The Disappearance of Colonel Henry S. Hard, Chenango County Native

Chenango Union, Norwich, NY, August 2, 1877

Disappearance of Colonel H.S. Hard

Great apprehensions are felt at the mysterious disappearance of Col. H.S. Hard from his home in Arlington, Vermont.  He left home on July 21st for Troy [Rensselaer Co. NY] and was last seen at Hoosic Junction [Rensselaer Co. NY].  Since that time nothing has been heard of him and it is feared that he has been foully dealt with.  Col. Hard has relatives in this county [Chenango Co. NY], being a nephew of John S. Randall, Esq., and Mrs. Ezra Hewitt of this place and Mrs. Maurice Birdsall of Greene.  His mother was a daughter of the late Col. John Randall of this town [Norwich, Chenango Co. NY].  The friends are very much alarmed at his disappearance and are confident that his absence is involuntary.  He was a gentleman of high standing in society and a Mason for many years.  He was also an officer of the approaching centennial celebration at Bennington [Vermont].  His disappearance is certainly remarkable, but we hope he may yet return and relieve the fears that now oppress the minds of his friends.

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The Rutland Daily Globe, Rutland, VT, July 28, 1877

Col. Henry S. Hard of Arlington Missing

An extra of the Bennington Banner issued on Friday afternoon, makes the startling announcement of the mysterious disappearance of Colonel Henry S. Hard, a prominent citizen of Bennington County, and well known throughout the state. We trust every effort will be made to solve this sad mystery.  The following is the Banner account:

Intelligence reaches us that Col. Henry S. Hard of Arlington, well known in business circles in this county, who ranks second in command of the old soldier's reunion society at the approaching centennial celebration is missing.  He left home last Saturday morning, July 21st, on the early train, intending to go to Troy, N.Y. and bought a ticket for that city.  His business was in connection with that of the Arlington car manufacturing company.  He was seen at North Bennington by Enos Canfield, a resident of Arlington, who talked with him; conductor Smith, also, recollects seeing him on his train that morning, and last saw him on the platform at Hoosic Junction, but cannot say which train he took - that to Troy or North Adams way.  Mr. Hard was in good health and spirits that morning, and no possible reason can be assigned for his sudden, inexplicable absence.  the station agent at Arlington recollects the number of the ticket sold Mr. Hard, and has ascertained that the ticket has not been taken up by any conductor of the Troy and Boston railroad company.

The friends of Mr. Hard's family have ascertained from those parties in Troy that he would have been likely to have visited, that he has not been in that city since before the Saturday he left home.

Mr. Hard was dressed in a dark flannel suit, black soft felt hat, and had no baggage.  He is 47 years old, stands six feet in height, weighs about 155 pounds, has dark hair, inclined to curl, reddish side whiskers, florid complexion.

Mr. Hard has long been a member of the Masonic fraternity and has taken the degrees of Knights Templar.  He is also junior vice commander of the state encampment of the Grand Army of the Republic.  So far as is known, he is in no financial difficulty and foul play is feared. We are told that he had very little money with him.  Every citizen of this county, and his wide circle of acquaintances throughout Vermont will unite with us in hoping that those who have the matter under consideration and are conducting the search, may speedily clear up the mystery.

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The Rutland Daily Globe, Rutland, VT, July 30, 1877

The Case of Henry S. Hard

So far as we can learn no intelligence has been received of Col. Henry S. Hard of Arlington, whose disappearance is so much involved in mystery.

The Troy Press of Saturday evening, under the heading Is it Col. Hard," adds:  An exchange says concerning the man whose body was supposed to have been found in the river Thursday, and says nothing further than to give the description contained in the Bennington Banner extra, published in the Globe of Saturday.

The Bennington Centennial says Col. Hard has of late years suffered from pecuniary reverses, superadded to which has been a domestic affliction which we hesitate to unveil.  He wife, the mother of his children, has for many years been an inmate of the insane asylum at Brattleboro, and a late visit found her so demented that she did not recognize him, which nearly broke his already bruised heart and may have caused his insanity.  He left his Grand Army badge, his masonic emblems and all tokens of identification at home. The public and hosts of personal friends pray for a speedy unravelling of the sad mystery.

