The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1895-04-18
BARREL MYSTERY SOLVED.
The Body Was That of Davidson, the
Alliance Murderer-HOw it
Came There.

Curt Davidson was the source of endless
trouble and sorrow in life and even in death
his bones are the cause of commotion in the
community. The mystery of the man in the
BARREL discovered in Plain township has been
solved and it is Davidson.
A couple of NEWS reporters went to the
scene of the find at 4 o'clock Monday after
noon. Coroner McQuate had already arrived
and was busy stirring the bores of the deceas.
ed with long stick. He finally concluded
the bones had belonged to a man and let it go
at that. The flesh was all Off the bones and
the skull was sawed in the manner employed
in the dissecting room. There were only six
teeth in the lower jaw and these were badly
ground off, showing that they had belonged to
man of advanced age.
After the coroner had viewed the remains he
had them tumbled back into the barrel and
left them to be dumped back in the swamp.
The case was discovered by Christ Hauter
who lives on the Oberlin farm near the coal
bank. He was going home from town and
noticed the barrel in the swamp which is about
200 yards from the Middlebranch road ON the
Harrisburg road. and concluded he would get
the cask for swill barrel. He knocked in the
head and made the startling discovery that the
barrel was inhabited by the corpse of a man.
When the barrel was placed in the swamp is
not known. John Rufner says he saw it Fri
day and Philip Haubert of this city saw il also
on Friday but no one remembers of it being
there before
Last night News man was approached by
teamster on the street and asked where the
barrel with the body in it had been found. He
was told south Of town. 81 am glad of 1t.
Then its not the barrel l hauled out Last
week the man who owns the building where
DIR. Pyle had his hospital gave me a quarter to
haul barrel away from the house. took it
north of town and threw it in swamp
was afraid that was the barrel" Some one
came along the street just then and spoke to
the NEWS man. and the teamster got away
before anything more could be learned from
him. The reporter called on DR.. Pyle and
asked him in regard to the barrel and related
the circumstance. "Yes," said the doctor,
that IS my barrel and would like to have it
back. That barrel contained the skeleton of
Davidson the man who murdered Birdie
Baugh at Alliance and afterward died in the
Jail. l had put him in a pickle of potash to
clean the bones and had put head in the bar
rel. l wanted to articulate the skeleton.
When l moved l did not have time to get the
barrel away. / had spent considerable labor
on that body and l wish l had the bones back
again. Yes that is Davidson"
This is fitting ending to one Of the most
iendish crimes ever committed in Stark
county. Birdie Baugh was bright intelligent
young woman of Alliance, who was outraged
and murdered by Davidson, man whom her
father had taken in and befriended when he
was without money or friends. After com
mitting the horrible crime he cut his own
throat and fingered for a number of days in
the Jail suffering untold agony from his self
inflicted wound. After his death the body
was claimed by the doctors of the city. The
brain was taken by some of the local doctors
and the remainder of the body turned over to
Dr. Pyle. The doctor took the body to his
hospital and was preparing the skeleton for
future use. Now all the remains of the
murderer have been dumped into the slime
and filth of swamp.