Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-02-09
VERY SINGULAR STORY.

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of the years be unveiled. however, we might
find that this remote, silent and singular tomb
held the secret of some hIdeous crime.
A VERY SINGULAR STORY.
The Tavern at Truman's Corners and its
Owner-How Old Cyrus MiIIer's
Death Affected Two of His Lifelong
Friends and Associates.
Nearly forty-fye years ago, says a Buff
faIo special to the New York Times, three
men who had been engaged IN different
callings in Buffalo, left it together to
seek their fortunes elsewhere. Cyrus
Miller, aged 80, was blacksmith: Lewis
Dorr, five years older, was a carpenter,
and John A. Merritt, about the same age
as Miller, was a sawyer. Miller had
$4,000 in money, and the other two had
but few dollars. DORIS wifp and two
children had been lost by the sinking
of a propeller on Lake Erie
few months before. Miller and Mer-
rett We're each unmarried. They
left Buffalo with the intention of going
to the lumber regions of Western Penn
sylYania. Ou their way they stopped
over night at a small village dalled Tru-
mans Corners. There were no railroads
in that part of PENNSYLVANIA at that time,
tant stage-cOach station. 1t was on the
''Old State road" and several local turn
pixies branched off in different directions.
Miller believed that the place offered a
good chance for him and his friends to
make money. The tavern where coaches
stopped was rickety and ill-kept hostel
ry, and many travellers preferred to stand
the discomfort Of several hours night
ride in the coaches rather than put up
with the accommodations at the Corners.
Miller talked the landlord of the tavern
into selling him the place and some ada
cent property along Truman's Creek. He
tore down the old tavern and hired Lewis
Dorr to build him a new one, twice the
size of the old one. Miller ran the hotel
himself, and it soon became one OF the
most famous stopping places along the
State route. Miller married a young wO-
man of the village year after he came
to the place.
Besides the hotel, Miller built a saw
mill on his creek property and installed
John A. Merritt in 1t as sawyer. Miller
grew rich, and both his friends, Merritt
and Dorr, prOspered. Merritt also mar
RED, but DOrr remained single. He took
a room in the tavern he built for Miller,
and never changed it for another one nor
slept in another place. He boarded at the
tavern, and for fOrty-fOur years it was the
custom of Miller, DOrr and Merritt to
meet at the tavern and spend the evening
together playing euchre. No one remeDl-
bers them to have missed an evening ex-
cept Sundays, and they never sat later
than O'Clock. The close friendship of
the men was prOverbial.
Two years ago Miller'S health began to
fail and his wife died. He had but one
child, a son, and to him he decided the tav-
ern and mill properties and retired from
active business. With the ending of the
stage-cOach days the tavern had enjoyed
only moderate local trade, but it remained
in appearance Just as it had been built in
1910. and is to-day one of the few typical
Stage-cOach taverns in the State. The
saw mill. too, had outliYed its usefulness. 4
But Miller kept Sawyer Merritt at the
post where he had grown gray, and from
which he had never been absent a day
since he first started the old-fashioned up
right saw IN 1910.
William Miller, the old tavern-keeper's
son. had long been dissatisfied with life
at the Corners, and wanted to move away.
Two weeks ago he informed his father
that he intended to sell the tavern and
mill. The old man protested to no pur-
pose, and ON Monday Of last week the
title in both properties was transferred to
George Henderson,, who was to take full
possession on March 1. This was great
blow to old Mr.. Miller, as he said it had
in the house he had founded. He was
Frustrated with a nervous shock, and on
the following Thursday night he died.
His two old friends We're nearly heart
broken with grief, and for the first time
since he entered the tavern, fOrty-four
years ago, Lewis DORIS bed was unOccu-
pied on the night Mr.. Miller died. Friday
morning a girl passing over the turnpike
bridge across Truman's Creek, discovered
a man lying with his face in the water
. I NFr,r.f
laying a new floor on the bridge, and a
narrow passageway of planks was put
down for pedestrians to cross on. The
girl gave the alarm, and the body was
found TO be that of old Mr.. D0rr. He had
evidently fallen from the narrow plank
f0OtWay of the bridge, with his face in the
water, and, stunned, had drowned before
recovering consciousness. At least that
was the decision Il COr0ner's jury arrived
at, but the idea of suicide prevailed
among many.
The villagers were still discussing the
sad death of the old landlord and the
tragic taking off of Mr.. Dorr. when. on
Saturday night, for the first time in the
history of the village, the cry of 'Fire.'
was heard in its streets. A bright light
in the direction of the hollow where the
old saw mill was located drew the entire
population thither. The saw mill was in
flames. and in a short time was entirely
consumed, with its contents and the Ium-
Der piled near it. The change of owner
ship in the Miller property had indeed
been followed with startling sequels.
On Sunday morning old Sawyer Merritt
called on the new owner of the property,
who boarded at the tavern, a nd handed
him paper on which the statement was
made that the loss by the burning of the
mill and property about it amounted to
S625. on which there was no insurance.
Mr.. Merritt also stated that the mill had
lost money for the past I0years, and could
never have been made to pay again, and
asked Hendersh0t if it was true that he
had paid 800 for the property. Hender-
shot said that 1t was true.
"Then," said Merritt, 'here is the
money that it cost yOu," and he handed a
package containing that amount to Hen
dershOt. Greatly puzzled and surprised,
Henderson, asked for an explanation.
u helped build that old mill, said Mer-
ritt, land haven't missed days saving
in it from the first time | turned the wa
ter on the wheel, nearly 10 years ago, and
no other man ever sawed a log in it. Billy
Miller sold the property, aud his fathers
dead because of 1t, and | believe Uncle
Lew DOrr drowned himself because his
old friend died. All three OF us came here
together, and l knew with both the others
dead, if had to step out of that old mill
l. L
be more than | could stand, and couldn't
live a week so l set fire to it and burned
it up, and there's the money to pay for it,
Old Mr.. Miller and his dead friend were
buried at the same hour Sunday afternoon,
side by side in the village graveyard. On
Monday Henderson, told young Miller of
the confession of Sawyer Merritt, and the
payment by him of the money for the mill.
Hendershot agreed that the sale of
the mill property might be conceded. and
Miller refunded to Merritt the $780, The
old sawyer declaring that he could not
live another hour in the place, left there
for the first time since he took up his
residence in the village, and will spend
the remainder of his days with a mar
ried daughter, who lives near Buffalo,
from whose husband, an employe of the
Erie Railway, the above singular story is
obtained
Sentences Approved.