Waterbury Tragedy, Still Unsolved

nce upon a time at the corner of South Main Street, and Park Row in Waterbury, Vermont stood the Waterbury Inn.  It was actually built "without blueprints in 1865" just after the Civil War.  Accessible by train and car, wealthy folks from New England, New York and Canada made this a favorite destination as a vacation place from that time, into the 1950's.   

"Numerous owners and managers maintained the Inn over the years. Perhaps W.F. Davis served the longest tenure and is most remembered by townsfolk.

Situated behind the Inn was a croquet course for guests' entertainment. At one time deer were penned there. An archery course abutted the golf course, on Blush Hill which was advertised as the Waterbury Inn Golf Course. Local organizations met at the Inn and celebrations, tea and card

parties were held there.

Families would come by rail for a vacation at the Inn, availing themselves of the previously mentioned activities plus trips to Stowe, up Mansfield, picnics or porch rocking. Livery stables and other businesses flourished.

A 1930's brochure indicates the appeal of the hostelry-- "newly decorated with innerspring mattresses-- most rooms have twin beds and private baths-- and elevator takes you up and down-- rates $7 per day or $47.50 week-- rates include meals of course.""  -http://www.vermont-towns.org/waterbury/history/hist8.htm

Updated 7/5/15:  With profound gratitude to the Vermont State Police Museum and Archives and the Waterbury Historical Society, the historical photos posted on this blog post, were used with permission.

The following content is from The Vermont State Police Archives:  http://vsparchives.com/category/articles/

"On the morning of March 18, 1950, the partially clad body of the owner, Pauline Gill Molony (41) was found in a rear alley, face-up and spread-eagled in the fresh, wind-blown, snow.  Waterbury doctors C. B. Orton and John Wright were summoned, but despite the urging of Eric Graves, the Health Officer, both were unwilling to sign a Death Certificate.  

Each doctor agreed that the cause of death was open to question since there was no obvious fatal mark on her body and no known prior medical condition.  Other marks on her hands, knees and face appeared suspicious...Pauline Molony met her untimely death over six decades ago and the case is still officially open.

Amazingly, it wasn’t until early evening when her husband – Edmond Molony, contacted Waterbury Police Chief Forrest N. Reber to notify him of the death.  Reber in turn contacted the three-year-old Vermont State Police to ask for help.  At the urging of an alcoholic doctor, Henry St. Antoine, who resided at the Inn, Mr. Molony requested an autopsy on his wife.  

Dr. Joseph W. Spelman, the Vermont State Medical Examiner, conducted an autopsy that evening inside the V.L. Perkins Funeral Home on South Main Street in Waterbury.  It was discovered that Mrs. Molony had died of a hard blow low on the back of her head.  Spelman ruled a cerebral hemorrhage as the cause of death.

The State Police then launched a full investigation under the direction of Lt. John G. Peters and Detective Almo G. Franzoni.  Immediately, it became obvious that there was some limited evidence she could have fallen on the ice, hit her head on the corner of the building, and crawled a short distance until overcome by her injury and the cold.  

On the other hand, there was a rich lot of possible suspects and nobody could explain why she was found outdoors with so little clothing in March.  Likewise, nobody could fully explain the blood splatter and other evidence at the scene.  For example, one of her socks was found the next morning hundreds of feet away in Dr. Orton’s driveway.

The Waterbury Inn

Lt. Peters, Detective Franzoni and Lab Technician Hemenway  used several advanced techniques during their investigation.  At a time when it was not common, they incorporated, microscopic fiber analysis, microscopic hair analysis, blood typing, and blood spatter analysis.  They spent hours carefully dusting several inches of new snow away to expose the surface as it has been at the hour of her presumed death.