Col. Theodore S. Peck, department commander of the grand army of the republic for Vermont, on Saturday, issued a circular which says:  "Comrades - Read the following, and do all you can to find Col. H.S.  Hard, junior Vice commander of this department."  Then follow the account of the Bennington Banner extra already alluded to.  He closes by saying, any information will be thankfully received at these headquarters or by Comrade Willard Holden, 2d, Arlington, Vermont.

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The Rutland Weekly Globe, Rutland, VT, July 31, 1877

The Disappearance of Colonel H.S. Hard - Unpleasant Developments

We are pained to learn that grave suspicions are prevalent in Arlington that the sudden disappearance of Col. H.S. Hard is due not to insanity or foul play, but to misappropriation of trust funds in his hands.  Col. Hard was the receiver of the Arlington car manufacturing company.  A few days since a special master was appointed by the court of chancery to look into and audit his accounts. The master, E.B. Burton, esq., was to being his investigation today.  Col. Hard's bondsmen are David Crofut, sheriff; Fernando West, merchant; A Bartlett, hotel keeper; and J.K. Batchelder, lawyer of Arlington; and they are free to express the opinion, that there is a serious defalcation on the part of the receiver - one of them saying to our informant that it would exceed $1,500 and another that he would be glad if it did not exceed $20,000.

Some other unpleasant rumors connected with the case lack proof, and we make no mention of them.  Free Press

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Middlebury, VT Register, August 3, 1877

Col. Hard the Missing Man

The many friends and acquaintances of Col. Henry S. Hard of Arlington will be pained to learn that his mysterious disappearance over ten days ago is now attributed to the misappropriation of trust funds placed in his hands as receiver of the Arlington Car manufacturing company.  Hitherto his character has been beyond reproach and when, about a year ago, the car company, of which he was treasurer and secretary, and in which he held $12,000 of stock, failed, he was appointed receiver.  A few days ago, E.B. Burton, Esq., of Manchester, was appointed special master by Judge Dunton to audit his accounts, and the investigation was to have commenced yesterday.  His bondsmen, for $15,000, are David Crofut, sheriff; Fernando West, merchant; A. Bartlet, hotel keeper, and J.K. Batchelder, Lawyer, all of Arlington, and they are all free in expressing their opinions that he is a defaulter, one of them placing the defalcation at less than $1,500 and another fearing that it might exceed $10,000.  As receiver he was paid $75 a month, but his extravagant manner of living raised his expenses to more than twice that amount, and this without other visible means of support.  His father, a resident of Oswego, N.Y., during his life, and at his death, sometime since, had given him considerable sums of money, but all had been wasted.  Mr. Hard, as his friends say, having no faculty for saving money.  His wife has been in an insane asylum at Brattleboro for the past twelve years, and during the last year or more her place has bene taken by a beautiful young widow name McLaughlin, who calls herself a "New Yorker."  She is about twenty-five years old, a blonde of the purest type, the possessor of a petite but faultless form and dresses with elegant and exquisite taste.  Her husband was formerly a workman in the car shop, but their married life was unhappy and two years ago he suddenly left the village without giving his reason for doing so.  Shortly after he died, and without showing any signs of mourning she came to Mr. Hard's home and became his housekeeper.  In her conversation she almost unconsciously speaks of Mr. Hard and herself as "we," and the story that the former's disappearance is probably owing to grief at the intelligence learned during a recent visit to Brattleboro asylum of his wife's hopeless insanity, she pronounces false.  "He has not been near her for four years," she adds in explanation.  Mrs. McLaughlin also says that Mr.  Hard recently asked her whether, if he should go away and take a reservation, she would remain with his children and afterwards follow him. This, with the fact of his recent extended visit to Texas, where he spent considerable time in looking over the country, leads some to surmise that he has now gone to that state.  Mrs. McLaughlin's installment in Mr. Hard's house caused considerable scandal, and this feeling increased until many refused to exchange calls with the family, notwithstanding the fact that the latter was a prominent member of the Episcopal church.  Mr. Hard leaves behind him four children, two daughters and two sons. The first a daughter, is married and lives in Brooklyn, N.Y., while the second, also a daughter, eighteen years old, remains at home.   Of the two youngest children, boys about seventeen and ten years old, the first, a bright young fellow is clerk in the post office and news agent of the village, besides sending occasional items to the associated press. 

