain to be
still exposed him to the party on the stqop OF
the house. Finally. one Of the masked men
poor man. now helpless with cold and fright In
his acute pain from tho burning tar the poor
mouth, and his cries were piteous,
The ladies and gentlemen" in the COSBY com.
fort Of great coats and fur capes, rather enjoyed
the antics Of the naked man, who yelled ana
jumped with every new application OF the
brush. After the managers Of the show had
was produced, and these were thrown on the
still soft tar In this costume the unfortunate
man was brought nearer the stoop, aud the
masked men held lanterns aoft. that the specta-
tors might the better admire their handiwork.
Here there comes hiatus in the story. hia-
tus of fve long years. for from that might moth
ing has been seen of Charles q. Kelsey The
men who tarred and ieathcred him and the Ia,
dies and gentlemen who witnessed the deed
have all been taken to court and the story above
j. the substance Of their testimony. They I'M
blushingly told the court when called upon TO
testify. that they saw Kelsey outraged. and en-
joyed the sight. The tormentors confessed that
they tarrcd and feathered their victim, and hav-
ing satisfied their desire to punish him. they
allowed him to 40 home: that he skunk away
into ono corner Of the yard. and drew on his
trousers: that seeing one OF them approaching
him, he ran away, and they saw no more of
him. Where he ran to has ever SINCE been "a
mystery. The, maskers and their friends in
| that. ahashcd at the treatment he had received,
Kelsey belook himself 10 foreign parts. and was
About year after the tnrrlng Of Kelsey, two
fishermen, Franklin and ludlam. while raking
| oysters in Cold Spring harbor. noticed some
| thing floating near them. On approaching the
| object they found the neither llmh5bt man.
| The limbs were thickly coated with hr, and on
searching the pockets Ot the trousers in whlch
/ they were encased gold chain about I'VE
/ inches long was found: Thls gold chain 9nd
! the trousers were identified by Charles q. KEEL
] lost brother, and at the CorOner's inquest a
| leweller from Babylon swore that he mended
| that Identical chain for Kelsey about two months
| before he disappeared. This same jury had
before il man who lived at lloyd's Beach. who
swore that on the night OF the tarrng and
feathering of Kelsey he heard a wagon rattle
down 10 the beach at about "a A. NJ He fur
Their testified that he heard the noise Of Ours in
the rowlocks Of yaw shortly alter the wagon
! departed, and the noise faded away in the DIS
lance over tho bay Next morning, when he
| went abroad from the house. he Inspected the
| road. and found the tracks of Il wagon running
from 1t on to the beach and at the terminus Of the
! track he found white linen shirt clutted with
gore. This garment was also identified 10y the
family Of Kelsey as the property Of their lost
| relative. To complete the symmetry OF the case
and round the outline Of the evidence Deacon
| Wood testified that he saw Kelsey tarr"d and
featherrd. With all this evidence at hand the
authorities of Suffolk county have failed 70
fasten the crime on any one.
Prom, World Rsi,fsr', htrrt0s r6h cre' G. Kicy Siter
"Do you really think that the men who began
the outrage by tlrring and feathering him
meant to Kill him p
"Of course they did. Oh they meant 10 get
the breath out Of his body that night He was
carried away by that girl. and that cost him his
II don't think" William Kelsey interrupted
that DR.. Banks and Mrs. Oakley knew wha
was going To happen-that is, that Charley wa.
going 10 be- kilied-hut think that others did.
Have you made UP your mind who The
guilty persons ur"t'
ON, most Of them could be named by any
body In the village. The worst ones are not fai
on. but thcre are Influential men in it, and they
have banded together 10 protect one another
They have spent great deal Of money in on,
way and another-many thousands Of dollars
Royal Sammis does not live in the yillag,
any more believer"
Oh no. He moved away q long time ago an,
went 10 the city-Brooklyn. believe. The folk
down there used to bother him and his wife 81
much that they couldn't stand II. They used 4
find notices stuck up on their door almost ever
morning.