The primary suspect was Edmond Molony (53), the husband who told a somewhat confusing story and admitted to having a fight hours before her death.  He heaped suspicion on himself in a number of ways.  One example was the immediate removal and washing of the limited clothing in which she had been found.  He later had a hard time producing these items for the police.  Additionally, he didn’t notify any law enforcement agency of his wife’s death for nearly 12 hours – neither did the doctors, the health officer or any of the many employees and guests at the Inn!  

At a time when VSP had no such capability, Molony was transported out of state for a polygraph with the results having been inconclusive.  A read of the transcript does leave one with a vision of police officers hovering over Molony in a dark room lit by a single bare light bulb suspended over his head.

The other suspects were far lower down the list and included a recently fired and alcoholic physician from the Vermont State Hospital.  The doctor was living at the Inn and not paying for his room and board.  It would appear that the Molony’s were planning to evict him.

The Front Desk Clerk on duty that night and the last person to admit to seeing her alive was investigated.  It was quickly determined that he had previously run a house of prostitution in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom.  His past clearly was not a clean slate.

Another suspect was a former patient at the Vermont State Hospital and handyman employed at the Inn in exchange for room and board.  He was apparently ill treated by Mr. Molony and was unable to be a good witness for himself.

The last suspect was a refrigeration repairman who had worked on the freezer at the Inn.  Mrs. Molony had been convinced that someone had been stealing meat from the freezer.  There was initial speculation that she was checking the freezer and had surprised a thief in the act.

The case remains as an officially unsolved/untimely death.  A key reason is the subsequent events that overtook the primary suspects.

a)  The Desk Clerk died of a heart attack within eight months

b)  The Doctor committed suicide in July of 1951.

c)  Edmond Molony died of cancer in July of 1952.

d)  The Handyman was incapable of providing meaningful testimony.

With the subsequent disappearance of the building itself (burned in a massive fire on November 3, 1953) and the loss of most related police files, this case is no longer solvable unless a new witness(s) comes forward.  The last known witness died several years ago.

Mrs. Molony’s death certificate on file in Waterbury still shows that the case is “under investigation” and has never been amended."

A tragic fire of November 3-4, 1953 destroyed the Inn; and, ironically, this was also the 26th anniversary of Vermont's Flood of 1927.

"In the late 1940's, the property was purchased by Elmond Molony beginning a saga reflective of a Dorothy Sayers mystery. Mrs. Pauline Malony was found dead in the rear of the hotel in March 1950. Clad in night wear, bruised about the knees and legs the body was found at 9 A.M., apparently having been outside all night. A cerebral hemorrhage caused by a blow to the head was the cause of death.

Dr. Henry St. Antoine, a long term guest, committed suicide by leaping in front of a Central Vermont train; 

Mr. Edmond Molony died of natural causes; 

Robert Molony, Jr., who was managing the Inn for his uncle's estate, perished in the fire."  -http://www.vermont-towns.org/waterbury/history/hist8.htm

Pictures of the fire, and post-fire, 1953:

Maude Manning - My Great Grandmother (RE: Eddy Brothers, Chittenden, VT)

Today, I was searching my files for some notes that I had written down for this blog.  I never found the file, because I came across a file was marked *Eddy Family.  It was one of my father's files that I obtained when he passed away in late December of 2011.
 
* More on my family tree and interesting ancestors can be found at http://www.heatherbdesign.com/blog/2013/11/25/the-eddys-my-spooky-famous-ancestors
(Posted by my bright and beautiful cousin, Heather B)

The file contains photocopies of several magazine articles such as a January, 1987 Yankee Magazine article entitled "When the Spirit World Touched Chittenden", by Jay Stevens; a "Vermont Life" story entitled "Beyond Belief" by Joseph Citro, Autumn, 1999; a typed copy Genealogy of Manning and Eddy (the Hinckley-Manning connection to the Eddy's); a couple of Eddy obituaries and a transcribed interview of  Maude Eddy that was the subject of the Chittenden Historical Society Meeting on June 8, 1989.  

