RATHBONE Steuben County New York
NEWSPAPER TIDBITS

1860

NEW-JERSEY ITEMS.      THE LATE JERSEY CITY MYSTERY. – A letter from the Rev. A. Tilden of Woodhull, Steuben County, gives the following information respecting Mr. W. L. Bunn of Rathboneville, who was said to have been drugged and robbed of $1,600:      “I have been acquainted with Mr. Bunn for nearly three years, when he came to reside in this county. He has maintained a social standing among our best citizens. Two years ago I baptized him and his wife, and last Spring he was elected Sabbath-School Superintendent at Rathboneville.      “We that are best acquainted with him can see no reason for discrediting his statements. If he had been disposed to be dishonest he might have gone away with ten thousand dollars as easily as with sixteen hundred. His business has been quite extensive, and his transactions have been conducted on the strict principles of honor and integrity. He is emphatically a man that does as he agrees. He has few debts in this section and when he left home had deposited money to be paid for butter which he had been purchasing.      “At the time of his mysterious disappearance, it was generally supposed that he had been murdered. But the reason was explained by the receipt of a letter written by him from Florida, and his subsequent return after an absence of about three weeks. I called to see him a day or two afterward, and found him looking emaciated and worn down, suffering from the effects of the supposed drugging. I proposed such questions to him as I thought would elicit the facts, and he answered me with frankness and candor.      “He thinks that he has been marked, and that he was followed by one or more members of a gang of robbers supposed to be operating along the line of the New-York and Erie Railroad. At Owego he took dinner at an eating saloon in the depot. Soon after he began to feel disagreeable. He stopped at several points on the route to transact business, and at Port Jervis remained till the next day and took the express train. At Turner’s he took supper with the other passengers, and thinks that some drug must have been put stealthily into his food or drink at that place; but what it could have been neither he nor his physician are able to tell.      “He took his seat again in the car, when he began to experience a disagreeable sensation, and became drowsy. A well-dressed man came and sat down by him, and they conversed for some time, when he became unconscious. He has an indistinct recollection of men trying to get him to go into a small boat, and of making an effort to get away from them, when he was struck in the head.      “When he again came to consciousness he was out at sea, on board of what seemed to be a coasting schooner; his money and baggage gone. The captain was harsh and austere, and he could obtain no satisfactory answer to inquiries, nor learn the name of the captain or of the vessel. There were no other passengers on board, and there did not seem to be any cargo. He was not permitted to hold any communication with the crew, under threats of death. Finally the captain was induced by his entreaties to set him ashore on the coast of Florida.      “His story is generally credited by those who know him, and with whom he has had dealings. He is now suffering in health from the treatment which he has endured.” New York Herald-Tribune (New York, NY) July 17, 1860; pg. 3.

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