Murderous Outrage and Robbery, Norwich, NY, April 1866

 Chenango Union, Norwich, NY, April 25, 1866

Murderous Outrage and Robbery

Nearly Eight Thousand Dollars Stolen--Escape of the Villain, or Villains

On Wednesday afternoon of last week our citizens were startled by news of a murderous outrage and robbery, perpetuated almost within sight of the village [Norwich, Chenango Co., NY]

Mr. David Pellett, an old and respected resident of the town, living about a mile and a half from this place, in the direction of Plymouth, this Spring sold his farm and converted it into money and securities, with a view of going to reside in his decling years with his children in Illinois.  He had also been selling off his hay, stock, &c, with the same purpose.  He had, in short, nearly completed his arrangements for moving, his furniture being boxed up and himself and wife ready to start on their journey, when the affair happened that we are now to relate.

A few weeks ago, one of Mr. Pellet's sons by a former wife, Wilson [Pellet], who is about thirty years of age, and resides in Illinois, arrived here with a view of helping the old man settle up his affairs and of accompanying his parents to their new home in the west.  He is recently from Philadelphia, where he has been through the winter attending a medical school, though last from Illinois.  He is comparatively a stranger here, having been home to his fathers only at long intervals, and then on brief visits, during the last twelve or fifteen years.

On Wednesday last, the 18th inst., about 11 o'clock, A.M. Mr. and Mrs. Pellet came to the village in a wagon, leaving Wilson at home.  The house, which is an old-fashioned two-story frame dwelling, fronting the longest way on the road is occupied by Mr. Walworth, the purchaser of the place, and his family, except the south end, which is still used by the Pellet family.  Soon after the old folks had left, Wilson observed, while standing outside near a window, some one on the knoll or hill back of the house beckoning him to come in that direction.  On this knoll, thirty or forty rods from the house, is a hay barn half filled with hay, the other half having been removed.  At first Wilson paid little attention to the motions made to him, but thinking the person might wish to purchase the remaining hay, he started to go to him.  This, he thinks, was about half-past 11 o'clock.  Mrs. Walworth things it was about 12 that he passed through the house to go out of doors.

On arriving on the knoll Wilson found the person had gone into the barn, which was a few rods beyond, where he followed him.  Here he found over in the empty half of the bay - the hay had been cut straight down through the middle of the mow crosswise with a knife leaving the half of the bay nearest to the house empty to the floor - a stranger, whom he describes as being a good-looking man, about six feet tall, with dark or swarthy complexion, white, regular teeth, black, snaky eyes, and dark "Burnside" whiskers and mustache, and well dressed in black or dark clothes.  He also wore on one hand a glove.  The stranger told Wilson he wished to purchase the hay, and under pretense of measuring or examining it induced him to step over into the bay.  A little conversation ensued in regard to the price, when the stranger remarked "your father and mother have gone to the village" and almost immediately continued, "see!  there they come."  At this, Wilson turned and placed his eye to a crack in the barn to look out for his father, when he was suddenly struck down by a blow from behind, with what is thought to have been a slung shot.  The blow was sufficient to break through his hat and render him insensible.  The villain then jammed his handkerchief into Wilson's mouth and searched his pockets for money, finding about $600, which he took.  He then applied hartshorn to his victims nose, and deliberately brought him to, at the same time presenting a pistol to his head and demanding to be told where his father's money was. Desperate as the circumstances were, Wilson insists that he did not tell, but refused, bidding the robber do his worst; yet from the robbery which followed it is inferred that the information might have unknowingly escaped him in his half unconscious condition.  But, as he alleges, on his refusal to tell he was again knocked insensible, this time the blow or blows being on the front part of the head, near the temple.  This is the last that he remembers until he was found, some hours afterwards, in the spot where the outrage took place, still unconscious.

