Disappearance of Harry Gardner & Beatrice DeForrest
Norwich Sun, July 7, 1919
Leaving his wife and four small children, the oldest of whom is eight years of age, Harry Gardner, aged 31, and a resident of Rockdale [Chenango Co., NY], is said to have disappeared on the evening of June 27th with Beatrice DeForrest, fifteen-year-old daughter of his next door neighbor. Local, county, and state police officials are actively engaged in the search for Gardner and Beatrice DeForrest. He is described as being five feet two inches tall, and weighing about 160 pounds. Detailed description of the missing man was not available at the press hour today.
On the night of Friday, June 27, just one week before the Fourth, Gardner left his home at 10:30 o'clock and Miss DeForrest disappeared a half hour later. The last person known by the police to have seen Miss [DeForrest] was Ed Smith, an admirer, said to be about 45 years of age, who called on her that evening and brought her lilies, a box of candy, and ice cream. Smith is said to have left the house at half past ten. According to the story alleged to have been told by him, the girl went around as he supposed to go into her home by the back door, but evidently she had her belongings packed and hidden in the rear of the house ready for the getaway.
Miss DeForrest, according to Rockdale residents with whom she was intimately acquainted, is very attractive despite her youthfulness. Gardner, his wife declares, had a gun when he ran away with the girl and said he would shoot the first policeman who dared to interfere with his plans. As yet he has not made good his threat. His whereabouts are a mystery although the police are said to have clues which will lead in his arrest and apprehension on the charge of abduction, within the next few days. His act in putting his horses and other valuable possessions in the barn of Miss DeForrest's parents before they left, has lead many to believe the man in insane for the act is that of a man temporarily unbalanced.
Finding of Two Skeletons Reveals Murder and Suicide
Discovery Made Near Mt. Upton by Hunters
Sidney Record, Jan. 5, 1933
An unsolved mystery of 13 years, the disappearance of Beatrice DeForest, 15 years old, and Harry Gardner, 27, who disappeared from their homes in the town of Guilford [Chenango Co., NY], June 27, 1919, was cleared Tuesday, 3rd, by the finding of two skeletons in a swamp, known as Michigan Woods, in the town of Guilford near Mt. Upton. The discovery of the skeletons, was made by George Miner and Leo Mullen, both of Johnson City, who were rabbit hunting. Miner is a baseball pitcher on the Newark, N.J. international League team.
Gardner, a married man with five children, and the DeForest girl, lived on adjoining farms. When they disappeared it was thought they had eloped. It was late Tuesday afternoon when Miner and Mullen first viewed the gruesome sight. They immediately called to wood cutters nearby, Clinton Camp and Burt DeGroat. Troop "C" barracks, Sidney, was notified. The spot being inaccessible, it was decided to delay investigation until Wednesday morning.
Corporal Leroy Zieman and Trooper Ernest Maynard were assigned to the case and accompanied by Dr. E.W. Wilcox, coroner, went to the place. Several neighboring farmers had collected at the scene and told of the disappearance of Gardner and the DeForest girl. Search revealed a vanity case bearing the name of the girl's mother, three rings, one bearing the initials "B. M. D." were also found. This convinced the officers that one of the skeletons was that of Beatrice Deforest. A bottle which contained a small amount of liquid, stated as carbolic acid by Dr. Getman, was also found. Another bottle marked "paregoric," which was empty, was picked up. Two other bottles, nearly full, were taken by the coroner to be analyzed. An axe was also found, the helve of which was entirely rotted.
Reconstructing the crime, authorities believe Gardner enticed the girl to the lonely spot, forced her to swallow some of the contents of the bottle and struck her with the axe and then took carbolic acid to kill himself. The skull, which Coroner Wilcox said was the girl's was crushed near the left eye, bearing out this theory.
The widow of Harry Gardner was found living in Franklin [Delaware Co., NY]. Shown several personal effects of her husband, cuff links, shoes and ring, the latter she told authorities was her own, she quickly identified the items. When questioned, Mrs. Gardner said her husband left their home on the night of June 27, 1919, saying he was going to a dance, and that she had never seen him again. Change amounting to $1.40, dug up near the skeleton, was turned over to the widow.
Mrs. Alonzo Ingalls, who lives near Unadilla, Gardner's sister, was also interviewed by Dr. Wilcox. The parents of the DeForest girl have died since her disappearance. Mrs. M.E. Pomeroy of Binghamton, a sister of Miss DeForest's came to Sidney, Thursday morning. The remains of the girl will be interred in the Rogers Hollow cemetery. The remains of Gardner were interred in Prospect Hill cemetery, Sidney.
Residents of the neighborhood where the remains were found, are at a loss to understand how they could have lain there for over 13 years without being discovered. While the spot is isolated and inaccessible, still the residents state it is near a berry patch, where berry pickers go each year. Hundreds of cords of wood have been cut during the years that the bodies have lain there in the immediate vicinity, and game hunters of all kinds have tramped the woods year in and out.
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