The Cecil Whig., 1882-11-25
WHO WAS HE ?
THE STORY OF A STRANGE MAN.
And the Discovery OF an Unrecognized
Skeleton.

And the Discovery OF an Unrecognized
Skeleton
The discovery of human skull and the
fragments of 4 man 5 skeleton, in the woods
attached to the " Groome farm, on which
Mr. Hyland Marcus resides, was a little
episode, last week, which has excited very
general speculation in Ekton as TO the
presence there of these inevitable reminders
of mans mortality. We have no intention,
in taking space 10 give the facts relative to
the discovery of this skull and bones, to
get up merely sensational newspaper
story, but simply to give the facts :. record,
with a possibility that its publicity in Tie
Wing may lead TO the uuravelng Of the
mystery, and to the final recognition of
these remains.
About three years ago, in the month of
November, as well as BE can recall the
date Mr.. Marcus accompanied by Edward
Jones. an employee of his, We're passing
through a piece of wood, on the lower edge
of the farm, bordering nearly upon the old
New Castle and Frenchtown turnpike,
when Jones attention was called to a mans
vest hanging upon a bush, n short distance
from the edge of the cart road along which
they We're passing. 1t proved TO he gar
ment of dark cloth-posSibly blue-murh
weather worn, and not being of much value
carried to the house by Mr. Jones and
thrown careiessly over a fence. The find
ing of the vest excited no particular cem-
ment at the time, as this piece of woods
was much frequented by guuners, and by
other persons passing through it, it lying so
close upon tue turnpike. About a month
afterwards, however, Jones, in passing
through the same woods, being engaged in
wood choppns near by, found an old pair
of pants, the material OF which was much
similar il appearance to that of the vest, it
being dark in color, but weather beaten and
having the appearance Of long exposure.
THIS second lind was talked of some
what AT the farm house, but no suggestion
was made as to any identity Of ownership
between them and the vest But short
time interviewed, however, before Jones
pair OF shoes being picked up by him, not
exactly in the same spot in which he had
previously found the other garments, but
very close hr Still the idea Of the pres
ence of Il
DEAD BODY IN THE WOODS
did not Occur 10 either Mr.. Marcus or to
Jones They talked of the three articles al
the time, the opinion being that they We're
warn out garments abandoned by some
passing traveller or tramp, and in little
lime the recollection of them faded ont.
Nothing was heard by them any one else,
SO far as We know, Indicating that any
thing GnusUai had happened! in the woods,
or that anything was there other than they
had seen. \ year later, however, Il third
person had passed through the same piece
of woods, Who, strange to say, made so
little publicity Of what he saw. Peter Mil
burn, a very respectable colorcH man, and
one whose veracity no man who knows
him would doubt, whIle Cunning, passed
along the cart road on which these gar
meEts had been picked mp, about Il year
previous, by Jones' and saw very distinctly
pieces of dark blue matcrial-parts of n
shirt poSSihir-and saw, moreover, what
Jones had not Seeu,-a human SKULL and a
n"ne OF two lying around, with some others
here and there partially covered by the
leaves. Peter says it made him feel
a LITTLE tI FER
to see this white grinning skull lying there
. beaChed aS white as when found BY Others
two years LATER hut still he did not, he
SAYS, keep the discovery secret He told
Mr. Tobias Rudolph of il, whom he met
the same day cunning. Mr.. W. A Wright,
in EIht"n, ana possibly others, all of whom
II seems, regarded Peters discovery as a
case OF mistaken identity is to bones and
skull, aud no step was taken to investigate
the mysterious depths of this piece Of " ood-
land. The fact OF the matter is that Peter
in cGmnon with his countrymen, and coun-
trywomen, too, has a most SuperStitious
respect for dead mems skulls. and always
treats them "distantly." Being no re-
srecter Of skulls, he treated this one lust as
hs would Ill others, except his 0wr-'.with
reserve From that day, 50 far as tx.
world knows until last week. no one ever
dreamed that Marcus woods contained a
grinning skull, whose presence there has as
yet received nn satisfactory solution. Fate
would have it, however, that Jones was to
make the tina. discovery, that was to rack
the brains OF Elk;Gn scientists, puzzle the
wits of the local qudnuncS, and make the
last and richest contribution to " Arts"
museum Of anatomical curiosities. So on
Friday last Qucky day ii was that Mr.
Jones saw something glistening through
the leaves that attracted his attention. He
called his colored companion, who with
him had been choppng wood close by, and
they made the mutual discovery that has
since disturbed the speculative mind OF
! Elkton, In short, they found
y HUMAN SKULL,
with most of the vertebrr and ribs attach
ed and one thigh bone, the arm and lower
leg bones being absent. Scattered around
! were small portions of a dark material re-
semblng cloth or thick flannel, being very
probably parts of flannel shirt or under
Sdi iheii. W liHhuI stopping 10 discuss the
probable nationality of the former owner
of the bones, they hurried TO the house to
inform Mr.. Marcus of their discovery-
Mr. Marcus accompanied the men to the
woods and then came back the recollection
that three years previous had been found,
nearly in the same spot, Il vest, shoes and
pants. Next to TIE shape of the articles
was tt.eir color. "A dark bjUe. AS Will pres
emily appear, This color has something to
4" i'll weaving the story that may some day
iN the identify of the man who, in the
shade Of Marcus woods, passed as Geenes
Frazer would say, into
UNSYLLABLED OBLIVION"
Tn Saturday, the remains We're brought
to Dr. Mitchel's museum. An improvised
faculty of anatomical EXPERTS consisting OF
Doctors ,Jamac, Tuft, Mitchell, Bratton,
Wells and Charnberlaine all agreed that
the Skull was that of a white man, from
| forty to forty-tive years of age, the condi-
tion Of the teeth giving the latter indica