Rensselaer Union, Volume 5, Number 16, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 January 1873 — A Supposed Murdered Man Returns Home After an Absence of Five Years. [ARTICLE]

A Supposed Murdered Man Returns Home After an Absence of Five Years.

• Never since the discovery of the Cardiff giant in this country has anything occurred in its boundaries to attract such general interest in this vicinity as the return to his home in the town of DeWitt, near the village of Collamer, of an old farmer named Blodgett, who, it was supposed, on strong circumstantial evidence, had been brutally murdered by unknown assassins one night about five years ago. The circumstances attending this case are extraordinary, and seem more like a fictitious tale than ungarnished truth. Blodgett, who has suddenly appeared among his old neighbors, for many years owned and lived on a fine farm of about one hundred and fifty acres, a mile or so from Collamer. He was generally considered wealthy, and had the entire confidence of the whole community, having held offices of trust in the town, being assessor at the time of his disappearance. Five years ago he-left home one Friday evening to go to Collamer, wherd he was to get a considerable sum of money to pay a number of workmen the next night who were constructing a building for him. He did not return that night nor the next day, and his family became alarmed ; a messenger was sept to Collamer to ascertain if possible his whereabouts. The messenger went to the.place where Mr. Blodgett was to get his money, and was told that the old farmer had drawn the money and departed, apparently for home. The news was carried to the family of the missing man, and it'was at once suspected that he had been- murdered. The supposition that he was mur dered became almost a certainty by the story of Mrs. Joseph Breed, living near the village of Collamer, on the road to Blodgett’s, and at a lonely point. Mrs. Breed, when she heard a day or so afterward of the disappearance of Mr. Blodgett, stated to the family that somewhere about ten or eleven o’clock on Friday night, about the time the old man would naturally be passing her house on the way home, he having left Collamer at a late hour, she was awakened by a noise in the road directly in front of her house. Listening, sh'ebecame convinced that it was caused by a party of men struggling in the road. She heard a voice which she did not recognize say, “ Knock him in the .head,., quick I”She - thenrheard' S' shrill, loud cry of “ murder !” ending in a sort of gurgle, as if some one was being strangled. Shortly afterward the footsteps of two or three men, as If running in the direction of Collamer, were heard,

and then all was silent. Mrs. Breed was too much-frightened to make any attempt to see what was being done in the road, but after the men had gone away she looked out of the window, but it was too dark for her to see anything. She was afraid to go out to the scene of the struggle at the time, but went out in the morning and discovered evidence of a severe contest. There was no blood on the ground, nor anything to lead to a knowl edge of who the contestants were. She was confident, however, that a murder had been committed, and when she heard of the sudden disappearance of Mr. Blodgett there was no doubt in her mind that he was the victim. ’ Diligent search was made for the body of the murdered man, and traces of the murderers were sought on every hand, but all to no purpose. ———... - One of the men who was suspected as being a leader in the supposed murder of Mr. Blodgett, was a bad character named Carey. Some time after the disappearance of Mr. Blodgett, Carey was arrested on suspicion of being the murderer of one Johnson, in Collamer. He was convicted of the crime, and sentenced to be hanged, which sentence was commuted to imprisonment for life in the penitentiary at Auburn. This strengthened the belief that be was the murderer of the old, farmer. A year or two after the supposed murder the skull and other parts of a human skeleton were found on the shore of Oneida lake, on the upper boundary of thia county. This was believed to be a part of the remains of Mr. Blodgett, it being thought that he-had been thrown into that body of water, or a stream emptying into it. in order that his murderers might baffle detection. If there remained the shadow *of a doubt that Blodgett was dead. this dispelled it, and the heirs of the old farmer petitioned the courts for the appointment of admini#i tratO'S of hia estate. They were appointI ed, and the property remaining after the settlement of the old man’s affairs was divided among the children. The astonishment of the Blodgett family may be imagined when they received a letter some two weeks ago from a man in the oil regions purporting to be the supposed murdered man, detailing the circumstances of his disappearance and requesting a sum of money,to be sent him •In order that he might return home, as he was penniless and did not wish to die away from home. One of the sons was sent to Pennsylvania to make a personal investigation, and after considerable search found the writer, and he turned

out to be Mr. Blodgett. Although he was greatly changed the son found no difficulty in recognizing him, and he last week returned with the old man to the farm. Blodgett says that no attempt was ever made on his life, but gives no 'reason for his unceremonious going away, or no account of his life during the five years he was absent. The affairs of the family are somewhat mixed up by the appearance of the old farmer. Ills property had been divided among the heirs, and they were? in possession of their respective shares. An amicable adjustment will probably be made, as the Blodgetts are all warmly attached to each other, and overjoyed at the return of their father.— Centreville (N. F.) Cor. N. Y. World.