News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1888-08-30
ONE MANS SIN AND FOLLY.
A Tragedy that left a Village Unin-
habited

In one of the most romantic spots in
| the valley of the Lycoming Creek is o
| ruined village,a crumbling iron furnace,
O sunken iron mine, and -choked,
abandoned coal mine. They were built
over thirty years ago at n cost of many
thousand dollars The workmen who
were to dwell in the cottages were ready
to move into them, and the furnace was
ready to put in blast, but bloody trag-
edy, the result of rich mans sin and
folly, destroyed all the hopes that were
centered in the place, and desolation and
ruin claimed it for their own. The story
of that strange village IS now recalled
by the report that outside capitalists
intend to purchase the property and
probably restore it.
The name of the villageis Gainesville.
It was built by Richard Carter, man
who came to this country common
Cornish miner, and rose to be q
leading fnancier and iron laster. When
he built CaTters9llleand the furnace he
was President of the old Anthracite
Bank at Tamaqua, Schuylkill county.
He stood high in all the coal regions as
q man of honor and integrity, aud not
whisper had ever been uttered against
his moral character. He had married
into one of the leading families of the
region. Two or three years before he
built Gainesville he became acquainted
with John McCauley of Lancaster
county. McCauley had a handsome
and vivacious 16-year-old daughter. His
reputation in business was not good,
and he was bankrupt. In spite of this
Carter advanced him the capital to en-
gage extensively in the iron business in
Luzerne county, an act which was not
explained until three years later. The
iron enterprise was failure, and Garter
lost heavily through McCauley. In the
mean time Carter had become interested
i'll the Lycoming county undertaking,
the Red Run Coal Company having
opened a rich coal mine there, and o
valuable deposit of iron ore having been
discovered. Before the work was com
pleted McCauley died. He died penni-
less, but his daughter lived in style
that betokened the possession of means,
and soon after her fathers death entered
q highly fashionable college in Whining
ton, Del.
Cartersville was ready to be occupied
and the furnace to be lighted in the fall
of 1857. Carter went to Philadelphia
on business connected with his furnace
in November, 1857, and the blast was to
be started ON his return. He was stay
ing at hotel on Chestnut street. One
day as he was there he was joined in the
reading room by young man, a strang-
er to the hotel people. He and Carter
sat down together and were soon engaged
in a low but animated conversation.
Suddenly the young man drew pistol
cI, 70 1,of
the latter could rise from his chair. Car
ter fell to the floor mortally injured, and
the stranger fired two more shots into
his body as he lay dying. Carter was
dead before he could be lifted from the
floor. The murderer was arrested. He
gave his name as Thomas Washington
Smith. The developments that followed
the tragedy were almost as great shock
to the coal regions and the extended
in which the murdered man
was known as was the murder itself. 1t |
was revealed that Carter had supported |
Miss McCauleY, both in sui out of col /
lege, and it was charged that she was |
the price of his interest in her father. |
A few months before his murder he had |
in some way made the aSJuaintance of |
Thomas Washington Smith, who had |
moved in good society IN Lancaster, and |
was connected with Philadelphia pub |
fishing house. Carter had introduced |
Smith to Miss McCauley, and the young
man fell in love with the girl, and not
long afterward married her. In a short !
time afterward he made the discovery
that his wife was soon. to become q
mother. He learned of her relations
with Carter, and that he was the father
of her child. Smith left his wife, and
meeting Carter in Phila-
delphia, charged him with having de-
deceived and disgraced him,
and then fired his murderous shots.
The dwellings of Cartersville were
never inhabited, nor the furnace ever
lighted. The mines were abandoned,
and all that remains of the village and
furnace is a pile of crumbling, over
grown ruins.