The Middleburgh post. [volume] (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) 1883-1916, 1886-10-07
A MYsTIFIED VILLAGE.

II
Ton or twelve years ago The above
Inquiries were passed around in q
certain thriving Illinois village, and
while some meu replied with snecr,
others looked troubled aud anxious.
AS for the women and children,
they spoke in whispers, aud looked
about them, even in Daylight, as il
expecting to be attached.
There had been some curious do
ings in and around tho village for
several weeks previous. The first
alarm occurred on coritan THURS
day night. There had been pray
er meeting at Methodist church,
aud among the people who atteuded
was a midd.e-aged woman Eamed
Lee. She was not feeling well, and
she left before the service was over.
She lived on q retired street half n
mile away, and half an hour after
she left the church man passing
over the route sue had taken found
her lying sensele on the path. Her
bonnet had been snatched off aud
torn into fragments. Her shoes
had been removed and flung into
the roa =. A set of false teeth had
been taken from her mouth aud
stamped into tho ground aud de-
stro. ed.
" heu the woman revived she had
but little to tell iu explr uaticu
Some ono had struck her behind tic
ear, making d great bruise, but no,
breaking the skin. She had not
heard his approach, nor did she
catch sight of any one. She was
walking quietly along, when, al! oi
y sudden, she lost Consciousness,
aud sue had been in that condition
about fifteen minutes when found
by tho pedestrian spoken Of. The
woman had no enemies. No Que
bad assaulted her for the purpose o!
robbery. She had not been assault
ed beyond the removal Of tue ar
ticles mentioned. 1t was such q
singular affair that it set everybod,
20 talking and spcculating but u,
arrests were made Indeed, it was
impossible to direct suspicion to-
ward nm, body.
In about week tho public wns
further alarmed and ,nys,iiioI. Tho
Aife Of villager namo PG,ker step
ped out to the well nbont half past
o'clock in the evening TO draw Il
pail Of water She was working Tue
handle Of the pump when hand
clutched her neck. Before she
could scream out she was whiiled
around aud flung down with such
force tLat she was stunned. At
near as could be figured she was
sepseless for four or five minutes.
During that time her hair was pull-
ed down and cut off short, her hoes
were pulled off and flung into the
we'll, aud n quantity OF soft soap was
taken from a kettle near by and
smeared over her clothing. The
hair which had been cut off was left
scattered over the ground. Mrs
PLrker had not seen her lssailant
but she know that O human hand
had clutohed her throat. The new
Outrage raised the public pulse tc
fever heat, and the most determined
efforts were made to secure clue
to the identity Of the perpetrator
Half dozen arrests were made, bu,
in each case the person was soon
discharged for want of proof &c
hold them. A detective was sent
for. but after working on the cast
for four days he was unable to picl
up single point looking toward th'
solution of the mystery.
On the tenth evening after the as
sault on Mrs. Parker Mr.. and Mrs
Lloyd were sitting in summer
house in their grounds. 1t had JUS
grown dark when Lloyd ran across
the grounds, a distance of abou
800 feet to drive away COW which
seemed determined to break in. lie
was not absent over seven or eigh
minutes. but when he returned tC
the summer house he found hil
wife lying on the floor insensible
n 4 l.