No. 645
Crime, Eccentricity, and the Sporting Life in 19th Century America.
March 18, 2024

A Hidden Skeleton.

Barton Russel and his wife discover the skeleton of missing Charlie Young near Moorsburg, Hawkins Co
October 26, 2015
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Encountering a ghost may be a strange, possibly terrifying experience, but fortunately they are rarely harmful.  However, every now and then there is an account of a spirit that is not just malevolent, but physically dangerous.  One such story was told by folklorist Mary L. Lewes in the December 1912 issue of “Occult Review.”  It concerns a couple named Mr. and Mrs. Caxton. 
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HE DUEL IN ELLEN'S HONOR. Soapy Smith’s grandmotherOn Wednesday, August 9, 1820, an argument between 17-year-old, James Bowe Boisseau (1802-1820) and Robert C. Adams (unknown-1820) vying for the attention of 18-year-old Ellen Stimpson Peniston (1802-1860), took a terrible turn. The happy party in her honor took a tragic turn when the competition for Ellen’s affections ended in a deadly duel,
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Going to the theater has always been a beloved New York City pastime. But theater became even more thrilling with the advent of open-air rooftop gardens—which hit the scene in the late 1880s with the opening of the rooftop theater at the Casino on Broadway and 39th Street. It wasn’t just the cool breezes that […]
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Dr. John W. Hughes. Dr. John W. Hughes was a restless, intemperate man whose life never ran smoothly. When his home life turned sour, he found love with a woman half his age. Then, he lost her through an act of deception, and in a fit of drunken rage, Dr. Hughes killed his one true love.Date:  August 9, 1865Location:   Bedford, OhioVictim:  Tamzen ParsonsCause of Death:&
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The Latest Agony. | A Rattling Main.

A Hidden Skeleton.

A Horrible Find

A Horrible Find.

Barton Russel and his wife discover the skeleton of missing Charlie Young near Moorsburg, Hawkins Co., Tennessee. [more]

Late on Saturday week evening Barton Russel and his wife were digging for ginseng on Flatgap Road, a mile from the village of Mooresburg, Hawkins County, Tenn., when they discovered the Skelton of a boy lying hidden under the brush wood on the road. A report of the terrible discover brought a crowd to the spot on the following day, when it was ascertained that the body was that of Charlie Young, aged sixteen years, who had left Mooresburg a few weeks previously and who had been missing from his home since that time. It was evident that the lad had been murdered on his way from his aunt’s home at Mooresburg to visit an uncle who lived across Clinch Mountain. Suspicion at once was directed to a man named Marcellus Bunch, who had been heard to say that he would hang or be sent to the penitentiary if something that had happened was ever known.

It was ascertained that Bunch had been trying to sell a coat and a pair of shoes which were subsequently found on his premises and have been identified as belonging to the murdered boy. The hat which Bunch wore was also identified as Young’s. On those proofs of suspicion Bunch was arrested and is now in jail.

Young had no money about him, and the motive for the murder is therefore yet a mystery.


Reprinted from National Police Gazette, November 6, 1886.