Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1896-07-31


in the Connecticut river Wednesday after
noon in the deep, still water just above the
Chesterfield suspension bridge The cir
cumstances of their death possess pecu-
liar and almost a romantic interest, and
it is safe to say that no other similar event
has so saddened the whole community.
When the facts first became known during
Thursday forenoon it seemed impossible
that they could be true, and that these two
young people, so full Of life and happiness,
had met their death almost days length
before.
Mr. Tyler had hired for the summer
the j. T. Hildreth cottage, which stands in
the pine grove above the suspension bridge,
on a steep bluff overlooking the river.
The place is familiar TO very many people
who have been in the habit Of rambling
"up the railroad track" At this cottage
Mr. and Mrs. Tyler had been in the habit
of spending many Of the summer after
moons. Wednesday afternoon about
O'Clock they left the hotel TO drive up there,
taking bathing suits with them, and say
ing that they meant to battle in the river.
When they did not return in the evening
it was presumed that they had driven up
to the Glidden farm, as they had often
y NJ
called up the Glidden house by telephone
and asked if Mr. and Mrs Tyler were
there. The person, a domestic of the fam
lily, who answered the telephone, appar-
emily did not understand the question
clearly at first. but finally answered that
they were there and she would call them.
Mr. Eddy answered that this was not nee
essary, as he simply wished to know If the
Tylers were there. The domestic undoubt-
eddy understood the question to refer to
Mr.. and Mrs. Gldden, and in this way Mr..
Eddy's mind was set at rest for the night.
When Thursday forenoon wore along
and Mr.. and Mrs. Tyler did not appear,
MI. Eddy again became anxious and asked
the Glidden house II the Tylers were there
and received an answer that they were not,
and had not been there. An investigation
was at once started. The event proved
that almost at the same time visitors TO the
Hildreth cottage had discovered the state
of things there. Entrance to the grove
where the cottage stands is gained by
turning in at the Hildreth farm house on
the Putney road, and driving out by a road
across the farm Mr.. Franklin, who car
ries on the Hilu. n farm, saw the Tylers
when they drove out soon after o'clock.
Between and : their horse, with the car
rage attachad, came wandering up to tha
farm buildings, having evidently united It
self. Mr. Franklin led the horse back TO
the grove and tied it TO tree near the cot
tage. Through the windows he saw the
Tylers clothing lying in the rooms, and,
supposing they were down al the river,
went back to the house
Between : and Thursday morn
ing Albert Hildreth went up to the
farm, and as Mr.. Franklin did not
hear the Tylers drive out the night be-
fore, the two went out to the cottage to
see if all was right. Arriving there
they found the horse standing where
Mr.. Franklin had htched it the night be-
fore and where it had paved a deep hole
in the ground. The carriage was wet with
the rain which had fallen for several hours
during the night. The carriage cushions
had slipped down upon the floor and the
keys to the cottage lay upon the seat, hav-
ing evidently been tucked under the cush-
ions when the Tylers left the cottage.
Looking in through the windows their
clothing was seen lying, Mr.. Tyler's in one
room and Mrs. Tylers in another, where
1t had been taken off and laid down in
an orderly manner.
The path to the river leads northward
oOhAN ~ Va ~ Abuo OtlOlt IL uudl.l luIuS
down TO the rivers edge. This path Frank
lin and Hildreth followed, but the only
trace found Of the missing ones was a sin
gle foot-priL. just at the edge of the river
which appeared TO have been made by a
woman's bathing shoe.
The alarm was given, the news spread
throughout the village, and very soon
many anxious and willing workers were on
the ground, and active measures taken to
recover the bodies, for there could be no
doubt that they were at the rivers bottom.
The search was made at first in a desultory
way, but as the citizens gathered an in
formal organization was effected and G.. A.
Boyden was chosen chairman of the citi-
zen's committee TO make the search. Thorn
as Heaphy, the Brooks House porter,
went TO Bellows Falls by the 40 train,
and in answer to his statement of the case
the Fall Mountain Paper company at once
promised to send a boat gang of seven
rivermen down by the first train. To do
this 1t was necessary for the company to
stop the logs from running through their
boom and TO suspend their own work during
the absence of the gang. The men came
by the White Mountain express, and by
direction of the railroad company the train
was stopped and the men let off at the en-
trance TO the grove. A supply of cant
hooks and river poles was sent down by the
next train.
Meantime despatch was received from
Mr.. Van Dyke, the president of the Con-
necticut River Lumber company, whose
logs are now running down the river, which
read:
Citizens Of Brattleb2ro: Tell my men at the
bridge 70 stop the logs Immediately where they
can be started again easily. Also tell the
drivers TO assist in finding the bodies of Mr.. aud
Mrs. Tyler
A boom was stretched across the river 20
stop the logs, and with the help from these
sources an organized system of dragging
both up and down the river and across was
begun about o'clock and continued
through the remainder of the afternoon.
A message was sent to Springfield, Ma e,
asking that professional diver be sent up.
The response was prompt, and the diver,
with his assistant and appliances, arrived
by the 5:45 train and was let of at the
grove. A raft of logs, to carry his pump
and attendants, had already been built,
and he entered the water just before I
o'clock and searched the river bottom i'm
mediately above the bridge, working for
about three-quarters of an hour He re-
ported that the water was very dark and
that it needed good light for the search.
Operations were then stopped until early
this morning.
At the point where the Tylers must
have met their death the bottom shelves
on rapidly, and the depth is anywhere
from 10 to 40 feet. From the point where