Rensselaer Republican, Volume 14, Number 24, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 March 1882 — A Down East Cannibal. [ARTICLE]

A Down East Cannibal.

I Boston, Mas., Jan. 27.—1 tis now ! believed that the murder of Simon A. i Vandercook, near the town of Alford, j this state, afew weeks ago, was the I result of the can nibalistic longings of | a powerfully-built man of tine per- ! sonal apperauce, between 55 and 60 y ears ot age, and weighing something lo\ er two hundred pounds. Beckwith i was about 70 years of age, but apo wer- | full and tough old lellow. On the day ; when the constable and posse broke into his hut some sickening sights were presented. In the stove were discovered tha head, feeth and one hand of a human body, charred and blackened by fire. In an adjoruing room was found the rest of the body, the trunk split through, several ribs split off, and the entrails taken out and lying in a basket near by. Great slices of flesh had been cut from the arms and legs, and' there were evidence of a ghastly and fimendish purpose having tit er, t«»nple ted. The clothing of the dead man lay in a heep beside him. The body was fuliy indentided as that of Vandercook. Its backbone had been taken out and burned, and a wound from some sharp instrument was found on the body net r the snoulder. The remains were deposited at Green Fiver, a small village in the town of Austerlitz, N. Y., in a hog-pen, and all who wished were at liberty to paw over the mutilated lragmeuts. The latest development in the case, however, are the most horrible of all. The theory is, ai*d is said tD be well founded, that Beckwith is a cannibal. It is thought that he intended to eat a p rriion of Vandercook’s body, the liver of the victim having been found in his frying-pan and portiou of it gone. The murderer hud also, it is said, wu.-i.. his victim's remains and otherwise prepared them lor salting down in a barrel, to serve for a supply of food during the winter. That Beckwith’s stomach was not too fastidious for this i sort of diet would seem to be implied by the remark of a stage-driver that “Beckwith ate otie of his horses that died from diesease early this winter.” Borne ot the pepole of Alford say they have herd the murderer boast that he had eaten hpman flesh in Australia, and that he could do it again, if

necessary. It is called to mind that au old lady, named Mrs. Wileiby Peck, went berrying on the mountains iu the vicinity of Beckwith’s cabin several years ago, and has never since been seen- At the time of her disapeerance* 100 men made search for her. Now rieckwith’s lecerit crime gives color to a suspicion that he also murdered this woman, and, perhaps, ate portions of her flesh. 1 V/heu Beckwith was last in Great Barrington, a few weeks ago, he inquired of oue of the butchers wbeiher tne latter wished to purchase some pork. When the cabin was reached, soou after the murder, no pork or other provisions of any account could be found, and the startling query now raised among those possessed of vivid imaginations is whether he intended to sell human flesh as pork. Becxwith’s cabin has been burned, aud it is reported that there has beeu found beneath the rubbish a subterranean passage, in which it is thought that the remains of 100 nave been, buried. The authorities were so tardy in stirring iu the matter after the terrible crime had been discovered that the murderer managed to get away. He was seen several times at points distant u the secne ot the tragedy, but no oue seems to take any specia' interest iu securing his arrest. It is uot belived he will ever be arrested.