The transcribed interview was originally conducted by my father, Gerald Hinckley, with his grandmother, (my great-grandmother) Maude Eddy.  The topic was "The Eddy Brothers of Chittenden". 

Genealogy:

Maude May Eddy was born on December 15, 1881 at Holden, Vermont.  She was the first born from her father's second wife.

Father:  Daniel Webster Eddy (born September 17, 1853 at Chittenden, Vermont, died September 5, 1925).  Daniel was a brother of William and Horatio Eddy. 

Married Eva J. Hausted at Ridge Mills, New York (she was the daughter of R. Rennsalaer and Sara Mills, born circa 1851).  They had one child, Warren Eddy, born April 13, 1876 at Chittenden, Vermont.  I do not have a record of Eva's death, even after searching "Find A Grave", it is still unknown.  This is quite sad.

Daniel Webster Eddy's second wife was Mary Josephine Rivers, born June 24, 1862 at Brandon, Vermont.  She died at "age 62 years, 5 months, 29 days.  She was the daughter of Julius and Mary (Baker) Rivers.

Daniel and Mary Josephine had 9 children together:

Maude May (my great-grandmother), Grace, Daniel, James Henry, George Willis, Warren F., Mabel Lizzie, Jessie, Stella, and adopted one boy, Homer Allen Statson Eddy.

Daniel Webster Eddy's Mother was the "Spirit Medium" *Jula Ann McCombs.  His father was Zephaniah Eddy.  They had 11 children: *William H. Eddy, John Westley Eddy, Francis Lightfoot Eddy, Maranda D, Eddy, *Sophia Jane Eddy, *Horatio G. Eddy, Mary C. Eddy, James H Eddy, Delia M Eddy, Daniel Webster Eddy, Alice Julia Eddy.

* Spirit Mediums

Horatio and William Eddy

---

          AMERICAN FARMER mediums of Chittenden, a small hamlet near Rutland, Vermont. In 1874 the New York Daily Graphic assigned Col. Henry Olcott to investigate the rumours of strange happenings in their house. After ten weeks in the Vermont home Col. Olcott, who had had no psychic experience before, came away with a dislike of his gruff hosts and a remarkable story which he told in 15 articles. These articles were later published in book form under the title People from the Other World. To it and to Mrs. M. D. Shindler's book, A Southerner Among the Spirits, Memphis, 1877, we owe most of our knowledge of the Eddy Brothers.

William and Horatio Eddy

The family tree, according to Col. Olcott, showed psychic powers for generations back. In 1692, in Salem, their grandmother four times removed was sentenced to the pyre as a witch. In Horatio and William the psychic "taint" made its appearance in infancy. A fanatic father tried to suppress it with the utmost cruelty. He employed means of torture to break their trance, poured boiling water over them or placed red hot coal on their heads. When the children grew older the father realised the money-making possibilities in their strange gift and hired them out as mediums.

As an eloquent evidence of the treatment they received at the hands of ignorant investigators Col. Olcott saw grooves of ligatures, scars of hot scaling wax and marks of handcuffs on their limbs. They exhibited every phenomenon of physical mediumship from raps to perfect materialisation. Col. Olcott saw in ten weeks' time about four hundred apparitions of all sizes, sexes and races issue from their cabinet. The chief apparition was a giant Indian named Santum and an Indian woman by the name of Honto.

Col. Olcott

Olcott had every facility for investigation, measured the height and weight of the apparitions, roamed freely about and became quite satisfied that the explanation of impersonation was insufficient. He found that the production of materialised forms was William Eddy's strong feature. Horatio Eddy usually sat before a cloth screen, not a cabinet, and, contrary to his brother, was always in sight. Musical instruments were played behind the screen and phantom hands showed themselves over the edge. If the same séance was held in darkness the phenomena became very powerful. Mad Indian dances shook the floor and the room resounded with yells and whoops. "As an exhibition of pure brute force," he wrote, "this Indian dance is probably unsurpassed in the annals of such manifestation." Nevertheless, Col. Olcott was very careful and hesitative in drawing his final conclusions.

