Suspected Murder at Shute's Pond Ruled Out, Dec. 28, 1920

Would the removal of the water from the abandoned cistern in the pasture at Shute’s pond and about a hundred yards from the depot reveal the victim of a gruesome crime or infanticide? This was the question which was being asked on the streets here Saturday afternoon and Sunday as the work of pumping the water from the cistern under the direction of the police, following the discovery of several partly burnt quilts in the old water hole, went steadily on. The mystery of how the quilts came to the place still remained unsolved at dark Sunday afternoon when the water had been lowered to a depth of two feet and consistent grappling by the officers with a fire hook failed to reveal anything indicating a crime. On Friday a negro employed by Mr. J.T. Shute in passing the cistern noticed a quilt floating on the surface of the water. His observation was reported to the police who carried a fire hook to the scene and made a search in the 215 feet of water in the old well. Their efforts brought forth three other quilts and these similarly burned. Strengthening the suspicion that some crime had been committed and an effot made to hide it in the depth of the water was the discovery on the bed clothes of several dark spots, declared by some who saw them to be splotches of blood. The preserved state of the quilts showed that they had not been in in the water but a short time, while their conditin indicated that they wouldnot have been thrown into the well because they were too old for use. Considering these facts, the officers concluded that the water should be removed to ascertain if the cistern held a hidden crime. Pumps were set to work Saturday afternoon and continued all day Sunday. A morbidly curious crowd surrounded the scene of the operations the most of the time and voiced wild guesses as to what the removal of the water would bring to light. By dark Sunday afternoon the water had been lowered to two feet. It was then that the officers concluded that if a crime was hidden in the old well that they should be able to locate it with the fire hook. A minute’s searching of the bottom in this manner failed to reveal anything to confirm the former suspicions. The most commonly accepted explanation of how the bed clothes came to be in the cistern is that the quilts were used by laborers employed by the railroad and living in shanty cars at a little distance from the spot. These quilts, officers now believe, became infected with vermin and an effort of burning them failed as the day was very damp, they were cast into the old well. (From the front page of the Monroe Journal, Tuesday, Dec. 28, 1920)