The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1889-09-22
STONY.

mor8orer 80 ~ AWfol hbroah.
A Sudden death i'm this ou~t-of-thc-way
sown during the latter part Of last week,
says q Randolph IN. H. letter to h
Brooklyn CSfix~a, was the means Of bring
ing On light u remarkably wciri narrative
closely resembling that sO graphically de-
scribrl ny Irving i'm 1.-THE Bells" Last
Thursday Jchn Longnecker, n native at
New York state, b,t for SO years a r,si.
dent Of this vicinity. was found dead I'm
the morning when the neighbDrs, won
slering az his absence, forced I'm his bid
room door. He was half drrSsed. and
was discovered lying crouchcd i'm the cor
ner Of the room. facing am open door,
which led into am adjoining apartment
used as n bath room. The dead mans
features were horribly contorted, and the
eyes were rid open and almost popping
open and fringed with froth. while the
distendssi arms and open fingers showed
death tn have ens,Issl while he had been
imaginary horror. The corpse had all
the appearance of having suffered terri
bile agony as IL faced by "a dreadful appari-
the oruner. that Mr.. Longnecker had ex-
pircd in "a convulsivc fit, evidently caused
by fright.
means, left no near relatives, 50 the cor
oner held hut a brief inquest. IL the med
ical examination could he SO called. No
unusual interest was attached to the cir
cumstanccs. except two W hich
were that Mr.. Longnecker WAS known
never To have allowed himself to bc left
alone i'm the dark. and, being popularity
known AS ''the man who could not sleep
in the dark" caused general ON
The morniug he was found dead. and
REALLY led to the examination of his prem
ises, and also the report of several bclated
farmers, who. passing his house shortly
after midnight; had noticed that
as IT, had always been wont. tn.
The night previous. "Wednesday, had been
disturbed by. a sharp thunderstorm about
wind gust. The lamp I'm the dead mans
room was found to be standing in it's ac-
s.aistosned place on n stand before the
manned SO during the entire night, for the
tioor was damp where the rain had blown
in. Papers scattered over the hoDr and ~
lamp had suddenly been blown out. The
coroner had decided that Mr.. Long
necker had died after midnight, so the
self that, as usual, the deceased had gone
To sleep partly undressed. as was his cus-
tom, and had awakened tai find himself i'm
the dark, and before he could relight u
lamp, as was his evident intention flor
matches were strewed all over the floor
where his body layI. he had faced some
s.upicd room, and, retrcating before IT,,
sank into the corner i'm which he died.
Mr.. L~ongnecker was buried by his
n~cighbors without comnlcnt or grief, hut
the strange circumstances surrounding his
death led to n little journalistic investiga-
ton OF his anteceslents, and the result was
discovered that the dead man Ind once
been suspected of murder, aud that, too,
OF u beautiful girl. his ward, by drowning.
hut had for several reasons never been ar
rested or tried, and succeeded i'm ontlivinR
the odium which attached itself to him ut
the time. The result at inquiries among
the older inhabitants and the court records
for two days, by being put together, was
the following strange tale.
Mr.. LonRnscker was ~ years old when
he died, having been born on Long island,
and coming To Randolph when quite "a
young man, inheriting his large farm from
a bachelor g~reat-uncle. He was n very
nncommunicative man and kept much tai
himself. After residing alone on the farm
for two years he suddenly left, aging he
was going To New York, and n month later
returned, bringing with him a very pretty
blue-eyed girl. aged about 4 years. He
said he had adopted hcr out Of "a Brooklyn
orphan asylum, and that her name was
Mabel Marcai thai she Was "a foIndiing.
the first day of that month. The
chance to say much for herself; but she is
known to have told the doctor that Long
necker was her cousin, and she was heard
Time went ON until about 1850. when Ma
bel March had grown To he N beautiful
woman. discovered her.eif to he in love
young FrrnchCanadian farmer, whose
place Gdjoined LonRneckcr's. They met
secretly for some time, hut bcing discov-
cred 10y her guardian, there was "a terrible
scene. L~ongncckcr swore he would shoot
chaplain on sigh III he caught him adj
dressing Miss March,, and this getting
abroad il became Rossipcd about
that L~ongneckcr loved his warl
and intended her for himself.
Al any rate he appcarl to he
come insanely jealous of the girl.
and from that day up to the tragedy
haunted the girls very footsteps. IL was
ON the night of the 10Th of July, 1s5l. that
the crisis occurred. He had tn go away
some hours OH business. and his absence
was taken advantage of by by the lovers
to meet. They were seen just after sunset
going towards AN old abandoned lumber
mill on the Morse river, the stream which
waters the town, which had evidently been
their trysting place. In the meanwhile
L~onRnecker returned. and, finding
the girl absent. dashed ont of the
house in search of her. He ~
turned, according to the bookkecper, at u
late hour. went straight tai his room, and
WAS heard walking the room all night
long sobbing aloud. The next day when
hc came out his hair was as white as
SHOW. and so il ever remained. The next
day, the girl not appearing. the alarm was
given by LonRnccker himself, and Il gem
eral search was made. finally after n
three days hunt, the body of Mabel
March was found i'm the old mill-race.
having been strangled To death and then
thrown in the water. Clutched in her
hand was a piece of cloth the
color of the clothing her lover was
known To wear. and. as hC