The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-12-15
THE MYSTERY OF
AUSTIN HEIGHTS
Man Said to Have Been Murdered There
Some Time Ago.
HIS BODY BURIED IN THE WOODS
Husband Enraged by the Conduct of
His Wife Killed Her Lover with an
Ak and Then Succeeded in Wiping
Out All Evidences of His Crime.
Name Of the Murderer is Not known.

Did YOU ever hear" said DR.. Adam
Stegner. of Rendham. yesterday to q
Tribune reporter. that man was
| murdered within year or SO at Aus
tin Heights, his body buried some-
| where W. the side of the mountain,
and the persons implicated in the mur-
der Were never discovered?"
This story was widely circulated in
Old Forge recently. There are many
people down there who believe the story
is not by any means an invention.
Austin Heights Is the fag end of this
county on the west. 1t is situated in
| Old Forge township We'll up ON the side
| of the mountain and is peopled mostly
with Hungarians. Drunken brawls by
the score have taken place and upwards
of one hundred men have been beaten
| almost to death. 1t is nothing strange
after payday each month for doctors
to- be called to the place to patch up a
half dozen men who have been wound
ed in a fight.
In view Of the remoteness of the set
tlement from the built-up portions of
Old Forge occurrences of a wbreak-
ing character pass off without notice
very often. A few years ago the Aus
tin Coal company built breaker a
mile or so above the Sibley on the side
|Nof the mountain. Houses were built
tenanted by few families except Hun
garians. This left the field clear to
them and as small percentage only
could talk English, their doings sell
dom became noised about.
KILLED WITH AN AK.
The story of the murder Is to the ef-
feet that boarding house keeper dis
covered his wife one night in COM
promising position with one of the
boarders and that he crept quietly out
of the house to the yard, secured an AK.
went back to the house and sunk 1t into
the boarder's head.
His wife was the only witness Of the
deed. The blow killed the boarder and
his life blood covered the floor. The
husbands brother was aroused by the
commotion and he set to work to assist
in carrying the dead body to the woods
and helped to dig a grave in which
the remains and the blood-stained
| clothes were buried.
There was no evidence of the crime
when the other boarders got up In the
morning. The woman had the house
scrubbed and the blood stains had dis
appeared. But the boarder's absence
| aroused suspicion after few days.
| and one Of his friends began to inves-
tigate the cause of his disappearance.
~
dence to clear uD the mystery, the
boarding boss got after him and threat :
ened to kill him If he ever said word
| intimating that man had been killed.
The friend feared that the threat
might be carried into execution. so he
decided that the safest course to pur-
sue was to leave the place altogether
and HE himself to some distant place.
Before ne left, however. he told the
story and 1t soon became widely circu-
lated. He failed. however, to give the
name of the man that did the killing.
STORY GENERALLY BELIEVED.
Whether any detective work was ever
done on the strength of these rumors
il not known. The story Is generally
credited in the vicinity and 1t Is easy
to understand how such a crime could
be committed at that place and a
knowledge Of 1t kept from the COM
munity at large, especially where the
circumstances surrounding the killing
were so well calculated to induce
secrecy.