Frank Podmore in Modern Spiritualism characterises Col. Olcott's account as an imaginative history and quotes in confirmation C. C. Massey's account of a fortnight stay with the Eddy Brothers which thus describes the nightly apparition of a deceased relative of someone present:

"A dusky young man would look out and we had to say in turn, all round the circle 'Is it for me?' When the right person was reached three taps would be given and the fortunate possessor of the ghost would gaze doubtfully, upon which the ghost would look grieved, and that generally softened the heart of the observer, and brought about a recognition in the remark 'Lor, so you be.' And that sort of thing went on night after night at the Eddy's."

By Col. Olcott's later adventures in theosophy some colour is lent to the charge of gullibility. Nevertheless, it is impossible to read his evidently sincere account without gaining the conviction that the Eddy Brothers possessed the gift of true and powerful mediumship. Source: http://survivalafterdeath.info/mediums/eddy.htm 

Following is the interview that my Dad did with his grandmother, regarding the "Eddy Brothers" in 1969.  I never knew that William Eddy lived in my grandmothers house, until I read this!  

 The pictures are jpgs - I hope to upload an Adobe file, in the near future.   Please forgive the mess!

UPDATE.... The forces are still with us....

5 Generation picture:  L-R:  Top Gertrude (Manning) Hinckley, Gertrude's son (my uncle) Burt Hinckley
L-R:  Janet (Hinckley) Tonneson (my Uncle Burt's daughter);  Maude May (Eddy) Manning (My great-grandmother)
Baby:  Heather Tonneson

Strangely, I went into my Facebook account to obtain the above picture for this blog, and my cousin Heather had been doing her own research - on the Eddy's.  Here is her post:

• Conversation started today
• 

  2:21pm
  

  Heather Boissonneau
  

  
  

  Hello Hinckley Clan,

  I've been spending entirely too much time on Ancestry.com and I've discovered a couple of interesting things that I thought I'd share (that you might already know).

  1. We are descended from Governor Thomas Hinckley who was the Governor of the Plymouth Colony.

  2. Our ten or eleven greats grandmother was Anne Hutchinson, who was banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony for holding seances. She went to Rhode Island and then to New York where she was killed by Indians. You can google her. Her maiden name was Marbury.

  3. You probably know this, but Grandma Manning's father, Daniel Webster Eddy, was the brother of William and Horatio Eddy, the world famous spiritists located in Chittenden, Vermont. The book "People from the Other World" by Henry Steel Olcott is available on google books for free. http://books.google.com/books/about/People_from_the_Other_World.html?id=ruzy2w1ba0kC

  4. William, Horatio, and Daniel Webster Eddy's father, Zephaniah Eddy's parents, James Eddy and Mary Salisbury are cousins, they share a great, great, great grandmother, Susannah Cotton. So that's one place where our family tree meets.

  5. Zephaniah Eddy and Mary Salisbury are the branch of the family that has Anne Hutchinson.

  If I find out other interesting things, I'll let you know.

-

Abandoned in Moretown, Thanks to Irene

Update 11/22/13:  I was informed that this house was actually abandoned long before the Storm.  It is not a victim of Tropical Storm Irene. Thank you, T.Z. for the information!  

Returning from our Staff Retreat at Sugarbush, my co-worker and I were traveling down Route 100 in lower Moretown (I believe the house is actually in Middlesex), when we spotted this abandoned house.

I worked up the nerve to try the front door to find it open, so I bent in and took some pictures of this once lovely home.  Using zoom on my phone camera, I was able to get some good pictures, but a couple are blurry.   I would have loved to have sneaked upstairs, but I didn't want to trespass anymore than I was. 

Perhaps I will ask the Town for permission to go in to photograph the rest of the building.... another adventure...another time.