Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1911-04-14
BODY IN RESERVOIR
Mrs. Mary A. Puninton Dis.
= appeared Last November.
Found by Boys Throwing Stones on Ice
Chestnut Hill System Promptly Dis
connected from Public Supply.

connected from Public Supply.
The body of Mrs. Mary A. Purrinton
of Bellows Falls, who disappeared from
the Brattleboro Retreat on the evening
of Nov. 2S last, was found in the Chest
nut Hill reservoir about 1910 o'clock
Saturday afternoon. Although 1t had
been in the wa ter more than four months
1t was not badly decomposed and was
identified easily. Several boys were
playing along the shores of the reservoir
Saturday morning and were throwing
stones into the water and upon the ice,
which would break when struck. Their
attention was attracted by dark object
in the ice and they tried to break the ice
away by throwing stones but could not
do so. Elmer Gray, son af Harry Gray
of 8 Cedar street, was one of the boys
and when he went home to luncheon he
asked his father to go to see what the
object was. MIR. Gray took a long pole
and went to the reservoir, which is but
a short distance from his home. After
breaking the ice he hauled the object
ashore and was startled to discover that it
was human body. 1t had been frozen in
the ice about 20 feet from the northern
end of the pond. He surmsed that it
was the body of Mrs. Purrinton and told
his son to notify H. A. Palmer, who was
an intimate friend of the missing woman
and who lives in the house with Mr..
Gray. Mr.. Palmer hurried to the scene
and quickly identified the body. First
Seectman Calvin was also notified and
he and Dr. F. II. OConnor soon arrived.
DR.. OConnor examined the body,
which was beginning to decompose about
the extremities He expressed the opin-
ion that although there was little danger
of contamination up to that time 1t
would be best to draw all water from the
reservoir and fill it anew. About the
body vegetable growth had begun to
| form, but this would not be apt to con-
| taminate the water he said, as it was
such as would form about any inanimate
object lying submerged long time.
The body was taken to Moran & Co. s
| undertaking rooms. Meanwhile Charles
A. Jondro, agent for the Metropolitan
| Life Insurance company for which s. l.,
Purrinton, husband of the dead woman,
is district superintendent. had been mo-
| titled of the recovery of the body and he
! had epdeavored to get in communication
| by telephone with Mr.. Purrinton at Bel
lows Fails The latter was out of town,
but he arrived here on the AIS train. He
| identified the body as that of his wife
and it was taken to Bristol that evening.
| Mrs. Purrinton was parole patient in
| the Retreat being there on account of a
nervous trouble, and often visited at the
| home of Mrs. Palmer on Cedar street
and Mrs. Jondro on South Main street,
| the husbands of all three being employed
| by the same insurance company. On the
| afternoon of Nov, 2S she obtained permits
sion at the office of the Retreat to go
out. She had been patient there only
| a few weeks and had been allowed to go
| IN and out at will. About o'clock the
! officials at the Retreat became suspicious
| because she had not returned and the
police and Mr.. Purrnton were notified
of her absence. That night snow fell and
| made the work of searching for her
difficult, but it was kept up several days.
Mr. burlington twice dragged the reser-
| voir in which she was found Saturday.
1t is thought that Mrs Purrinton started
for the home OF Mrs. Palmer and while
passing the reservoir yielded to a sudden
| impulse to throw herself into the water
| She could not have fallen in accidentally
| as the reservoir is surrounded by an
| iron and wire fence.
The discovery of the body caused an
unpleasant sensation among patrons of
the water system and the owners were
kept busy answering questions. Only a
| few streets. Frost, Flat Vernon and
| Estabrook streets and Main street from
the bank corner to Flat street, have been
supplied from this reservoir the past
! year or more, the other parts of the
town being supplied from the Pleasant
Valley reservoir in West Brattleboro.
Directly after the body was found the
Brattleboro Water Works company put
with the high pressure service from West
Brattleboro and that night the work was
completed. All the homes and Other
places supplied by the Brattleboro Water
Works company are now getting water
from Pleasant valley. The water in the
Chestnut Hill reservoir will not be drawn
toff until after the connections have beer
made for high pressure fire service IL
all parts of the town, as some of tn,
MIGRANTS are fed by that reservoir, which
contains about 5000, 900 gallons.
Mrs. Purrintons body was met at tn,
railroad station in Bristol by large com
pany of relatives and friends, including
40 members of the Eastern Star, o
which she was a member. Rev. j. f
Usher officiated at the services at tn
grave Besides her husband and son Mrs
Purrinton leaves a sister. Mrs. w. w
Hatch of Burlington. and a brother, F
2 NJ Barney of Bristol