- Fall River, Kansas 1918 -
The following are articles taken from the Fall River Star in the year of 1918.
“C. Radcliffe, local barber, was thrown from his motorcycle just north of Fredonia, in January of 1918, receiving severe bruises about the head and one side of his face. The accident was caused by a dog which ran out at him, and in trying to not to hit the dog he swerved into a rut and was thrown. He was found in an unconscious condition thirty feet from where the motorcycle lay. A lady near by saw the accident and immediately sent word to town. He was taken to the home of a cousin, where he lay unconscious for two days, his condition very serious, but he rallied and is now getting along very well. One side of the motorcycle was damaged quite badly.
In January of 1918, Fall River was put in a whirl of excitement when the report was circulated that the body of a baby was found in an old un-used well on the Harvey Taylor farm, one-half mile west of town. To publish the story and get it right before the people of our surrounding community is to begin at the first discovery. Frank Cornett, who had gone to the well to water his stock, upon permission from Mr. Taylor, first discovered an object in a sack floating on the top of the water. He notified Mr. Taylor and they went to the well to investigate. They brought the object out and thought it to be the body of a child. They came to town and getting D.L. Felker, Dr. Dodge and O.W. Defever went back to the well, where after giving the object an examination, Dr. Dodge gave his opinion that it was the body of a baby, perhaps six to eight weeks old. It had been put in a sack and showed the effects of being eaten up by lime. According to their report the stomach and jaw bone gave evidence that it was a child. The county officials were notified and Sheriff Woods and County Attorney Marlin came down. D.L. Felker was sent to the well to bury the baby, and taking a rake with him, he made a hook and fished in the well for some clues. He was accompanied by only a bunch of young boys. He came to town later and claimed he had pulled the body of a woman from the well, it also being wrapped in a sack with lime and held down by a large rock wired to the body. He said the woman’s hair was about two feet long, he could still see the shape of the body, and that her teeth were perfect and beautiful, but in a few minutes after the air struck the body it all crumbled away, so that he had to shovel the remains up and put them in the box with the baby, and buried them near the scene. Young Lester Gramm, who helped him pull the body out, claimed that only the head and hair was brought out.
Putting the two stories together and etc., the citizens of Fall River began to doubt, so on Monday afternoon about twenty-five of them went to the well and pumped all the water out, and in the bottom found the head of a hog and some hog flesh. Pieces of flesh that were floating in the water and thought to be human flesh was nothing but hog hide and fat. After making this discovery, they opened the buried box and found it filled with more hog hide and fat. This cleared up the woman part of the story, that there was nothing to it.
The finding of a baby’s body in the well is very reasonable to believe according to the opinion of the Doctor, and the writer does not dispute his decision, as he is a student of Anatomy and ought to know, but this we do know, that there was no woman’s body found in the well and the story was all hot air. The writer was led to the belief so strong that he furnished articles for publication and mailed them to several of the dailies, so that the crime, as supposed to have been committed, might have a wide publicity, but the part about the woman is wrong. They were sent at the request of Mr. Felker. We would like to ask just a question: Why would the first object be wrapped in a sack with lime and thrown in a well, while the head of the hog and loose flesh were thrown separately?”
