The Portland daily press., 1895-04-29
Only Three Days After the Disappearance
"A Boy Declares He Saw the Hat Two
Days Before 1t Was Found-The Spec
tacle of Sundays Search.
Especial to the PRESS

Especial to the PRESS.
Raymond, April as..-The whe.eab bouts of
Henry Britton. who disappeared from his
home in this village, two weeks ago today,
is still as much mystery as ever. but the
proceedings here today show that the desire
to clear up this mystery is still very strong
among Raymond people and that the sus-
picion that Henry Britton is no longer
living and that he died violent death by
means of foul play. is gaining strength.
In front of the Central House. better
known as Smiths hotel. this morning.
there had gathered by nine o'clock a crowd
OF about thirty men and boys. There were
dozen or more teams, on one of which,
driven by George Knights. were two fat
bottomed boats. AT about nine o'clock. the
of teams and pedestrians of the Casco road,
bound for the Delean house on the shore of
beautiful Panther pond.
Among the pedestrians were Harry and
Joe Delean. who had come down to the
hotel that morning. They decidedly
Spanish looking young men. Both have
rich. brown compilations and look strong
and healthy. Joe. the youngest. is decided
their neighbors who could not help having
some suspicion that they knew more about
Henry Britton's disappearance than any
one else, must have been embarrassing to
them. But to all appearance they evinced
no consciousness that they were regarded
in any different light than any one else.
Joe was very merry. laughing quite loudly
at any pleasantly that occurred. and greet
ing young companions very cordially.
On the walk up to the pond he acted more
like school boy going home from school
than anything else. throwing rocks and per-
forming various antics, as if in the best of
spirits. He even produced an harmonica
and played some tunes, and when asked
what the name of one of them was. replied
that it was one be had just made up. and
hadn't named it.
Harry. the older brother. was much
quieter, but appeared entirely natural
''much more natural than | would act.'
said one man, ''if l was one of the last men
that saw Harry Britton. even If was inno-
cent"
They took down the fence, close to the
| Delean house and the procession kept on to
the high bank OF he lake. The boats were
launched, the grapnels and dragging hooks
got ready, the boat belonging to the Delean
brothers was pressed into service, and the
dragging of the bottom of the lake was be-
gun. sheriff Plummer was an occupant of
one of the boats. The greater part of the
crowd then began TO search the woods
across the road from the Delean house and
farther up the shore of the lake.
| The principle cause of this dragging of
the lake was the fact that information
came Saturday that man named Cyrus
| Decker of Casco. had driven down by the
shore of the lake at about midnight on We'd
nesday night, next after the stormy sun
day. He declared that at a point on the
road about half mile above the Delean
house he looked out over the lake and saw
light at point just off the end of High
| Head, which is on the other side of the
cove, directly in tie rear of the Dolean
house. Just off this point is the deepest
part of the lake, where the water is about
sixty feet deep. and where smelts are
caught in the winter. What could anyone
be doing out in the lake at that time of
night with lght2 They weren't fishing
| for smelts. because in the spring the sirelts
are caught at the mouths of the brooks.
| Later in the forenoon Decker. himself,
with two other men, came down from the
| head of the lake in a boat that he had
ha ruled overland. and began to drag in about
the place where he was sure he saw the
light. Two other boats came from other
parts of the lake. and at one time there
were six boats, four of which were dragg
| ing the bottom.
| 1t was like hunting for a needle in hay
stack to be sure. but the people of Raymond
are determined to clear up this mystery
about Henry Britton if searching for him
will do it.
| At about the middle of the afternoon the
dragging of the bottom was abandoned. ex-
cept by Decker's boat, which kept passing
back and forth till late hour. AS the boats
came ashore at the rear of the Delean
| house, over fifty men and boys were
assembled there, having come from all
around to join in the search or to crafty
| their curiosity.
If Britton's body is in the lako it hasn't
| been found yet, and the bottom might be
dragged for E. .long time and the body not be
caught if it is there, unless there is good
| luca.
| The mystery is deeper than ever. and the
| towns people are more and more perpieXad
| and disturbed about it. Another fact sde-
| yeloped yesterday. that makes the situation
more perplexi1g. Among the crowd on the
Britton farm yesterday, was a boy named
Butler, who had come down from his home
farther up in the country on a bicycle. It
was soon learned that this boy had seen
Brittons hat lying beside the road Ewhere it
was found by Elijah Edwards week ago
Friday. But the boy had seen the hat on
the forenoon of the Wednesday previous to
that Friday. He was driving up from Ray
mond village with load.of hay. and saw
the hat lying down on the slope of the
| bank.
10 test the boy. Deputy Sheriff Cook of
| Casco, told him to get into his team and
| they drovesdown the road together. He told
the boy TO let him know when they reached
the spot where he saw the hat. They drove
| on and the boy stopped the team at the
| right place. and located the place he saw
| the hat ut just about the spot where it was
| found.
| This seems to dispose of the theory that
the hat had been placed there, because it
must have been found by the searohers.