The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1916-09-26
AUTO YARN STILL
BEING DISCUSSED
Some Give Story Credence
in Spite of Lack of
Proof
LOAD OF CASKETS
SEEN BY DIR. THORN
Keene Hears Story of Similar Accident
Between Chesterfield and Hinsdale.
and Claremont Calls Brattleboro for
Information.
Information.

The rumor that five decomposed
bodies were found under an automobile
off an embankment between Brattleboro
and Greenfield, Mass, last week re-
fuses to die. 1t has Travelled far, as
stories of that kind always do, and has
reached the ears of thousands, and it is
still travelling, but so far as can be
learned the story is a pure creation of
the imagination. Ii such an accident
had happened and bodies had been
found the town officials in the town in
which they were found would know
about it and the facts certainly would
reach the newspapers and there would
be something tangible upon which to
work to secure the full information.
People in Greenfield, Deerfeld, Mass,
Brattleboro, Keene, Claremont and 9th
er places are talking about the report
and some have been assured that cit
is actually true and newspapermen
have tried to determine what was the
basis for the story. While it would have
been entirely possible for a car to have
gone off a bank with fatal results, the
inability of interested persons to get
any definite clew connected with the
present rumor stamps the story as a
fake.
Under the heading Picturesque Rumor
Is On It's Travels, the Manchester IN.
/ H. Union printed the following de-
spatch yesterday from Keene:
| a rumor that an automobile had
been discovered in the brush at the foot
Iof steep embankment of the road be
tween Chesterfield and Hinsdale. with
| four decomposed bodies underneath, be-
Icame circulated in Keene Yesterday. The
|rumor was investigated by newspaper
men and county officials and it was
found to be canard. 1t was learned
/ that similar rumor had started the pre-
/ Ivious day in the towns of Brattleboro,
VT, and Greenfield Mass It seems that
the location of the accident is work
+ ing up the line between New Hampshire
and Vermont -
An interesting coincidence connected
with the rumor comes from Dr. Z. C.
Thorn of Deerfeld, Mass, formerly of
Brattleboro. DR.. Thorn asked DR.. A. L.
Pettee by telephone last night what he
knew of the case, saying that he had
heard of an accident and that he saw
a load of caskets coming toward Brat,
/ tleboro.
1ouaE Inc heIOrmer ealle0 Dr. morn
He said that he heard of an accident
the latter part of last week in which
five persons were said to have been
killed. He said tnat on Saturday fore
moon as he was driving from Deerfeld
to South Deerfeld in his automobile he
met near the Cheapside bridge an au
tomobile truck coming north with five
caskets on board. They were grey and
looked to he steel caskets. He asso
Iciated the fact with the report anC
wondered if it could have been true
His idea was that the supposed acci
dent happened in Guilford, but Guilfor6
Iotficials know nothing about it.
A Greenfield man who was in Brat
Itleboro this week said that as he un
Iderstood it there really had been an &C
icident and five deaths, but he under
lstood that. one of the persons was +;
baby, who was not killed but starved
Ito death.
This morning the report reached
Claremont, n. H., and Claremont news
paper called The Reformer by tele
lphone to see if it could be verified.