Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1885-12-25
PROBABLE MURDER.
Mysterious Disappearance Of Citizen
Of this County.

| Cince FRIDAY morning last great excite
ment has existed in the community adjacen
to the Seventh street pike, between Olne,
and Washington, over the mysterious dis
appearance Of Mr.. Philip II. Haviland
which occurred on Thursday night of las
week. A reporter of the Washington Post
who visited the locality on Monday last
gives the following interesting particular
of the affair, which will doubtless give more
satisfaction to the general reader than the
detached statements of different persons
Mr. Haviland, up to last Wednesday after
noon, lived at Muncaster's Mill, about six
miles north of Wheaton, in Montgomery
county, where he carried on the business Of
a miller. On that afternoon he hitched up
his team preparatory to visit to this city
lie placed in his wagon a piece of mill shaft.
ing which needed some repairing. The
Monday previous Mr.. Bond, neighbor
had paid him sixty dollars in silver, and
this money he took with him to change for
paper. 1t is possible he may have had con-
siderably more coin about his person, but
this point is not clearly established When
he left his home he was apparently in the
best health and spirits.
Nothing is known of his movements be-
tween that time and Thursday evening a
few minutes before9. Then he drove through
the Sligo toll-gate, and as the gatckeeper,
VIM Davis, came ont at the sound of the
approaching footsteps Haviland said jocose.
ly to him: 81 see you will have that twenty
cents" Davis made some testing reply
Haviland paid the money and drove on.
Fifty yards north of the tollgate is the
country store of A. l.. Graeves. Here Havi.
land pulled up, alighted from his wagon
and walked into the store. lie exchanged
pleasant salutations with the Graeves broth
ers and some other men present and bought
a few cents worth of crackers. He COM
menced to eat these, then bought some
cheese. After eating these he purchased
some cakes. To all appearances he was the
same as usual, and the testimony of Davis,
Graeves and others leaves no doubt that the
man was perfectly sober How long Havi-
land sat in the store eating his frugal supper
cannot be accurately determined, but it is
almost certain that half an hour would be
the outside limit, while, in all probability,
it was less. Davis says that Haviland passed
through the gate few minutes before 8;
MIR. Graeves says he went to bed at 0:15,
feeling tired, and men who were in the
store think Haviand left very shortly after
ward. He was seen to get into his wagon
and drive in the direction of his home.
Except for the piece of shafting already
mentioned and small can of coal oil the
wagon is supposed TO have been empty
Therefore, Haviland should have trotted the
distance between Sligo and Wheaton in
half an hour easily. The pike is in fine
condition. The night was just keen enough
to warm mans blood. The light from the
moon would show any approaching vehi-
Gle, so good driver would have no fear of
driving his pole through the tailboard Of
any conveyance in front of him. On both
sides of the road are fields, probably run
ming back 500 yards east and west; a dense
growth Of scrubby pines, locally known as
"mashes" when there are swamps, form the
background to these fields, and stand forth
sombre and gruesome, while out OF their
heavy shadows the moonlight evolves fan
tastic shapes
II should be remembered that if the driver
were awake an assassin, unless he used
firearm, must have been visible to his victim
long before he could come near enough to
him to do his deadly work. 1t is hardly
possible that murderer standing concealed
in the sadows of the pines would use gun
or pistol, for the risk of detection and the dis
lance would be too great. There is one other
tenable hypothesis: The man might have
fallen asleep on his box. A light post-and-
rail fence separates the fields from the road,
but 1t affords no concealment.
On Thursday night Ernest Fuller, who
works ON a. farm near Wheaton, left the
church entertainment with a young lady
and took road which brought him out on
the pike some 300 yards north of the post.
office He is reported to have seen team
and wagon standing on one side OF the road
and something which looked like bundle
lying on the ground near the horses This
was between 10 and II O'Clock. Fuller
escorted the young lady home and re-
traced his steps; when he came to the spot
team and bundle were both gone. The Post
reporter failed To find Mr. Fuller yesterday.
There is a difference of opinion as TO whether
Fuller did see what he supposed TO be u
bundle, and many people think he mstook
a shadow for a substance.
About the same time Mr.. Fuller was es-
corting home his young lady, about 1890,
George Plyer, the postmaster at Wheaton,
was returning from the same entertainment,
concert at the church on Mitchelrs Cross
roads, distant probably three quarters of
mile from Wheaton postoflice. With Mr..
Plyer in his wagon were his wife, his three
young children, Miss Jennie Giddings, u
young lady who lives with the Plyers, and
Miss Minnie johnson, who was stopping
with them on that evening The night was
clear, cold and bright The moon was in
its ful, and cast such a slvery radiance over
the country that objects could be seen al
most as wildly as in daytime. AS the
wagon drove up 10 the pOstoffice, which Is
also the village general store, and in the
back part Of which the postmasters family
lives, one of the children said: "See, papa,
there's wagon stopping there and she
pointed to dark object some 200 yards on
the road 10 the north of them. To the re-
mark of another child that nobody would
he out travelling at SO late an hour, the first
one, with all of a woman's powerful logic:
"Why, amt we out travelling lateY' Then
they got out and went in the house A little
later Miss Giddings and Miss johnson went
TO bed. 1t was about Ills when the young
ladies heard what they supposed TO be a cry
for help. In second il was repeated and
then once more they heard it, They paid
no particular attention TO the cries, because
the negroes around there are always making
night hideous with their howlings, and ex
cept for subsequent events it would prob
ably have passed unnoticed.
John Bowman is the son-in-laW oi MIR.
Quinter, who lives on the pike, about u
mile north Of Wheaton. That night his
mother-in-law was sick and very wakeful,
and about IL o'clock she told Bowman that
she saw team stopping outside the gate.
Quinter went out and found a driverless
wagon. Thinking that some farmer had
met with mishap, he stabbed II until he
could hear from the owner. The fact was
reported in Wheaton on Friday, but nobody
recognized the team as being known in that
neighborhood. The wagon was Of pecu-
liar make, and person having once seen 1t
would know it, no matter where he next
saw IL. 1t has three poles, and with the ex
ception OF the bolts has no iron about il.
The springs arc Of wood, and an expert yes
terday gave IL rs his opinion that Hayiland
must have made il himself and bent the
Springs" out of green hickory.
While the wagon was being critically
gazed at some one made the startling dis
coyery that there were spJts OF blood On the
dashboard aad splinter-bar. Instantly ex
element became intense. Wheaton had
never had such Il sensation in the memory
of the Oldest inhabitant, and the wise men
a