The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1920-11-12
OPEN OLD WELL
SEEKING BODY
Alleged w. B. Whitney
Killed His Wife and
Buried Her There
STORY TOLD BY
WHITNEY'S SON
Elder Whitney Missing With COnsidera
BILE Money and Many Debtors - Flees
When He Learns Officers Are Investi
eating Wife's Death

LANGDON, n. H. Nov 12-An
abandoned we'll on the farm of William
r. Whitney, which had been filled with
rocks and debris, was reopened today by
county authorities in the search for the
body of Whitneys second wife. The
search was ordered by County Solicitor
Henry Hurd as result of a declaration
made to him by John Whitney, 15-year-
old son of William Whitney by a former
marriage. that he saw his father strike
his step-mother in their home four yers
ago, take her body to the haymow and
later bury it in the well.
Whitney disappeared from the town on
Oct. 80 after eight years of residence
here in which he gained a reputation as
solid citizen. In his wake came bank
ruptcy petition against him and charges
that he had duplicated mortgages on his
house.
The family was originally nanied Doc
little, according to the son. and lived at
Madison. Me, where the first wife died.
The father was charged with passing a
worthless check. his son said. and calling
his children to him told them he was
leaving for the West and that their
names thereafter would be Whitney. He
went to Montana and lived there several
y a
Ond wife and settled here.
Whitney's recent disappearance was
surprise to the toWnsfolkS. aS were the
bankruptcy petitions and the report of his
Indebtedness among trddespeople which
followed. The only indication of where
he went was contained in statement
that he had purchased a ticket to Spring
field. Mass. at Bellows Falls, Vt. the
station nearest this town.
Whitney went to Bellows Falls OH Fri
day, bought "a suit of clothes at the store
Of Goodnow, Jewett & Bishop giving a
worthless check on the national bank of
that place. -
When he started uu his Journey it is
thought that lac had approximately $1,000
IN cash. 1t is known that he obtained
during the summer S2, 100 of the national
bank. giving mortgage ON hlS farm IN
Langdon. He said that he wished the
money to take up a mortgage for S3, 40
owned by Miss Sarah \. Porter. a resi-
dent of Laugdon.
When County Solicitor Hurd High
Sheriff Albert Barton and his deputies
suspended operations for lunch they re-
ported that at the bottom of the well
they had found a wooden object which
sounded like q box. 1t was under con
siderable depth of mud and slime and
further work was necessary before it
could be recovered.
The county authorities said that mem
bers of the Whitney family after the
first statement by the son. John, had
maintained a negative attitude toward
the investigation. Solicitor Hurd said
that he was proceeding on the story
which John told although the young man
since had gone into a she'll" Sheriff
Barton said he had been able to obtain
few admissions from members of the
family. but that the inquiry was being
conducted without other than official as
sistance. ..
that should the object at the bottom Of
the well fail to satisfy the purpose Of
the search they intended to dig out an
outher former we'll found in the barn
yard.