Mr. Pellet and his wife returned home about 3 o'clock.  On entering their room they found one window open, and another with the curtain down.  Looking further, they discovered that a bureau or secretary had been broken open, from the pigeon-holes under the lid of which all of Mr. Pellet's money and government bonds, amounting to nearly $7,000, had been taken!  Wilson was also missing.  On enquiring for him of the family in the other part of the house, he was told that about noon he had gone towards the barn.  The old man followed in the same direction, and there in the barn, on the loose hay at the bottom of the bay, he found Wilson, in his unconscious state.  Nearby was Wilson's pocket book, open and empty; also a button or two that had been torn from his coat, and other signs of the rough work that had been done.  With the assistance of a neighbor, whose help was readily procured, Wilson was carried to the house, where sensibility was soon restored, accompanied, however, by a good deal of excitement, and some delirium.  Dr. C.M. Purdy, of this village, was immediately called in, who did all that it was possible to do to restore the patient and mitigate his sufferings. Friends staid with him through the night.  His mind wandered, but at lucid intervals he gave substantially the account of the outrage upon himself that is narrated above. Through Wednesday night and Thursday he was thought to be in a dangerous condition, but is now better, with every prospect of a full and speedy recovery, unless it be one eye, the optic nerve of which seems so much injured as for the present to destroy its sight.  On Thursday several persons who were thought to answer, at least in part, his description of the robber, were taken in to him, but he acquitted each without hesitation, and they were honorably discharged from arrest.

Whoever the villain was, unless there were more than one, he must have gone to the house and perpetrated the robbery there after committing the assault on Wilson at the barn, and he evidently entered and made his exit through the south window, which he left open.  The window, Mr. Walworth thinks was shut when he (W.) passed around that end of the house on his way to dinner, and consequently must have been raised and the robbery perpetrated about the time the Walworth family were at table in the extreme north-west portion of the building.  This may account for the fact that no noise was heard when the bureau was broken into, though Mrs. Walworth thinks if she had heard a noise in the Pellet part of the house, it would not have attracted her attention, as she should have though it Wilson at work.  But it is strange enough to excite astonishment, that with all those people about, a neighboring house and family within ten or twenty rods, and the public road directly in front, this bold robber should have been seen by no one, as he went in open view at mid-day from the barn to the house, a distance of thirty or forty rods, or as he made off with his ill-gotten plunder.  The whole transaction is surrounded with a seemingly impenetrable veil of mystery.

Whether there were more than one person engaged in the affair is also uncertain.  The man who beckoned to him, Wilson says, was dressed in soldier's blue.  The man whom he found at the barn was rather of a genteel villain, dressed in black.  If there were two, one must have kept himself hid while the other made the assault.

On the day of the robbery, a stranger who was thought in some respects to meet Wilson's description of the villain, was seen hereabout under what were considered suspicious circumstances.  On being followed to Oxford, he was ascertained to be a person well-known, and to be engaged in a perfectly legitimate business.  With this exception, and that of the persons here who were carried before Wilson for identification, suspicion has taken no particular direction  Mr. Carpenter, the sheriff, and officers Hoyt, Sturges and Gartser have been indefatigable in attempting to get a clue to the robber, but thus far without a shadow of success.  Officers and citizens are alike at a stand.

Wilson, we understand, expresses the opinion that he had seen the villain's face before, and thinks it may have been on the cars or in Chicago.  It is possible, as his business in coming here was well known, that he had been followed for the purpose of committing the robbery.  The loss of his father's money and bonds was not made known to him until a couple of days after the affair took place.

The property taken from Mr. Pellet was all in U.S. bonds, except a few hundred dollars in money.  Two of the bonds were payable to his own order; the others were payable to bearer.  The robbery does not leave Mr. Pellet in destitute circumstances, but it is a severe blow to him in his old age.  He has offered a reward of a thousand dollars for the arrest of the thief and recovery of the property.

The exciting question now is, who is the good-looking villain, tall, well proportioned and well dressed, who wears Burnside whiskers, and carries slung shot, pistols and hartshorn, for the purposes of his trade?  Is he a foreign villain or a domestic one?  Is he a Man or a myth?  We hope these questions may be answered in due time.