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Source: Cincinnati Daily Gazette - Ohio
Date: July 23, 1874
George T. Earhart, the old time friend of Henry
Libby, learned day before yesterday of the latter's death on
the 21st of June last, at the residence of his family, Portland,
Maine, of inflamatory rheumatism. Libby's sufferings were
acute and long continued. The news of his death comes as a piece
of sad tidings to the many who knew and loved him in Hamilton. |
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Source: New York Times
Dated: Sept. 28, 1922
TWIN BROTHERS DIE IN SUICIDE COMPACT.
Two Bodies Found in Main Woods Are Identified as Westervelts of
New Jersey.
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TRIED TO DESTROY CLUES
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Inseparable in Life, It is Believed Taht, Fearing Death of One,
They agreed to Die Together.
Special to The New York Times.
PORTLAND, Me., Sept. 27. - Inseparable in
life and fearing one to lose the other as their allotted time drew
near. Charles and James Westervelt of Little
Falls, N. J., twin brothers, entered into a strange suicide
compact which brought them 500 miles from home to the little town
of Gorham, Me., where their bodies were found yesterday hanging
from a tree in an unfrequented wood.
Although the suicides had attempted to conceal identity
by stripping their clothes of all marks, the newspaper man
discovered the name of Taylor & Bartelt neckties.
This clue led to an investigation that ended in the identification
of the bodies. Their initials "C. W." were found in the
clothing of one, and W-136 and W-131 marked in their hatbands.
They were about 55 years old.
The discovery of the two bodies gave rise to the early
report that three had been a lynching. As soon as suicide
was apparent the authorities found themselves baffled by the
apparently successful efforts of the men to destroy all means of
identification. Under the bodies was a little pile of ashes,
where they had burned letters and papers.
After viewing the bodies today, Fred Meserve, a
Gorham farmer, declared that he met the two men walking along the
road last Thursday. A local storekeeper remembered selling a
piece of rope to two strangers resembling the suicide.
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Special to The New York Times.
PASSAIC, N. J., Sept. 27. - Bulletins
posted by a Passaic daily telling of the discovery of the bodies
of two men, evidently brothers, in the woods near Gorham, Me., led
to their identification here as James and Charles Westervelt of
Little Falls, N. J.
Fred Bartlet of Taylor & Bartlet, a men's
furnishing store, remembered selling them the brown suits
mentioned in the bulletin and also the hat which bore the name of
his firm and the initials "C. W." Charles Westervelt had
been employed for some time as a bookkeeper by the Biddle &
Bogert Paint Company, where Mrs. Mary Conklin a clerk,
said the souvenir key ring and disk, found with the bodies, were
varnish advertisements belonging to Westervelt.
Edward W. Jewett, the news dealer whose stand
adjoins the newspaper office, saw the brothers last on Sept. 9.
They came to him every morning for papers. Sine Sept. 9 he
has been saving copies for them.
In Little Falls, where the brothers lived, Mrs. John
Harlor, a neighbor, recalled a meeting with the brothers two
weeks ago, in which they had failed to stop and chat with her as
they usually did. Shortly after this meeting they remarked
to Mrs. Harlor that they were "going away for a rest."
James Westervelt, whose resemblance to his
brother Charles was so strong that the two were often
thought to be twins, was a trustee of the Ridgelawn Cemetery
Company, at Delewanna, N. J.
In all their tastes the brothers were alike. They
were inseparable and their devotion to each other was steadfast.
They were often seen together taking long strolls in the
countryside about Little Falls.
About twelve years ago, through the death of an aunt,
they inherited a sum of money, which enabled them, to all
appearances, to live in comfort. Of their relatives nothing
is known. Friends say they were bachelors.
Fred Bartlet of Taylor & Bartlet, a men's
furnishing store, remembered selling them the brown suits
mentioned in
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