With their denunciations, Mr. Hard's bondsmen commingle sorrow and regret at his fall, and no attmept will probably be made to follow the fugitive and bring him to justice.  [Rutland Herald].

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The Rutland Daily Globe, Rutland, VT, August 1, 1877

The Case of Col. Hard - Another Side of the Story

Since the mysterious disappearance of Col. H.S. Hard of Arlington on the 21st of July, the newspapers have contained many rumors of the cause of his departure, and of a heavy defalcation in connection with the affairs of the Arlington car manufacturing company, of which he was receiver.  These rumors culminated in a sensational story of the affair published in Tuesday's Boston Globe and in substance in the Rutland Herald, which was a gross misstatement of the facts, as is friends claim.

In an interview with a reporter of The Globe, yesterday, S.M. West, secretary of the Arlington Car company, stated that he has made a thorough examination of the books and that Mr. Hard's defalcation, if anything, is very small - not more than $300 at the outside. This the bail will not have to meet. The books were not balanced at the time, and Mr. Hard may not have known of the deficiency, as it is nothing more than any person is liable to run behind in conducting a large business.   He further says that none of the bondsmen - Bernando West, J.K. Batchelder, David Crofut and A.E. Bartlett - have ever stated that the defalcation amounted to $10,000.

His bondsmen and those most familiar with the case believe that Col. Hard has simply left the town for some unexplained reason and may yet return, and that no one in Arlington knows of his whereabouts.  The statement that " Mr. West is satisfied that the son, as well and Mrs McLoughlin (the housekeeper) knows where Hard is," Mr. West pronounces utterly false.  He is satisfied of nothing of the sort.  This leaves the matter as great a mystery as at first but clears Col. Hard of any suspicion of defalcation or dishonesty.

It is rumored that the body of the man taken from the North River, New York, answers the description of Col. H.S. Hard.  Mr. Kendall of Arlington went to New York Monday, to view the body of the drowned man.

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The Burlington, VT Free Press, August 3, 1877

This morning, J.S. Rowley, a merchant of Albany, N.Y., who has known Col. H.S. Hard for years, states that he saw Mr. Hard in the waiting room of the New York Central depot, at Albany, on Friday afternoon.  Mr. Rowley says that Hard was dressed in a blue suit, and his eyes were greatly bloodshot, while his face gave the indication that he had been drinking recently or was laboring under mental depression.  His demeanor was not like that of an insane man; on the contrary he conversed freely and rationally.  It is now thought that Col. Hard has wandered west ward, while laboring under temporary insanity.

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Vermont Watchman and State Journal, February 23, 1887

Wife's death notice

Mrs. Helen Hard, wife of Col. H.S. Hard of Arlington, died a few days ago at the Brattleboro insane asylum, of which she had been an inmate twenty-five years.

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Bennington Evening Banner, Bennington, VT, April 27, 1906

News has been received in regard to Henry S. Hard who left Arlington in 1877.  Nothing had been heard from him until this week when news came that he was killed in a railroad accident at Rochester, N.Y. in Nov. 1905.   He is survived by a widow living in Rochester and two sons John and Henry in New York.

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Henry Snow Hard was born about 1830, probably in Oswego, Oswego County, NY, the son of Patrick Henry Hard and Eliza Mary Randall.  On 22 February 1853 in Vermont, he was married.  His wife's name was given as Mary Helen Hard.  They had four children, Julia Frances, Mary Helen, John Henry and William H.  Thus far, it has not been possible to solve the mystery of his disappearance.