The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-06-28
The Strange Woman
That Hills Picked
Up On the Road.
TOBEY MAKES HIS REPORT.
Description of the Body
Found in the Swamp and
Result Of Autopsy.

Clinton, June 2S.-F. H. Wilds, a
teamster and farmer( who lives on the
Sterling road in the neighborhood Of the
swamp where the remains of the dead
woman were found says that he re-
members seeing the bars at the rear Of
the crossing tenders shanty down,
early one morning, he cannot remem-
Der when, but was some time ago. These
are the bars that open into the cart
path, that runs through the swamp
close to the spot where the body was
found.
Mr.. Wilds cannot remember if he
noticed wagon tracks in the neighbour
hood Of the crossing at the same time,
but would have attached no especial
significance to them if he had. 1t was
common for teams to come as far as
the crossing in the night and turn
round
Mr.. Wilds remembers that a man
whom he employed last fall, met a
Woman on the Sterling road. The man
was driving cart. The strange woman
asked him for a ride. She said she
wanted to go to Boylston, as Mr.. Wilds
remembers the story the man told him.
Her request was granted and she got
into the cart with Hills and rode some
distance.
All that Mr.. Wilds knows about the
woman comes, of course, second hand,
but the impression remains in his mind,
from what he was told, that she was
young, somewhat stability gowned and
very tired. Hills told of the incident, be-
cause he was astonished to meet a
woman who was not only willing, but
was anxious to ride on a cart. The fact,
Wilds says, made quite an impression
on his mind.
Mr.. Wilds has no idea that the mat
ter has anything to do with the tragedy,
but he gives the story for what it is
worth
1t will be difficult matter to follow,
because Hills is now in Maine, and his
post office address is unknown.
Rumors of missing women are report
ed at the police station, most of them
without foundation. Each however. is
carefully investigated by newspaper
men.
A sample story f1oated in this after
noon. 1t was said that Superintendent
Bracket of the reform school for girls
at Lancaster knew of young woman
who was insane and wandering around
the country.
Mr.. Bracket informed the represen-
| tative of The Spy that once he had such
knowledge, but it was four or five years
ago.
There was a young woman missing
from the home. He went to West
Boylston to see a girl said to he her,
and was confronted with young Wo-
man who was a stranger. A year later
he met her again in the same way.
His recollection is that she belonged in
New Hampshire somewhere, and that
her father came after her and took her
home.
state Detective Peleg F. Murray IS
inclined to resent the efforts of The Spy
to throw some light upon the mystery.
He is inclined to regard the publicity
The Spy has given to the tragedy i'm
pertinent and unnecessary. He told an
official with whom he talked, yesterday,
that if it were not for The Spy he would
not have been obliged to make this last
trip to Clinton.
He referred particularly to The Spy's
story of the carriage, that was seen by
Alexander Wade in the underbrush.
1.-The carriage can't have anything to
do with it." he says, because the body
was there before the carriage was
seem
Nobody knows how long the remains
lay where they were found. The trunk
tells one story and the limbs below the
knees tell another. The decomposition
in the trunk might well be the work of
8. year of changing temperatures. The
decomposition of the legs could have
been attained in four weeks of warm
weather or less.
Nobody knows whether the carriage
had ANYTHING to do with the crime or
not. But to assume that 1t did not
makes unnecessary the labor involved
i'm irving to find from whence 1t came
and whittier it went.
The vehicle seen in the brush may
or may not have something to DO with
the tragedy But it cannot be ellmln-
ated from the equation of crime till its
presence there is satisfactorily eA-
planned.
The horse did not drift in there of its
own accord and hitch itself to tree.
IT was driven there for some purpose,
at a time of day when people are not
out for pleasure drives or purely for
fun.
1t was there for some purpose, and
until its. presence can be satisfactorily
explained there is just as good reason
to believe it had something to do with
the tragedy as to believe that it had
nothing. in view of the uncertainty re-
garding the length of time that the
body had reposed in the swamp.
There are mighty few facts to bank
on in the circumstance connected with
this case, ana the one tdiiSlDAS 4oSb 10
that there was a horse and vehicle in
the brush at the crossroads near the
swamp. at dawn, one morning,
month ago or so. When some one can
come forward and tell who owns the
team and for what purpose 1t was
there. then it may be possible to say
that it had nothing TODD with the case,
and 1t can be eliminated from the mys-
terry of the swamp entirely.
It is a fair proposition that the trag-
edy occurred within radius OF ten
miles of the swamp, or that the party
who deposited the body in its resting
nlace lived within that radius and had
4 good knowledge of the ground where
the body was located. Circumstances
indicate that it was not deposited there
nv chance. but by method. Whoever
placed it where it was found knew
where he was going when he started
ont with his CHASTITY burden.