The Portland daily press., 1895-04-22
A GREAT MYSTERY
Strange Disappearance Of
Henry Dritton.
SUNDAY OF EXCITEMENT AT
RAYMOND.
A Hundred Men Search the River
and Woods.
THE REMARKABLE FINDING OF
HAT AND UMBRELLA.

Britton Had Made Sunday Call at the
| Home of Joseph Delean, a Spaniard-
Since Then He Has Not Been Seen
| Much Excitement and Suspicion.
| Sunday was day of excitement in Ray
mond. A hundred men were beating up the
forests and dragging the river. in the hope
of finding some trace of Henry Britton.
People came from the neighboring towns,
and smiths famous hotel had about it an
air of metropolitan hustle. The The men
in long skirmish linea.s with intervals of
about rod. swept over acres of woods.
fields and bogs. Then the water of Panther
stream was drawn down by opening the
dam gates. and its bed was minutely in
| spected.
| Raymond village is pretty little hamlet
nesting on the shores of sebago Lake.
Driving into the village from Portland one
crosses small stream which flows from
Panther pond to the lake. distance of
about a mile. Beyond the stream is the
main village, which lies between the lake
and Panther's pond and from about the CEN
ter of the village, there runs road which
| skirts the shore of the pond, being distant
| from 1t a bout quarter of mile. There
are few houses on this road which runs
! through patches of woodland and fields 1t
is lonesome place on pleasant day, and
must be dark and gloomy indeed on a
| stormy night.
! ABOUT a mile from the village on the road
| to East Raymond is the small house where
Henry Britton has lived alone since the
| tdeath of his father, four years ago. Brltton
was 27 years old, d young man of fine ap
pearance, weighing about l75 ponds. indus
trious and of goud habits. save that he
could not let rum alone. He had no
parents. Mrs. 4. P. Hanson of Gorham, is
a half sister. Britton being her mothers son
| by second husband. Mrs. Margaret Mason,
who lives In tie village. is sister of the
late Mrs. Britton and BIi,ton's aunt. Brit
| ton kept house by himself, and did SO very
neatly, it is said. He occasionally went to
Gorhnm to visit Mrs Hanson, but as a rule
| lived quietly at home. save for his occasion
al sprees. When drunk lie was occasionally
quarrelsome. but his neighbors, know ing
his many good traits. referred to his loro of
| liquor as Els only fault. 1t has apparently
been the cause of his death, for since the
stormy Easter Sunday Britton
| HAS NOT BEEN SEEN ALIVE,
have been fruitless.
A mile and a quarter from Raymond
village, on the lonely road skirting the
shore of Panther pond. lives Mrs. Joseph
| Delean, and her two sons, Harry and
Joseph. aged about twenty and eighteen
years. respectively. Mrs Delean is a
! - L -
Scotch descent. Her husband is seafar-
ing man and his voyages take him frequent
ly from home for a long time. Delean
generally ships as cook. He is Spaniard
and tie dark skin and hair of his two sons
show their Spanish origin. 1t was to the
Delean houss that Britton went on Easter
Sunday. All that is known of his move
ments after he left the village is what the
Deleans tell. The house is story and a
half structure containing only few rooms.
There are barn and hen house adjoining.
The interior of the house is al present in a
great state of confusion, as Mrs. Delean is
having the rooms repastered and various
other repairs made.
1t is said by the people here that the
Delean house has been quite place OF re
sort, and that Mrs. Delean has made a bust
ness of keeping bait and selling it to Il sher-
men who have made her house the starting
point for their expeditions. MANY stories
are told il the village of occurrences at the
De1ean house, and it is even alleged that
Mrs. Delean has been known 10 take hand
in some discussions which were SO vigorous
that blows emphasized the arguments.
In going from his house to the yillape
Britton was in the habit of crossing Panther
pond by a foot bridge consisting of a single
plank thirty six feet long and about eleven
inches WIDE One of the theories to account
for his disappearance is that he fell from
this plank while returning intoxicated from
the Delean place and was drowned. Mon
day, according to the statement of Joseph
Delean. Britton's broken umbrella was
found on the lonely road leading from the
Delean place to the village. and Friday his
hat was discovered at the edge OF bog by
the side of the road, and still nearer the
village.
Stakes have been placed to show the exact
spots where the umbrella and hat We're
found. The umbrella lay by the side of the
road, about quarter OF mile from the
Deiean's at point equally distant from the
next nearest house, that of Mr.. Luther
Longley. On the side of the road where the
umbrella lay is stretch of woodland. The
handle. which had been broken from the
umbrella, was found a short distance away
On the other side of the road. Opposite the
paaGe pa Where the umbrella lay is stone
wall, and on one of the stones IN this
wadl Wal are marks apparently made not long
ago by charge OF shot
FROM A GUN OR PISTOL.
One or two pellets of shot were found on
lItne ground by this rock.